Commissioned into the 4th Battalion of the 4th Gorkha Rifles on 15 Dec 1976, Lt Gen D S Hooda, in his initial service served in Nagaland, during the height of the Naga insurgency and as an instructor at the Military College of Telecommunication Engineering.
After completion of Staff College from Canada, he was posted to the China desk in Military Operations Directorate. After successfully commanding his battalion,he was selected as the first Chief Logistics Officer for the newly raised United Nations Mission to Ethiopia and Eritrea. He played a key role in setting up the mission throughout Eritrea in terms of camps, engineering and communications support, and food and health services.
He Commanded a brigade along the Line of Control in Jammu and Kashmir. During the massive earthquake of 2005, the brigade provide extensive rescue and relief effort to the locals. Thereafter, he moved to Military Operations Directorate, looking after internal security in Jammu and Kashmir, and operational readiness along the Western Front facing Pakistan.
He commanded a division in Manipur, responsible for counterinsurgency operations in Manipur and South Assam. Here he interacted with the highest levels of political leadership to frame a security strategy for the Northeast. He also led a number of delegations to Myanmar to discuss aspects of defence cooperation between the two countries. From Manipur he was posted to Strategic Forces Command responsible for the nuclear forces of India.
From 2012 to 2016, he was stationed in Jammu and Kashmir, first as a Corps commander and then as the Army Commander of Northern Command. In this assignment, he handled numerous strategic challenges along the borders both with Pakistan and China, including the Chumar incident with China and the surgical strikes against Pakistan. He also led the Army during the turbulent times in Kashmir Valley in 2016. He supervised and directed the relief efforts during the devastating floods of 2014 in Jammu and Kashmir. He retired in November 2016 after 40 years of service in the Army.
EDUCATION
M Phil – Madras University
Msc (Defence Studies) – Madras University
Bsc – Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi
ISC – St. Columba’s School, New Delhi
PROFESSIONAL COURSES
National Defence Course – National Defence College, New Delhi
Higher Command – Army War College, Mhow
Command and Staff – Canadian Forces Command and Staff College, Toronto
AWARDS
In recognition for exemplary military service, have been awarded the Vishisht Seva Medal twice, the Ati Vishisht Seva Medal, the Uttam Yudh Seva Medal and the Param Vishisht Seva Medal.
OTHER INFORMATION
He has a keen interest in Information and Cyber Warfare. While at Northern Command he initiated a project to introduce an indigenous open source operating system for the command. This is now being evaluated for army wide application.
He is on the Advisory Board of Cyber Peace Foundation, a NGO dealing cyber protection and training, and a Visiting Fellow at the Centre for Land Warfare Studies, a premier think-tank.
He has been a regular contributor to newspapers, on-line media portals and professional journals on national and international affairs.
