A former General-Officer Commanding, 14 corps, General Vinayak Gopal Patankar served the Indian Army for 40 years. He held several other important command and staff appointments, including commander of a Mountain Brigade in the north-east and an Infantry Division along the Line of Control (LoC) in Kashmir; as well as Director, Military Operations Directorate. He saw action in the 1965, 1971 and Kargil wars. General Patankar is a much sought after speaker on defence matters.