10.04.2025.
Training of NCO Course candidates recruited from civilian life
Practical training is underway at the Peskovi Training Area for Non-Commissioned Course candidates, who were recruited from civilian life and started this course last December.
The six-month course prepares the candidates for their entry-level duties in the Serbian Armed Forces units and their subsequent admission to professional military service for an indefinite period of time. The candidates have completed the first two modules, lasting for eight weeks, at the Sergeant Milunka Savić Non-Commissioned Officer Training Centre in Pančevo, and are now attending practical training in the use of weapons specific to their respective branches or services at the Serbian Armed Forces specialized training centres.
Future NCOs who are training for infantry specialties, are undergoing tactical and firearms training, i.e. 7.9 mm M-76 sniper rifle training using live rounds.
Second Lieutenant Dejan Pavlović, the leader of a sniper training team at the Army Training Centre in Požarevac, says that the candidates have first learned how to properly handle weapons in order to be able to move on to more complex activities.— We are raising their training to a higher level, through a combination of tactical actions and fire missions in attack and defence, Second Lieutenant Pavlović explains the main point of the training, noting that the next step awaiting them in the coming period is training with other infantry weapons.
One of the course candidates who have applied for the course from civilian life, Corporal Ivan Ćirković, does not hide that he was motivated by his love for the Serbian Armed Forces and the military profession, as well as by his desire to serve his country in this way.
— Experiences are unusual, something you cannot experience as a civilian, they are useful for our training, as well as for our future jobs as NCOs at the Serbian Armed Forces – emphasizes Corporal Ćirković.A competition for civilians who wish to apply for this model of Non-Commissioned Officer Course is currently open. Candidates can apply for one of 200 available non-commissioned officer jobs at the Ministry of Defence and the Serbian Armed Forces, including the following branches and services: infantry, artillery, air defence artillery-missile units, armoured units, telecommunications, quartermaster service, aerial surveillance and early warning and several specialties within the technical service (vehicle and aircraft technicians, armament, ordnance and telecommunication specialists).
