Surinder Singh (general)

Lieutenant General Surinder Singh, AVSM, VSM is the current General Officer Commander-in-Chief (GOC-in-C), Western Command of the Indian Army and assumed office on 17 September 2016. He assumed the post after Lt General Kamal Jit Singh retired on 31 July 2016.

Early life and education
Singh is an alumnus of an alumnus of National Defence Academy, Pune and National Defence College. He has also attended the Higher Command Course at Staff College Camberley.

Career
Singh was commissioned into 2nd battalion Brigade of the Guards in 1979. He has vast experience counter insurgency and operational environments. He has commanded an Armoured brigade, a division in a strike Corps and a XXXIII Corps (Siliguri). He has also held staff appointments at the Military Operations Directorate, the Perspective Planning Directorate at the Army Headquarters, headed the Territorial Army, a military observer with the UN mission in Somalia and other key operational roles.

During four decades of his career, he has been awarded the Vishisht Seva Medal and the Ati Vishisht Seva Medal in 2015. He is also the ‘Colonel’ of The Brigade of Guards.