Lieutenant General Arvind Walia took over as Chief of Staff at the Southern Command headquarters in Pune on Tuesday, with a wreath-laying ceremony at the National War Memorial to honor dead soldiers.
Lt Gen Walia is a 1986 batch officer who graduated from the Indian Military Academy in Dehradun with the renowned Silver Medal. He has also commanded the MEG & Centre in Bengaluru, in addition to commanding an independent squadron in the desert sector, a regiment in Jammu and Kashmir, and an Engineer Brigade along the western front.
He has held prestigious staff positions such as Brigade Major of a Mountain Brigade, Director in Engineer-in-Branch Chief's at the Integrated Headquarters of the Ministry of Defense (Army), Brig Q in a Strike Corps, and Chief Engineer of a Command, in addition to stints as an instructor at the College of Defence Management in Secunderabad and the National Defence College in Delhi.
Lt Gen Walia attended Wellington's Defence Services Staff College, Secunderabad's College of Defence Management, and New Delhi's famed National Defence College. BE (Hons) civil engineering from BITS Pilani, MSc Defence and Strategic Studies from Madras University, Master of Management Studies from Osmania University, and MPhil from Osmania University and Madras University round up his academic credentials.