Lieutenant General Manoj Pande is an Indian Army General Officer and serves as the Commanding-in-Chief Officer of Eastern Command. In April 2022, he was appointed as the 29th Chief of Army Staff, making him the first officer from the Corps of Engineers and also the first from combat support arms the combat arms being infantry, artillery and armoured to reach the post. [3]The Hindu.Lt. General was brought up in Nagpur. After completing school in Nagpur, he joined National Defence Academy (NDA). He then joined Indian Military Academy (IMA), Dehradun.During his distinguished career, he attended Staff College, Camberley (UK), Army War College, Mhow (India), and National Defence College, New Delhi for doing higher Command Courses. [4]India Today.Lt. Generals wife, Archana Salpeka, is a gold medalist from Govt. Dental College and Hospital. [5]Nagpur Today.In December 1982, Lt. Pande was commissioned into the Corps of Engineers (The Bombay Sappers).In his career, Lt. General spearheaded several counter-insurgency operations and staff assignments, in all types of terrain. [6]PIB.During Operation Parakram along LOC in Jammu and Kashmir, he commanded 117 Engineers Regiment.He was then appointed as the brigade major of a mountain brigade in Northeast India, after his return from Staff College, UK.At the rank of Lieutenant Colonel, he was selected for the UN Mission in Ethiopia and Eritrea as Chief Engineer.After coming back from Army War College, he was appointed as Colonel Q at HQ 8 Mountain Division.