The Indian Army draws its true strength from mothers like Santro Devi, Major General Yashpal Singh Mor said on Sunday.

The Sena Medal awardee and third-generation soldier paid tribute to a life lived far from parade grounds and citations, yet central to the Army’s enduring spirit of resilience.

“This is a story of grit and determination. Story of Santro Devi,” he posted on X, sharing a photograph.

The post was about Santro Devi, a widow from Alipur village in Haryana’s Jind district, and her son, Lieutenant Hardeep Gill, who was commissioned from the Indian Military Academy (IMA), Dehradun, on Saturday.

“Her husband died 20 years ago, leaving behind three daughters and 2 year old Hardeep,” Mor wrote. What followed was a stark account of survival. Santro Devi worked as a mid-day meal worker in a government school “at paltry payment”. After school hours, she laboured in fields as a farm worker. The village was Alipur, near Narwana. Life was unforgiving.”

“Today Lt Hardeep Gill gets commissioned from IMA,” the post continued.

Mor added that Hardeep studied at a village school and later graduated from IGNOU. “He too worked in the fields till the day he finally joined IMA.”

“The real strength of our armed forces is the rural youth, they will become leaders of tomorrow. Jai Hind.”

Mor’s words carried the weight of his own journey.

Commissioned into 1 Guards in 1985, the Major General is a third-generation Army officer from Baas village in Hisar, Haryana. He served with the United Nations peacekeeping mission in Mozambique in 1993–94 and later led counter-terrorism operations in Jammu and Kashmir, earning the Sena Medal.

Now retired, he runs an academy that mentors young aspirants preparing for the defence services.

It was through this platform that Hardeep Gill came into his orbit.

Speaking to The Indian Express, Major General Yash Mor (retd) said he mentored Hardeep online for the Services Selection Board (SSB).

Hardeep Gill was less than two years old when he lost his father. The responsibility of raising him and his three sisters fell entirely on Santro Devi. Her income as a mid-day meal worker was about Rs 800 a month, supplemented by tending a small landholding.

As a young man, Hardeep set his sights on the Indian Air Force. He was selected as an Airman, cleared the process, and ranked high but could not make it.

“I was initially rejected in the medical for the post of Airman on minor grounds, but I got these infirmities corrected and again got selected. Out of around 3,000 people selected for the Airmen’s vacancies, I was 59th in the all-India merit list. But sadly, that dream was dashed when the government put all those selections on hold and instead introduced the Agnipath scheme,” he said.

Four years later, Hardeep stood in the drill square at Dehradun with an officer’s commission.

“This was his ninth SSB attempt, which he cleared and joined the IMA in 2014 after coming 54th in the all-India merit list,” Major General Mor told The Indian Express.

“People in my village used to say that I would lose out on lower-level jobs since I was fixated on getting an officer’s job. However, I never gave up hope and kept improving myself with every attempt,” Hardeep said to Mor in a podcast.

Lieutenant Hardeep Gill has been commissioned into the 14th Battalion of the Sikh Light Infantry.

Major General Mor wrote that he was “happy to have played a small role” in mentoring him.

The larger role, his post made clear, belonged elsewhere. To a mother who kept going when there was no guarantee that endurance would be rewarded.