Life of General Bipin Rawat: Exceptional career and more

The chopper crashed shortly after it took off  from an Air Force base in Sulur near Tamil Nadu's Coimbatore. It was heading to Wellington in Udhagamandalam, also known as Ooty, where a Defence Services Staff College is located.

* He is the first joint chief of the tri-services. 

* The Chief of Defence Staff is a advisor to the government on issues related to the military and cause with the main motive of integrating the three services - the Army, the Navy, and the Air Force. 

* He was appointed as the 27th Chief of the Army Staff in 2016. 

*He had superseded two senior officers to occupy the Army chief's position after becoming the CDS in 2019. The government had announced that the Army rules to extend the age of superannuation from 62 years to 65 years, paving the way for his appointment to the post.

* Bipin Rawat is an alumnus of the St Edward School in Shimla and the National Defence Academy, Khadakwasla. He was commissioned in the Fifth Battalion of the Eleven Gorkha Rifles in December 1978 from the Indian Military Academy in Dehradun. He was a recipient of the prestigious "Sword of Honour". General Rawat also attended the Command and General Staff College (CGSC) course at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, USA.

* Rawat was also a graduate of the Defence Services Staff College (DSSC), Wellington and the Higher Command Course at the United States Army Command and General Staff College at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas. From his tenure at the DSSC, he has a MPhil degree in Defence Studies as well as diplomas in Management and Computer Studies from University of Madras. In 2011, he was awarded a Doctorate of Philosophy by Chaudhary Charan Singh University, Meerut for his research on military-media strategic studies.