14.07.2017.
Celebration on the Occasion of Graduation of the 63rd Generation of Officers at Command and Staff Course
Today, at the Monument to Unknown Hero on Avala a celebration was held on the occasion of completion of education of the 63rd generation of officers at Command and Staff Course of the National Defence School. The course was completed by 54 officers, among whom two came from Bosnia and Herzegovina, two from Macedonia and one from the United States of America.
On that occasion, the Minister of Defence, Aleksandar Vulin conferred officers’ daggers to three best ranking officers, while the Chief of General Staff of Serbian Armed Forces, General Ljubiša Diković handed the certificate of obtained title of Command and Staff Officer to the students of the 63rd generation.
Minister Vulin, congratulating the officers on everything that they had learned and demonstrated, said that Serbian officers are descendants “of that Army that was guided solely by one word, and that word is the reason why it lives and why it exists”.
- Freedom. Serbian Army can be described as well as its people by just one word – freedom. And that is why we say that we are military neutral, and we do not think that it is any kind of justification or excuse not to be aligned when the times of evil come, but for us, the military neutrality is a message to the whole world that we will recognise the evil and fight it wherever we see it and know it, that we will never turn our head away from the evil, but we will also never allow ourselves to do to other people what others did to us. We will not allow that smaller and weaker suffer what the greater and more powerful did to us. That is what military neutrality means to us, and that is the policy formulated and ordered by the Supreme Commander of our Armed Forces, President of the Republic Aleksandar Vučić, state leadership and the entire nation – Vulin highlighted.
He stated that on that day “we stand in the shadow of the great and glorious monument, and monuments are erected not the make the landscape more beautiful or the make a hill higher”.
- The monuments are erected so that we know what values we, as descendants of those who gave their lives for these and such monuments, have to follow. These are the values that make us what we are. These are the values for which Serbian people is appreciated and respected as long as its honourable name can be heard. That is why we stand today in the shadow of this monument reminding each other, officers in particular, that you are not the descendants of any Army, the Army that is not like any other, because you are descendants of Serbian Army, the Armed Forces of Serbia, whose officers have always and in all wars demonstrated not only that they were capable and trained, or even just brave, but that they were honourable and humane men who understood other people’s suffering never allowing anybody to lessen or disgrace the value of their own people - the Minister of Defence said.
According to the words of Minister Vulin, Serbian Army could never clearly determine and differentiate where the Army stops and people begins.
- Because this is the Armed Forces and this is the military that grew from the people and for the people, and it has never turn its head away from the suffering of its people and it never failed to stand by its people, because of it, with it. We are standing today in the shadow of great ancestors. Afraid. The only thing that we should be afraid of is the possibility of not being worthy of their memory. But I am looking at you and I know that a Serbian officer cannot be less than his great grandfather or great-great-grandfather. I know that a Serbian officer can never be lessened while standing in the shadow of this monument and under the flag that he loves more than anything – the Minister of Defence said.
Head of National Defence School, Colonel Prof Miroslav Talijan emphasised that the achievement of the 63rd generation demonstrates that our state and our people have a high quality and efficient military education which with the assistance of the Ministry of Defence and Serbian Armed Forces represents “a foundation and guarantee for successful discharge of missions and tasks of our Armed Forces, and by that for the protection of national interests of the Republic of Serbia”.
-I am confident that this generation of Command and Staff officers as well, inspired by the tradition of known and unknown heroes of Serbian Army, with the adopted new highly respectable knowledge and skills, along with already proven values, successfully step towards the peak of their professional career, be mainstays of honour, discipline, good interpersonal relations and respect in their future units – Colonel Talijan underlined.
The best results in the 63rd generation were achieved by Major Vladimir Gajić with the average score of 9.45, Major Ivica Trajković with the average grade 8.82 and Major Miroslav Maksimović with the average grade 8.82.
On behalf of the 63rd generation, the present were addressed by Major Gajić who thanked everybody for the rendered support and given confidence:
- Professional advancement represents a milestone, not only in our careers, but in our lives as well. The road that it was necessary to take in order to further advance and be trained to discharge responsible duties in the Ministry of Defence and Serbian Armed Forces, has given us a precious opportunity to become even better, more qualified, skilful and more motivated officers ready to tackle the most serious challenges – Major Gajić stressed.
The celebration was attended by Secreatry General of the President of the Republic of Serbia, Nikola Selaković, representatives of the Ministry of Defence and Serbian Armed Forces, families, relatives and friends of the officers of the 63rd generation of Command and Staff Course.
Command and Staff Course is professional advancement and represents the second level of professional advancement of officers. It is organised and carried out regularly and lasts for one academic year.
