The Army's rendezvous with city youngsters at the Panjab University campus to highlight career options in the Army evoked an enthusiastic response today.

A stimulating presentation and an inspiring film on the lifestyle and challenges in the Army set a captive audience to determine if "they had it in them", while a Bofors 155 mm Howitzer, put through its paces to demonstrate its "scoot" capability, turned out to be the star attraction of the armaments display put up on the occasion.

Visitors were given a hands-on experience on handling various weapons systems and also allowed a glimpse of the insides of a tank, armoured personnel carrier, a radar unit and bridge-layer.

Speaking on the occasion, Major General Artillery, Western Command, Maj Gen G.M. Lasrado, said that though many youngsters wanted to join the Army, they were not sure how to go about it or what exactly was in store for them once they joined. He added that though the idea had come in late, the Army has, for the past two-and-a-half years, embarked on an image-building campaign.

Later, the Deputy Director General, Recruiting, Brig P.S. Sandhu, said they had got a very good feedback from a similar seminar organised at Government College for Girls, Sector 11, last month. He added that statistics were being compiled, which would give a true picture of how successful these seminars have been in motivating the youngsters. A similar seminar is now planned at Hisar.

While the seminar was well received as it gave a much-needed career insight, a number of persons present had a feeling that such seminars had a better applicability at the school and college level where the real potential can be tapped because university students are "overage".

A number of officers from different arms and services, including six lady officers Maj Trishatjit Sethi, Capt Promila, Capt Seema Singh, Lt Amrit Pal Kaur, Lt Ishtdeep Ghuman and Lt Anuradha Talwar were also present.An interactive counselling session, where officers answered students' queries, was also part of the seminar.

Earlier, Col Arun Sharma listed the broad aspects of a career in the Army, while Lt Col A.A. Oka explained the Army's organisation and structure. The different types of commission and modes of entry were highlighted by Col K.G. Chatterjee and the Army's selection procedures and service privileges were highlighted by Lt Col J.S. Rao and Col Arun Sharma, respectively. All officers were from the Headquarters Recruiting Zone, Ambala.

The rugged T-72 battle tank, the highly maneuverable BMP-2 infantry combat vehicle, the versatile Bofors 155 mm Howitzer, the highly-potent ZSU 23-4 radar controlled anti-aircraft guns, robust bridge-laying and field engineering equipment as well as other ruddy field guns and anti-aircraft weapons and the ubiquitous infantry small arms, including grenade and rocket launchers, were on display at the venue.