Lucknow: On March 7, the Army will witness a rare and stirring moment as two brothers from Ballia will be commissioned on the same day. Officer cadet Deepak Kumar Mishra will pass out from the Officers Training Academy (OTA), Gaya, while hundreds of km away, his younger brother, senior under officer Krishna Kumar Mishra, will be commissioned from OTA, Chennai. For Deepak, the path to the Army was neither direct nor effortless. Armed with both a Master’s degree in computer science, he built a stable professional life as a network operating centre engineer, working for three and a half years in the corporate sector. The structure was secure, the career promising. Yet the pull of uniformed service proved stronger. “When Deepak arrived at OTA, Gaya, the transition was stark. He came in overweight, with limited stamina, facing the unforgiving physical standards of military training. The academy offered no shortcuts. Mornings began before sunrise, drills tested endurance, and every misstep carried consequence. Deepak responded not with complaint, but with consistency. Run after run, drill after drill, he reshaped himself—physically leaner, mentally tougher. The transformation was gradual but undeniable,” said the defence PRO, Prayagraj, His discipline extended to academics as well. He cleared all first- and second-term examinations on his first attempt, matching physical resilience with intellectual focus. By the time commissioning day approached, the once-struggling entrant stood as a poised officer cadet ready to lead, added the PRO. Both Deepak and Krishan represent the third generation of soldiers. Their grandfather and father both served nearly 30 years each in the Corps of Electronics and Mechanical Engineers (EME), retiring with the honorary rank of Subedar Major.
