New Delhi, July 26:Wicketkeeper-batsman Mahendra Singh Dhoni has kept his promise and has begun his two months training with Indian Army’s Parachute Regiment.
Dhoni, who is also a Lieutenant Colonel (Honorary) in the Parachute Regiment of the Territorial Army, will be serving with his unit from July 31 to August 15, 2019.
Dhoni is a civilian and his safety became a general concern after the news broke out on Thursday.
On Friday, in conversation with media, Army Chief General Bipin Rawat addressed this issue.
The chief said that Dhoni is well-equipped to perform his duties.
“When a citizen of India wants to don the military uniform then he has to be prepared to fulfill the task for which the uniform has been assigned to him. MS Dhoni has carried out his basic training and we know that he will be able to accomplish the task.”
“In fact, he will be protecting a lot of other people because he will now be performing with the 106 Territorial Army battalion (Para). It is a very good battalion and they have been performing line of communication duties, static protection and he will be a part of it.”
“I don’t think we will need to protect him, he will protect the citizens and garrison entrusted to his task,” the Army Chief said.
Dhoni will be with the unit in the Kashmir Valley a part of Victor Force.
It was also made clear that as per the request of the officer and approved by Army Headquarters that Dhoni will be taking on the duties of patrolling, guard and post duty and would be staying with the troops.
Dhoni has taken a two-month sabbatical from cricket to serve his unit.
In 2015, Dhoni became a qualified paratrooper after having completed five parachute training jumps from Indian Army aircraft at the Agra training camp.
