Major DP Singh is a retired officer of the Indian Army, social activist, and para-athlete. He is best known for being India’s first blade runner and Asia’s first disabled solo para diver.During his schooling, Major DP Singh not only failed in the 11th standard but also failed twice to clear the all-India National Defence Academy’s entrance exam.While pursuing his graduation, Major DP Singh appeared for the military entrance exam, Combined Defence Services Exam (CDSE) conducted by the UPSC. He cleared the exam and the Indian Army’s selection process at his second attempt. [5]Hindustan Times In an interview, DP Singh said, I was not the most brilliant kid. I flunked once in class 11 and failed twice to join the NDA. But I knew what I had to do. The army had always enthused me. When my friends were preparing for IIT, I prepared for CDSE. I couldn’t make it through in my first attempt, but in the second chance, I cleared my exam and joined the Indian Military Academy.” Major DP Singh with his course mates at the Indian Military Academy.In June 1996, Major DP Singh joined the Indian Military Academy (IMA). On 6 December 1997, he was commissioned in the Indian Army’s 7th Battalion of the Dogra Regiment. Major DP Singh during his piping ceremony at IMA.In I998, a few months after his commissioning, DP Singh, with his unit, moved to the Akhnoor sector of Jammu and Kashmir.In 1999, when the Kargil War broke out between India and Pakistan, Major DP Singh was deployed at the Line of Control (LOC), and in July 1999, DP Singh and his company were ordered to capture a Pakistani bunker, which was spying on the movement of the Indian Army’s troops and was situated at a very strategically important place.In the early hours of 15 July 1999, Major DP Singh led his company to attack the Pakistani post. When he was about to reach the Pakistan Army’s bunker, a mortar shell blasted a few feet away from him, wounding him grievously.On 15 July 1999, DP Singh was evacuated by his fellow soldiers and was admitted to a military hospital, where he was declared dead upon arrival. The doctors, somehow, managed to revive him and by the time he was revived, gangrene, a form of infection, had infected his entire right leg due to which the doctors decided to amputate his right leg from the knee. In an interview, while talking about it, he said, We were merely 80 metres away from the enemy post. A 48-hour lull at that time, without a single bullet being fired, was slightly unnerving. When the conflict scene is hot and nothing happens, you have a feeling that something bad is about to happen. There was a sense of foreboding which precedes a tragedy. The killing area of a bomb is in an eight-metre diameter. Today I can joke that the bomb had my name written on it but it couldn’t still kill me. Jaako raakhe saiyan, mar sake na koye.” A photograph of Major DP Singh taken at Akhnoor in 1999.Other than amputating his right leg, the doctors also had to take out 73 shrapnels from his body, which were embedded in different body parts. Out of 73 shrapnels, the doctors could only manage to remove a total of forty shrapnels. Due to the trauma of the war, DP Singh was also diagnosed with Post-traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD); a form of psychological disorder. While giving an interview, Major DP Singh said, Do an X-ray and you’ll find pieces of shrapnel with the marking Made in Pakistan in my body.” A photo explaining the injuries suffered by Major DP Singh during the 1999 Kargil War.Major DP Singh was transferred from the Dogra Regiment; an infantry battalion, to Army Ordinance Corps (AOC), a non-infantry battalion, due to his injuries and disability. After serving for eight more years, Major DP Singh retired from the Indian Army in 2007.