AFVOA Newletters of Year 2008

Page 25 of 56 way. 20. The General has a vari ed experi ence of having served in mount ains, deserts, pl ains and intense Counter Insurgency envi ronment. In hi s chequered career the General has seen action during 1971 Indo-Pak War, Count er Insurgency in North Eas t (where he has had s ix tenures) and Jammu & Kashmi r. 21. A multi facet ed personality, the General i s gi ft ed with an excellent sense of humour. Vet erans got a glimpse of it when they interacted wi th him dur ing the evening his int er -personal rel ationship with the men and juniors has ensured not only improvement in the quality of life in the Stations where he has served, but has also helped in l aying the foundation of modern ventures. 22. Apart f rom an extremely success ful Army career the General of fi cer is also a keen spor tsman, and has pl ayed all the t roops games at various l evels . Presently he has ensured his presence fel t in the Golf Course. 23. The General is mar ri ed to Mrs Anit a Thamburaj and is blessed with two beauti ful daught ers. His mother res ides in Vellore. Welcome Address by the President 24. The President began his address by expressing much pl easure at being in a position to welcome the Army Commander for our Associ ation Meet ing. In this respect the Indi an Armed Forces is the only organization in whi ch one finds a great and continuing rel ations between the serving f rat ernity and those who have compl eted their servi ce. In that spi rit he mentioned our zealous parti cipation in all the milit ary events in the st ation and desi re to have a vet erans contingent march down the Mar ina Beach Road during Republi c Day Parades . 25. The President gave a brief background of our origins and growth. He gave out its present st rength and recount ed some of the activiti es we are involved in. He expl ained the proj ects that are currently on going such as the revision of our t elephone di rectory Hello Veterans - 2009 and Suryasthaman whi ch i s a compendium of actions to be t aken by the next of kin in case of any emergency to any veteran. 26. He then talked about the ECHS and our expect ations there f rom. He pleaded that sanctions may be given to enlarge the present polyclinic at Chennai and ameniti es therein may be increased and so also the st aff ing. He made a strong pl ea for ECHS to provide Death Certi fi cates for vet erans. 27. The President touched on the point of a DSOI in Chennai Chennai i s the only major city in our count ry without DSOI. He pressed hi s happiness about the present proposal to have a DSOI in the St . Thomas Mount area. The present MH Of ficers ’ Mess would fall vacant once the new mess comes up. The DSOI for Chennai i s proposed to be located there. The Pres ident opined that this could only be a temporary measure at best. A permanent solution could be to build a dedi cat ed building for DSOI at Pall avaram adj acent to the gar rison infant ry batt alion. He request ed the Army Commander to kindly consider the proposal. Address by the Chief Guest 28. The General , in his own inimit abl e style, began his t alk by put ting every