She set out to be a doctor and ended up as India’s only woman commando trainer with an MBA degree in crisis management, and has a seventh-degree black belt in military martial arts.
Meet Seema Rao, an approved resource of the Home Ministry for anti-terror CQB (close quarter battle) training. For the uninitiated, CQB is combat at 0-30 metres, using bullets, bayonets, daggers, grenades or just bare hands.
“It also requires strong shooting skills, where you have to beat the enemy by firing first; where you have to kill to survive,” explains the 47-year-old Rao, who, along with her husband Deepak, has patented a new method of shooting at close quarters.
The ‘Rao System of Reflex Fire’ has been incorporated into Indian Army commands with due credits, gaining three Army Chief citations for the Raos. It’s been over 18 years now that Seema and Deepak have been training special forces, that too without compensation.
“We have trained about 15,000 soldiers from every elite Indian force there is, from Navy Marcos to NSG Black Cats to the Air Force Garud, Paramilitary and Police forces” she says. She has also written the world’s first Encyclopedia of Close Combat Ops Training.