Proud of our Private First Class Milica Đekić
Minister of Defence Aleksandar Vulin and Chief of General Staff of the Serbian Armed Forces General Ljubiša Diković met today Private First Class Milica Đekić from the 27th Mechanised Battalion of the Second Army Brigade who several days ago saved a woman from a rain-swollen stream in the village of Lopatnica near Kraljevo.
The unfortunate woman was trying to free a stump stuck in the water, when she slipped and fell into the stream. Having heard that, Private First Class Đekić, followed by her step-father Goran, ran instantly after the woman carried by the torrent. They reached her after 300 metres when the woman grabbed some branches and stopped which Milica and Goran used to enter the water and pull her out.
As Private First Class Đekić pointed out “in these moments you do not have time to think and you do all to help someone in need”.
- When we pulled her out from the water, we administered the first aid, and then, she was taken care of in the hospital in Kraljevo. She is well, only bruised without serious injuries. Only now, after everything has passed, am I aware of what I did, and I am also aware of what could have happened – said Private First Class Đekić.
Minister Vulin pointed out that the Serbian Armed Forces are loved and appreciated for the people who make them.
- The fact that our member, our Milica, risked her own life to protect and save a human being in trouble speaks about who the members of the Serbian Armed Forces are. Because of that, whenever you see that we have provided something for the members of our armed forces, and when you see that we have improved their financial status by little, know that it is an improvement for the entire Serbia and every one in Serbia. Everyone who loves Serbia and is proud of it and its armed forces, loves the people who make them. We are proud of Milica and every member of ours, and the thing that Milica did, would do each member of the Serbian Armed Forces – the minister of defence underlined.
He sent a message that you come to the Serbian Armed Forces because you love the people, your country and because you are ready to do everything.
- We will continue making sure that all the members of the Serbian Armed Forces know how much the country loves them, respects and appreciates them, and they will also feel it when we tell that to them, and when we provide affordable flats, increase their salaries, increase daily allowances and enable that the members of the Serbian Armed Forces and their families feel good, proud and dignified in the country that loves them – Minister Vulin concluded.
General Diković emphasised that helping people whose lives are threatened is a humane deed, particularly when one risks his own live doing that.
- This is a wonderful example of the humanity of our soldiers, self-sacrificing and the relations towards the people out of the armed forces, which means full awareness of the role and importance of both the Serbian Armed Forces and its tasks. This deed is a usual deed for a soldier. It is important to know that the members of the Serbian Armed Forces like other honourable citizens will always help the others whose life is in danger – said General Diković.
Minister Vulin and General Diković awarded Private First Class Milica Đekić with a free seven day stay with her family on the Tara Mountain, and she will also be recommended for a medal of the Serbian Armed Forces.