25.02.2020.
The Day of the University of Defence and the Defence Inspectorate Day Marked
Defence Minister Aleksandar Vulin, accompanied by the Deputy Chief of General Staff of the Serbian Armed Forces Major General Petar Cvetković, attended the ceremony today on the occasion of the Day of the University of Defence and the Defence Inspectorate Day, held at the Guard Club in Topčider.
Congratulating the holiday to the members of the University of Defence, Minister Vulin pointed out that this institution, although young for the history of the Serbian people according to its foundation, it brings together institutions that are 170 years old and preserves the idea of preparing an army and people for the defence of their country – which is as old as that people, its state and the need of the people to be free and to fight for freedom.
- The times when we educated defence managers have passed. We educate officers. The times when we were preparing officers for the time when they will no longer be officers have gone. We educate people who have devoted their entire lives to the military and do not think about leaving it one day, or replacing it with anything else. The times when we thought about whether our tradition, our strength would bother someone, whether someone would point at us because of what we teach our children, whether someone else would write our military history for us. Times of wondering what others would think are gone. These are truth-telling times, in which we prepare our military for the purpose of its existence - the defence of the country and the defence of the people – Minister Vulin emphasised.The purpose of the University of Defence and the entire military education system, Minister Vulin points out, is not to educate and create professionals that might become mercenaries who would do what they were ordered to do without asking for purpose, but it is essential to educate and preserve patriots, people who love their country and their nation above all, people who clearly distinguish between what is good and what is evil.
- This year, thanks to the commitment of the people at the University of Defence, thanks to the university community, a great injustice has been corrected - 170 years since we have been writing to educate officers, to train military personnel, to study military sciences, 170 years later we introduced military sciences for the first time, for the first time the defence skills of our country were proclaimed and accepted by science – Minister Vulin said, adding that he hoped that in the years to come the academic community would have the courage and understanding to establish at the Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts a department dedicated to military sciences.
Minister Vulin said about the Defence Inspectorate that it is an important and large institution in our country, which not only keeps the tradition as long as the Serbian army lasts, but also has a responsible task to show us what we are.
- They tell us what we do not like to hear, they tell each of us to be exactly who we are, and we would like them to talk about us as we think we are. Therefore you cannot love them a lot, but you have to appreciate and respect them and you must always know before they come that these are people who care about their army above all, about people in that army, who care about the truth to be said that it should be learned from it and that we all together become better together - Minister Vulin said, congratulating the holiday to the members of the Defence Inspectorate.
According to the Rector of the University of Defence, Lieutenant General Goran Radovanović, PhD, in the period between the two holidays, all activities of this independent higher education institution were directed towards creating a professional, academically educated and highly motivated cadre, qualified to perform all the tasks and missions of the Serbian Armed Forces.
- We are proud of our values and our results, which oblige us to put even more effort into military education. Further reform is our task, as the University of Defence must, above all, be forward-looking - General Radovanović pointed out, adding that the institution he manages strives to develop creativity, independence, decision-making ability, willingness to take risks and the ability to solve all the tasks imposed by contemporary security challenges.
Director General of the Defence Inspectorate Major General Mile Jelić recalled that the institution inherits the values and traditions of the numerous inspection bodies in the defence system that have been created in Serbia over the past 109 years.
- Guided by professionalism built on the experience of previous generations, laws and professional and conscientious work, providing key information to decision makers on the state of defence preparations, operational and functional capabilities of commands, units and institutions, we have contributed to the stability of the defence system and to improving the operational capabilities of the Serbian Armed Forces – General Jelić said, adding that members of the Defence Inspectorate will continue to be dedicated to their primary goal, conducting inspection, guided by the postulate that “control is above confidence”, which serves as a barrier for the system against deviations in any form.
At today’s ceremony, plaques of the Defence Inspectorate were presented to Defence Minister Aleksandar Vulin and Commander of the Serbian Armed Forces Guard, Major General Milomir Todorović, while plaques of the University of Defence were received by Air Force and Air Defence Commander Major General Duško Žarković, on behalf of the Air Force and Air Defence Command, Prof. Milan Kulić, on behalf of the University of East Sarajevo, and former Rector of the University of Defence, Major General Mladen Vuruna.
All those who received the title of Doctor of Science at the University of Defence in the previous year were awarded diplomas at the ceremony, and Minister Vulin awarded ten members of the University of Defence and the Defence Inspectorate with a seven-day stay at resort facilities of the Ministry of Defence and the Serbian Armed Forces.
Programme of the ceremony that was attended by numerous guests from the Ministry of Defence and the Serbian Armed Forces included performance of the Mixed Choir of the Ministry of Defence and the Serbian Armed Forces and the Stanislav Binički Artistic Ensemble and the conductor was Katarina Božic.
The University of Defence, established on 24th February 2011, is an autonomous higher education establishment which provides high education through academic studies of the first, second and third level in several scientific areas in the framework of education and scientific fields of social-humanities, technical and technological and medical sciences.
The Defence Inspectorate continues the tradition of inspection bodies established in the Kingdom of Serbia. This institution commemorates its day in memory of 1911, when upon a Decree of the King Petar I Karađorđević, the Main Inspection of the entire armed forces was established.
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