Lieutenant General Cherish Mathson,
PVSM
Param Vishisht Seva Medal (PVSM) (IAST: ) is a military award of India. It was constituted in 1960 and since then it is awarded in recognition to peace-time service of the most exceptional order and may be awarded posthumously. All ranks of the ...
,
SM,
VSM is a retired officer of the
Indian Army who served as
General Officer-Commanding-in-Chief (GOC-in-C),
South Western Command. He assumed office on 1 August 2017 taking over from Lt General
Abhay Krishna, and was succeeded by Lt General
Alok Singh Kler on 1 September 2019.
Early life and education
Mathson is an alumnus of
Sainik School, Trivandrum and the
Defence Services Staff College in
Wellington. He has also attended Senior Command Course at
Army War College, Mhow
The Army War College, Dr.Ambedkar Nagar (A.W.C.) is a defence service training and research institution of the Indian Army located in Mhow, Madhya Pradesh. It develops and evaluates concepts and doctrines for tactics and logistics for the arm ...
, the Long Defence Management Course at the
College of Defence Management,
Secunderabad
Secunderabad, also spelled as Sikandarabad (, ), is a twin cities, twin city of Hyderabad and one of the six zones of the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) in the States and union territories of India, Indian state of Telangana. It ...
and the
National Defence College, New Delhi.
Career
Mathson was commissioned into
Garhwal Rifles in June 1980. He has vast experience in rural and urban insurgencies and has served two tenures in Siachen Glacier, in
Operation Blue Star, in
Mizoram against the
Mizo National Front (MNF) and as a
UN observer in
Somalia.
He has commanded a battalion on the
Line of Control
The Line of Control (LoC) is a military control line between the Indian and Pakistanicontrolled parts of the former princely state of Jammu and Kashmir—a line which does not constitute a legally recognized international boundary, but serve ...
in
Jammu and Kashmir Jammu and Kashmir may refer to:
* Kashmir, the northernmost geographical region of the Indian subcontinent
* Jammu and Kashmir (union territory), a region administered by India as a union territory
* Jammu and Kashmir (state), a region administered ...
during
Operation Parakram, the Trivandrum Brigade in an
amphibious
Amphibious means able to use either land or water. In particular it may refer to:
Animals
* Amphibian, a vertebrate animal of the class Amphibia (many of which live on land and breed in water)
* Amphibious caterpillar
* Amphibious fish, a fish ...
Role, the
54th Infantry Division in the
Southern Command, Inspector General of the
Special Frontier Force and the
XXI Corps in
Bhopal.
He has also held staff positions including Deputy Assistant Quarter Master General Operations (DAQMG) of an Independent Infantry Brigade, Colonel Administration (Col Adm) of a Mountain Division, Brigadier Administration (Brig Adm) of the
XII Corps, Deputy Technical Manager (Land Systems) in Army HQ, Senior Defence Specialist (Military) in the National Security Council Secretariat and in the Defence Acquisition Wing (Ministry of Defence).
He was also the Colonel of the Regiment of Garhwal Rifles.
During his career, he has been awarded the
Sena Medal, the
Vishist Seva Medal in 2010 and the
Param Vishisht Seva Medal in 2018.
Honours and decorations
Dates of rank
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mathson, Cherish
Living people
Indian generals
Recipients of the Vishisht Seva Medal
Recipients of the Sena Medal
Recipients of the Param Vishisht Seva Medal
Year of birth missing (living people)
National Defence College, India alumni
College of Defence Management alumni
Army War College, Mhow alumni