OTA Gaya passing out parade commissioned 253 Officer Cadets into the Indian Army on Saturday. Lt Gen Le Van Huong, Deputy Chief of the General Staff of the Vietnam People's Army, served as the Reviewing Officer.

The cadets, from the SSC (Tech) Men-65 and SSC (Tech) Women-36 courses of the Summer Term 2026, included 35 Women Officer Cadets among the 253 commissioned, according to the Army's Additional Directorate General of Public Information, which released the figures the same morning.

OTA Gaya Passing Out Parade Sees Cadets Cross the Antim Pag

The Academy described the cadets as crossing the Antim Pag, literally the last step, and taking their Pehla Kadam, or first step, into commissioned service. The phrase marks the same threshold observed at officer academies across the country, though OTA Gaya and its sister campus at Chennai, which also held its own OTA Chennai passing out parade on Saturday, mark it on separate grounds and separate timetables.

Lt Gen Le Van Huong exhorted the newly commissioned officers to embrace innovation, continuously upgrade their knowledge and remain adaptable to the evolving battlefield, the Army said.


Reviewing Officer Stresses Emerging Technologies

He emphasised leading with purpose, mastering emerging technologies, and demonstrating the agility, foresight and decisive leadership the newly commissioned cohort would need to meet whatever came next in a career that was, for all of them, only hours old.

Prize Winners of the Summer Term 2026 Course

The Sword of Honour and Gold Medal went to Academy Under Officer P Shashi Kumar. The Silver Medal was awarded to Battalion Under Officer Deepak Singh Rawat, and the Bronze Medal to Academy Cadet Adjutant Navneet Singh. Kalidhar Company won the Chief of the Army Staff's Banner for the course, the Academy's highest unit honour.

A Vietnamese General as Reviewing Officer

A serving foreign general reviewing an Indian Army commissioning parade is not routine, and the appointment reflects the pace of the India Vietnam defence relationship this year. It follows Indian Air Force Chief ACM AP Singh's visit to Vietnam in August, part of a run of exchanges that has already extended to a signed BrahMos supply arrangement between the two countries.

A separate Ministry of Defence post on the same OTA Gaya passing out parade did not name the Reviewing Officer directly, referring to him only by function, though its account of his remarks matched the Army's release closely enough to confirm it as the same visiting general.

Pipping Ceremony Follows the Parade

Lt Gen Le Van Huong also attended the pipping ceremony that followed, where the newly commissioned officers donned their rank stars for the first time. Interacting with them separately from his parade address, he exhorted the officers to uphold the highest traditions and ethos of the Armed Forces and to strive to be exemplary leaders in service of the nation, and congratulated their parents on the occasion.

The Academy's posts tagged the Ministry of External Affairs, the Defence Ministry, India's Ambassador to Hanoi and the Vietnamese Embassy in New Delhi, a wider diplomatic tag list than is typical for a domestic commissioning parade.

The cadets commissioned at OTA Gaya on Saturday will serve under Gen Dhiraj Seth, who has pushed jointness and integration as priorities since taking over as the 31st Chief of the Army Staff, and now move to their allotted arms and services for regimental training with the Indian Army.