Colonel V K Rao (Retd) was commissioned in
May 1974, into erstwhile 1 Jammu & Kashmir
Militia (renamed in 1976 as 1 Jammu and
Kashmir Light Infantry). An alumnus of Sainik
School, Kunjpura, he was decorated with the award
of “Mentioned in Despatches” for his outstanding
action at sub unit level in Operation Foxhunt in
Sri Lanka. He has also seen active service in
Kashmir and in the North East. While
commanding 129 Infantry TA battalion
(Ecological) at Samba from 1997 to 2002, his
unit was awarded the country’s highest
environmental award, the Priyadarshini Vriksh
Mitra award, for special achievement in the field of
environmental protection. Colonel V K Rao is now
settled in Bengaluru.
