Indian American siblings join US Air Force, make community proud

By Prakash Bhandari 

New York: Indian-American brother-sister duo has created a sort of record. Suvir Singh Shekhawat, the brother and his sister Pragya Shekhawat are both serving the US Air Force as officers. While Suvir is a fighter pilot and holds the rank of Captain in the US Air Force, Pragya was commissioned as Lieutenant on September 19. They are Rajputs from Jhunjhunu in Rajasthan and in the true tradition of Rajputs they have joined the forces.

In the US when Pragya was being given the star as a commissioned officer, her 91-year-old grandmother Ichraj Kunwar and her father Dushyant Singh Shekhawat and her mother were present to greet her at the ceremony. Her brother was also present with his American wife Ashlyn.

Their father, Dushyant Singh Shekhawat hails from Gudha Gaurji Tehsil’s Jakhal village. Before migrating to the US, he was a chemistry teacher in Rajasthan government. He quit his job and came to the US to study chemical engineering. Both his children were born in India, they migrated later and started living in MorganTown in West Virginia where the father worked.

Suvir Singh enrolled himself in the US Air Force in 2015 and started learning to fly and he inspired his sister to join the Air Force. She was selected for the Air Force after a strenuous selection process and was made an officer. She would now be in flying duty.