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Lieutenant General Brij M. Kapur (retired), an alumnus of St Columbus School, New Delhi, is a graduate of the National Defense Academy and the Indian Military Academy. Commissioned into the 16th Light Cavalry, the oldest Regiment of the Indian Army, he saw action with his Regiment both in the 1965 and 1971 Indian-Pakistan wars. He was chosen to set up the 43rd Armored Regiment of which he was the first Commanding Officer and later became known as the “Colonel,” a grandfather figure who looks after the affairs of the Regiment. After serving as “Colonel” of both the 16th Cavalry and 43rd Armored Regiment, he was also selected to become the first Colonel of a new Army unit: the 76th Armored Regiment.
He attended the Defense Services Staff College in India, and is an “Honor” graduate of the Armor Officers Advance Course at Fort Knox, USA. He attended the War College in Paris, France for two years during 1983 – 85 and is also a graduate of the National Defense College at Delhi.
Lt. General Kapur’s instructional appointments included two assignments as Instructor at the Radio Wing and the Tactical Wing at the ACC&S, and as the Directing Staff at the Defense Service Staff College at Wellington, India. His staff appointments were in an Armored Brigade, the Military Operations Directorate and the Military Secretary’s Branch in Army Headquarters. He was a Military Assistant to the Chief of Army Staff and the Brigadier General Staff of a Corps manning the Himalayan frontiers and involved in combating active insurgency in the East. He has also been the Chief of Staff of a Strike Corps.
Lt. General Kapur has commanded an Armored Regiment, an Independent Armored Brigade and an Armored Division. He commanded a Strike Corps for over three years until March 2001, after which he held the post of Director General Defense Planning Staff at the Defense Headquarters at New Delhi. This was followed by his appointment to the position of Deputy Chief of Integrated Staff (Policy, Planning and Force Development) in the Joint Staff, where he worked until his retirement in November of 2003.
His hobbies include aero-modeling, electronics, automotive engineering, photography and painting. He has been a long distance runner, has played hockey, football and squash and is currently interested in golf. He has written dissertations on Space Travel and Color Television. The thesis for his masters and an associate masters were on “India’s Nuclear Options” and “The Changing World Order & India’s Role in It.”
He is a recipient of the award of The Chief of Army Staff’s Commendation; the ‘Ati Vishisht Seva’ Medal (AVSM) and the ‘Param Vishist Sewa’ Medal (PVSM).
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