15.07.2016.

Graduation Ceremony to mark the end of the Command and Staff Course

Graduation ceremony for participants in the 62nd class of the Command and Staff Course was held today at the Monument to the Unknown Hero on Avala.

President Tomislav Nikolic presented the parade daggers to the best participants in the class, and Minister of Defence Zoran Djordjevic presented them to foreign participants, while the Serbian Armed Forces Chief of General Staff, General Ljubisa Dikovic, conferred graduation certificates of completion of command and staff course, which was completed this year by 63 officers from Serbia, the Russian Federation, DNR Algeria, Greece, Macedonia and Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Congratulating the officers on successful completion of the training, President Tomislav Nikolic said that at this famous place, in front of the Monument to the Unknown Soldier, we expressed our pride that another generation of participants in the command and staff course had completed it, telling them that the guiding principle in their future career should be the idea that we are "behind the lines of the Serbian heroes, not leading, but following them."

- We are proud of our officers who continue the bright tradition of our ancestors from the time of the

Great War, when the Serbian Army officer corps, mostly educated in Serbia, crucially influenced the Allied victory – the president said and added that today's School of National Defence, in which the 62nd class has grown, continues, perfects and proudly keeps the honourable legacy of the ancestors.

Addressing the participants of the 62nd class of the command and staff course, the president stressed that they are completing their training in the year in which our country has achieved considerable success in many areas, despite the challenges that exist in the contemporary world.

- You, the members of the Serbian Armed Forces and the Ministry of Defence, have greatly contributed to that success. Your dedication to the profession was demonstrated during the performance of various responsible tasks, a number of exercises with the use of complex lethal systems, and participation in the celebration of important historical events, the president of the Republic said, wishing the officers to apply the acquired knowledge on their new duties in peace and to be the driving force and the holders of the further development of the armed forces in their future professional career.

Welcoming the guests, Colonel Miroslav Talijan, Head of the School of National Defence, summed up the results, goals and course of the professional development, with the reminder that its focus is on the tasks of the first mission – defending the fatherland against armed threats.

- During the schooling, the participants have solved many complex control operational tasks and it was not only in classrooms, cabinet

rooms and training grounds, but also at the Centre for Simulations and Distance Learning, as well as at the commander and reconnaissance trips, Talijan said.

Head of the School of National Defence reminded that schooling of this class was marked by the jubilee of this institution, under the title "Roots, Crossroads and Perspectives", and under the motto – Past for the Future, and that the participants showed a high level of motivation and carried out all the tasks responsibly and completely, and achieved very good success, with the average grade of 8.03.

Those who were better than the others were major Bojan Stojanovic (8.82), Major Dragan Jelic (8.82), while the best one, with the average grade of 9.18, was Major Aleksandar Dumic, who pointed out that this kind of training is a major milestone in the development of their careers, and that it was a necessary path to enable them to perform the most responsible duties in the Ministry of Defence and the Serbian Armed Forces.

- Referring to the command and staff course for us is the recognition and moral satisfaction for responsible work in the previous duties, but it also imposes an obligation for continued success, and this is only possible if there is commitment to the military profession, a strong will and desire and responsibility to the uniform we wear and the state we protect and defend.

Upon completion of the training, the officers will perform duties of commanders of tactical units of their arms or services at the battalion level, staff duties at the brigade level commands and other duties in the higher commands of the Serbian Armed Forces and organizational units of the Ministry of Defence.