OTA Chennai passing out parade brought the SSC-122 and SSC(W)-36 courses to commissioning on Saturday, with Admiral Krishna Swaminathan, Chief of the Naval Staff, reviewing the ceremony at the Parameswaran Drill Square.

A total of 342 Officer Cadets, including 29 Women Cadets, were commissioned into the Indian Army, according to figures released by the Army's Additional Directorate General of Public Information. A further 17 Officer Cadets, including 10 Women Cadets, from Friendly Foreign Countries completed their training at the Academy alongside them, the same release said.

Admiral Krishna Swaminathan complimented the parade for its precision, praising the energetic drill and immaculate bearing on display that morning, before the cadets received the President's Commission granted through the Ministry of Defence. Bravo Zulu, he said, using the Navy's own phrase for a job well done, one he repeated more than once through the morning as the courses marched past him on the square.

OTA Chennai Passing Out Parade Sees SSC-122 and SSC(W)-36 Commissioned

The CNS told the cadets their training at the Academy had ended. A far heavier journey, that of leadership, was only beginning. Your rank may give you authority, Admiral Krishna Swaminathan said. Your character will give you credibility. But only your leadership will earn you loyalty. Never confuse the three, he added.

He drew a direct line between the President's Commission the cadets were about to receive and the questions their future troops would silently ask of them, on trust and on whether an officer would stand by them when things went wrong.

Parameswaran Drill Square and the OTA Honour Code

The parade ground itself carries the name of Major Ramaswamy Parameswaran, Param Vir Chakra, a proud and courageous OTA alumnus mortally wounded during Operation Pawan in 1987, who continued to lead and inspire his men to fight on right to his last breath. His example, the CNS said, gives living meaning to the Academy's Honour Code and to its motto, Serve with Honour, and made the venue an apt one for cadets making a similar transition of their own.

He was himself commissioned into the Navy that same year, 1987. The battlefield he entered as a young officer looks little like the one today's cadets will face, he said, since weapons now strike farther, sensors see deeper and operations unfold simultaneously across domains at a pace earlier generations did not know.

Admiral Krishna Swaminathan on Leadership and Jointness

Yet one conviction has only grown stronger across nearly four decades in uniform, he said. The character of warfare may have changed in many ways, but fundamentally, war still remains a profoundly human endeavour.

He offered the cadets five thoughts to carry forward. Do not outsource your thinking to an algorithm, he said, adding that no textbook, presentation or chatbot would answer a soldier asking what to do next in a crisis. Courage, he said, is a muscle that strengthens with use and cannot be downloaded when a crisis arrives. Service before self, trust earned rather than assumed, and continuous learning rounded out the list he gave the OTA Chennai passing out course.

Admiral Krishna Swaminathan closed on jointness, quoting the Rig Veda line Samano Mantrah, our purpose is one, and told the cadets tomorrow's wars would demand all Services train, operate and prevail together regardless of uniform colour. The line landed with particular weight coming from a Navy chief reviewing an Army academy's parade, itself a small enactment of the point. Army Chief Gen Dhiraj Seth has made jointness and integration one of his own stated priorities since taking over as the 31st Chief of the Army Staff, and the cadets commissioned on Saturday will serve under his command.

Three Realities Facing New Officers

Admiral Krishna Swaminathan flagged three conditions he said would define the environment the newly commissioned officers step into. Uncertainty, where information arrives incomplete and assumptions cannot fill the gaps. Compression of time, with the window between information, decision and action shrinking on modern battlefields. And the responsibility of consequence, where a tactical action in an interconnected world can carry operational, strategic and international weight, he told the parade.

Foreign Cadets and Dignitaries at the Parade

Among the 29 Women Cadets and 10 women from Friendly Foreign Countries commissioned on Saturday, the parade continued a run of milestones for women in uniform this year, following the all-women Navy crew that completed the Samudra Pradakshina circumnavigation aboard IASV Triveni.

Foreign Service Attaches from Sudan, Uganda and Seychelles attended the ceremony, alongside Lt Gen Michael AJ Fernandez, Commandant of the Officers Training Academy, and Lt Gen Ulhas Kirpekar, General Officer Commanding, Dakshin Bharat Area.

Serving and retired General, Flag and Air Officers were also present. The Champion Company for the course was Kohima, and Admiral Krishna Swaminathan complimented the Commandant, instructors, Directing Staff and Ustads of OTA Chennai for preparing the cadets for the responsibilities now ahead of them.

The Army's Additional Directorate General of Public Information shared visuals from the parade ground, including the moment the Naval Chief reviewed the ranks of newly commissioned officers.

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Admiral Krishna Swaminathan, who assumed charge as the 27th Chief of the Naval Staff on 31 May and now leads the Indian Navy, told the foreign cadets they would return home as bridges of friendship between their countries and India, carrying the ethos of the Academy with them.

Before the cadets dispersed, he had one closing message for their families in the stands. No decision in your lives will probably make you prouder, he said, than the one to commit your son or daughter to the nation.