Air Marshal Garud retires

Air Marshal A P Garud, Air Officer Commanding-in-Chief, Southern Air Command, retired today after a distinguished service of 38 years.
Garud was commissioned in the helicopter stream of IAF on December 29, 1976 and has over 6,100 hours of flying experience on various helicopters and training aircraft in his career span, a defence release said.
An alumnus of National Defence Academy, Khadakwasala and Defence Services Staff College, Wellington, he is a qualified flying Instructor with a meritorious Category-A2.
He had served as Directing Staff at Flying Instructors School, Tambaram and as Senior Instructor at Defence Services Staff College Wellington and had also undergone the Higher Command Course at College of Combat, Mhow and the prestigious course at National Defence College, New Delhi, it said.

The Air Marshal had commanded an operational helicopter unit as well as the Helicopter Training School of IAF. He was also at the helm of two operational bases, the AF Station Barrackpore and AF Station Guwahati.
He had also served on deputation to Namibia.

His senior level appointments include Senior Officer-in- Charge Administration at Headquarters Eastern Air Command Shillong, Inspector General (Air) Border Security Force and Director General (Inspection & Safety) at Air Headquarters.
Before taking over as Air Officer Commanding-in-Chief, SAC, he was senior Air Staff Officer at Training Command Headquarters.
He took over the reins of SAC on January 1, 2014.