Page 50 - Wish Stream Year of 2016

Islamabad and the Pakistan Military Academy – a visit by Of cer Cadets from RMAS – August 2016
A number of cadets were recently privileged to visit the Pakistan Military Academy (PMA) thanks to Maj Uqbah, who is currently seconded to RMAS from PMA. Our party landed at Islamabad Airport at approximately 0230hrs where we were greeted with an armed convoy of ten vehicles. This included an armoured bus for our party, topped and tailed by various military and police vehicles, many of which had soldiers armed with AK-47 ri es. We created an impressive scene as the convoy swiftly made its way to the Serena Hotel, one of the nest hotels many of us had ever stayed in. After a brief sleep we set off again with our convoy, heading north to Abbottabad (shown in the map), home of PMA.
The Academy was founded in 1947 (at the time of Pakistan’s independence) by Brig Francis Ingall, a British Army Of cer and the rst Com- mandant of PMA. Its British heritage means that PMA is very similar to Sandhurst, both physically and organisationally, and the routine for their Of cer Cadets follows a recognisable pattern to that of RMAS. Male and female cadets are not integrated at PMA and are referred to as ‘Lady’
We created an impressive scene as the convoy swiftly made its way to the Serena Hotel...
Captain Kerr, Major Uqbah and Captain Grey with the RMAS cadets and Major Omar and Captain Hina from PMA
Map of Pakistan and the surrounding countries
and ‘Gentlemen’ cadets. The Lady Cadets follow a six month course after they have completed a Master’s degree outside the Academy, whereas the Gentlemen Cadets attend for two years (four X six month terms), without attending university beforehand. PMA is around three times the size of RMAS to accommodate all three training bat- talions, and accommodation for a fourth battal- ion is under construction. The layout included obstacle courses, ranges, a polo pitch, athlet-
The polo team with the Commandant of PMA
Abbottabad
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