S. K. Singh (general)

Singh was born on 1 January 1954 in Karath village in Bhojpur district of Bihar. He went to primary and secondary school in Surajpura Village of Rohtas district (formerly called Shahabad) under the guardianship of his paternal uncle Kedar Nath Singh, himself a prominent school teacher of Raj Rajeshwari High School Surajpura. For high schooling, he joined the Rashtriya Indian Military College (RIMC) in Dehradun from where he went to the National Defence Academy, Pune and finally getting commissioned as Second Lieutenant from the Indian Military Academy (IMA), Deharadun.

Singh was commissioned shortly after the Indo-Pakistan War of 1971, into 8 Gorkha Rifles. He later joined the Parachute Regiment, and served in combat during counter-insurgency operations in Nagaland and Manipur, and in the Indian Peace Keeping Force (IPKF) in the Sri Lankan Civil War.

Singh commanded a brigade in the Siachen Glacier, the 16th Infantry Division on the Line of Control and the strike corps XXI Corps in Pune. As a Major General, he also headed the Indian Military Training Team in Bhutan. After his promotion to Army Commander grade, he commanded the Army Training Command (ARTRAC), and South Western Command, before taking up the post of Vice Chief.[1]

Singh served as Vice Chief of Army Staff, the second-most senior position in the Army, from November 2011[2] to his retirement in December 2013.[3]