29.09.2016.
Marking the Day of Special Brigade and the tenth anniversary of its establishment
The ceremony marking the Day of the Special Brigade of the Army was held today in the Rastko Nemanjic barracks in Pancevo and was attended by Advisor to the President of the Republic of Serbia, Milorad Simic, Defence Minister Zoran Djordjevic and Serbian Armed Forces Chief of General Staff, General Ljubisa Dikovic, with members of the collegium, representatives of the Ministry of Defence and the Serbian Armed Forces, Ministry of Interior, representatives of the local government, Serbian Orthodox Church, and numerous citizens.On the occasion of the 10th anniversary of the establishment of the Special Brigade, President Tomislav Nikolic decorated the unit with the Order of Merit for Defence and Security 3rd Class that the advisotr to the President, Simic, presented to the Commander of the Special Brigade, Brigadier General Zoran Velickovic, during today's ceremony.
Extending greetings on the holiday and the jubilee, the advisor to the President of the Republic said that the Order of the Supreme Commander of the Serbian Armed Forces comes as a result of many years of dedicated work of that unit and he expressed his belief that the decoration will be an incentive for even better work, serving for other units as an example that should be followed.
According to the Commander of the Special Brigade, General Velickovic, in the historical framework, ten years seems like a short time, but the pace at which the brigade lived and worked was extremely dynamic and rich. The first decade of the existence of the Special Brigade, he said, was marked by more than 10 thousand firings, tens of thousands of parachute jumps, thousands hours of dives, hundreds of courses and selective training activities, as well as participation in humanitarian campaigns whenever it was needed.
- Behind the success achieved, there are well trained, organized and efficiently managed officers, NCOs and soldiers. The process of selecting personnel for the Special Brigade, as well as its development and further management in the service is and will be of good quality and steady, because the personnel is the most important factor in all units of this kind in the world – General Velickovic said adding that the top personnel complements modern weaponry and good material base for the training.After the military part of the ceremony, the ceremonial parade and parachute jumps of the members of the Special Brigade, the commanders laid wreaths at the memorial room of that unit in memory of the deceased members, and on the occasion of the Day of the Brigade, the Open Day campaign was organized and the gates of the Rastko Nemanjic barracks were opened today to all visitors.
The Special Army Brigade was established on 29th September 2006 by reforming and combining the 72nd Special Brigade and 63rd Parachute Brigade, as well as parts of the 82nd Marine Centre and Cobra anti-terrorist squad.
