KADAPA: For the people of six villages in Kalasapadu and Rajupalem mandals of the district, serving their motherland is a tradition. Over 400 persons from these villages have so far joined the Indian Army and served the country. Rajupalem, was once a hotbed of factionalism and youth of these villages too started to lean towards such activities. Three decades back, a few youngsters from Korrapadu village decided to shun violence and started joining Army.
This brought a change in the mindset of the youth and soon a good number of youngsters started joining the Armed forces. In the past three decades, over 400 from Kalasapadu, I Eguvaramapuram, Chennupalle, Mallavarapupalle, Pullareddypalle, Siddamurthypalle and other villages in Kalasapadu and Rajupalem mandals have joined Army and some of them after their retirement, are now working in banks and private firms.
After joining Army, the youth have served at difficult terrains and conflict-hit regions like Punjab, Jammu and Kashmir, Arunachal Pradesh, Gujarat, Rajasthan, Sikkim and others. Whenever the Army personnel visit their villages, they tell the youth the respect they earn for serving the country and inspire others to join the Armed forces.An Army jawan from Korrapadu village, S Hemananda Reddy, was martyred after terrorists triggered a blast targeting the vehicle of Armed forces in Srinagar in 2003.
A retired Army man from Kalasapadu, B Venkateswarlu, said, “The youth who join Armed forces earn respect in our village. Inspired by the services rendered by the Armed forces to the country, I too had joined the Army. I was posted in Punjab, Jammu and Kashmir, Assam and other States during my 26-year service and retired as a havaldar.’’
ELATED TO SERVE THE COUNTRY
“I feel proud when people praise the Armed forces for serving the country leaving their families and children back home,’’ a retired Army man from Kalasapadu, B Venkateswarlu said and added that youth should come forward to join the Armed forces. He said the Army offers a wide range of jobs for youths from different educational backgrounds
TRAINING YOUTH TO JOIN ARMED FORCES
There are some families where at least two members of a family have either served or are serving the Army. David, who retired as Naik in the Army, said that he was overwhelmed with the respect that an Army man gets from the people. He provides free training and imparts necessary skills to the youth to get selected in the Armed forces