Former India cricket team Captain MS Dhoni will be the first sportsperson in the country to serve a stint in olive green on the frontline in Kashmir spending a fortnight with his Territorial Army (TA) unit from July 31 to August 15.
Dhoni is an honorary Lt Colonel in the TA. He is also a qualified parachute jumper and paratrooper. During his stay with the TA, he will perform all duties such as undertaking day and night patrols and spending long hours at posts as a guard. He will live in the staff quarters in the operational area and partake of food at langar with the troops.
Giving this information here on Thursday, officials said the 38-year-old star cricketer had requested to undergo the stint for two months and stressed that he be allowed to undergo all the hardships that officers and men go through in field area.
His unit 106TA is currently deployed in the Kashmir valley as part of the Victor Force. It is actively engaged in counter-insurgency operations.
Last week, Dhoni made himself unavailable for the Indian cricket team’s tour of West Indies and instead decided to spend some time with the Army. He was accorded the honorary rank of Lieutenant Colonel in the Territorial Army unit of Parachute Regiment in 2011. He became a qualified paratrooper in 2015 after completing mandatory five parachute training jumps in the Agra training camp. When conferred with the honorary rank, Dhoni had said that since childhood he wanted to join the Army.
He will become the first sportsperson to perform active service, which could inspire the youth to join the Armed forces, sources said adding Dhoni has already begun training with Parachute Regiment prior to his induction into the Kashmir valley.
Former cricketers Sachin Tendulkar and Kapil Dev are also honorary Territorial Army officers. Dhoni was conferred with the rank in 2011 along with Olympic gold medal winner Abhinav Bindra and Deepak Rao, a leading expert in close combat.