13.10.2017.
Minister Vulin: A strong and satisfied armed forces is a guarantor of our autonomy
At the Center for Training and Advancement of Non-Commissioned Officers at the National Hero Stevica Jovanović barracks in Pančevo, a military ceremony was held where 125 participants of the 10th and 11th class, who were the best professional soldiers of the Serbian Armed Forces until yesterday, were promoted to the first non-commissioned officer's ranks.
The ceremonial promotion was attended by Defence Minister Aleksandar Vulin and his associates, the Chief of General Staff of the Serbian Armed Forces, General Ljubiša Diković, members of the expanded collegium, chief non-commissioned officers from the Serbian Armed Forces, military diplomatic representatives in the Republic of Serbia, representatives of the local self-government of Pančevo and the South Banat District, relatives and friends of the youngest sergeants.
Congratulating the sergeants their first non'commissioned officer's rank, Defence Minister Aleksandar Vulin said that the Serbian Armed Forces strengthens its operational capabilities, but that the core of every operational capability is a man.
- Today, we are stronger for a new class of NCOs; today our NCOs entered their first NCO's ranks and proved that the process of expanding the Serbian Armed Forces will definitely continue. We are strengthening the material and personnel base of the Serbian Armed Forces, we have already started raising the daily subsistence allowance, ensured solidarity assistance, we expect a significant increase in salaries, which will be greater than we have ever had, we will come out with the concept of mass housing construction for members of the security sector, Minister Vulin said adding that the Serbian Armed Forces not only arms itself, but also improves the material position of their members.
- A strong and satisfied army is the guarantor of our autonomy, our independence and our right to decide about ourselves alone. Such a reinforcing army, which is ever more numerous and better armed, is more and more satisfied, the army that guarantees that the state leadership can independently make its own decisions and that those decisions will be in the interests of Serbia solely and exclusively - the Minister of Defence emphasised, adding that the policy of military neutrality and making own decisions is the policy that we will continue to pursue.
- Our supreme commander, Aleksandar Vučić, the Government of the Republic of Serbia, all those who decide in this country on the political future of Serbia can be sure that the Armed Forces is a guarantor of peace, a guarantor of stability, but also a sure deterrent, and a guarantor that our political decisions will be respected and that the decisions which are made in the interest of this people will be implemented.
Addressing the youngest Serbian Armed Forces NCOs, Defence Minister Aleksandar Vulin said that they have a difficult task ahead of them.
- You need to be better than a memory of 1,300 corporals, better than the memory of Milunka Savić. But it is an easy task before you, to be just like them. And what else can you be, you who you have opted for an honourable calling, you who have chosen to serve your country with your life, you who have chosen to serve your homeland with renunciation, work, self-sacrifice, self-respect, and respect, you who have chosen to serve your country with your life, you cannot be anything but decent and proud, you cannot be anything but a proud memory, just as it was for 1,300 corporals and Milunka Savić.
- Be good to those who will come to you, be as they were toward you, full of respect, full of love. Be as your superiors were toward you, transfer it to those who come, each one of you should never forget that he received the most precious and the most valuable thing - he received someone's child.
Minister Vulin said that it is a difficult job that awaits young NCOs.
- There is no army that does not rest on you, on your courage, perseverance and patience, stubbornness, on toughness. You are not below the officers like you are not even above the soldiers, you are one armed forces and without each of you there is no armed forces, and without the Armed Forces there is no Serbia, and without Serbia what is the worthiness of this life, without Serbia, what would be the joy of your and my children.
- We should get ready for that day, to answer the question that our ancestors answered - is there anything more valuable than the freedom? There is not! No generation in the history of the Serbian people has given the wrong answer to this difficult and terrible question. When you pass your fingers through the hair of your children, tell them that you have given an answer that only a Serbian soldier can give - Defence Minister Aleksandar Vulin said.
The best students of the 10th and 11th classes of the Basic Course for Non-Commissioned Officers are sergeants Ivan Obradović and Dragan Kitić, respectively, the second in the ranking are sergeants Nikola Gvozdenović and Miloš Marjanović, respectively, and the third are sergeants Nenad Kostić and Dragan Ivaniš, respectively.
Defence Minister Aleksandar Vulin presented the best ranked ones with wrist watches, the second in the ranks of both classes were awarded by Chief of General Staff of the Serbian Armed Forces, General Ljubiša Diković, and the third most successful participants in the Basic Course for Non-Commissioned Officers, were awarded by the Chief NCOof the Serbian Armed Forces, Sergeant Major Milojko Milosavljević.
Addressing the audience, the first in the ranking, Sergeant Dragan Kitić, on behalf of colleagues from both classes, said that it was a very difficult and demanding period for them, but also an interesting and exciting one.
- For the past six months at the basic course for NCOs, and before that, at the leadership course in the Centre, we together passed through various types of selections and through various forms of complex training, the result of which are us, 125 of the youngest non-commissioned officers of the Serbian Armed Forces, who are standing in front of you, proud of the life path which we chose, Kitić said and added that it is a great honour to be a non-commissioned officer of the Serbian Armed Forces ready to give his life for the country.
Thanking the Chief of the General Staff and all commanders, chief NCOs, commanders and experienced instructors for their support, sergeant Kitić pointed out that the youngest NCOs are eager to respond to their first non-commissioned officer's duties, armed with the acquired knowledge, ready to face the challenging tasks that await them.
At the end of the ceremony, after the parade of the units, the attendees had the opportunity to see the demonstration of the work of the Second Army Command during the Battle of Cer and visit the static display.
PHOTOGALLERY
VIDEOGALLERY
mp4 