12.07.2019.
Celebration of the Completion of the Command and Staff Course of the 65th Class of Officers
Minister Vulin: The armed forces exist so that there is no war
The envoy of the President of the Republic of Serbia and Supreme Commander of the Serbian Armed Forces, Minister of Defence Aleksandar Vulin attended the celebration of marking the completion of the Command and Staff Course of the National Defence School by the 65th Class of officers, which was held today at the Monument to Unknown Hero on the Avala mountain.
Minister Vulin congratulated the students the completion of the professional advancement on behalf of the President of the Republic of Serbia and Supreme Commander of the Serbian Armed Forces saying that he was proud of each student, confident that they would by their lives deserve the grateful memory of their descendants, and that he was certain that the Serbian Armed Forces would protect their country and people, wherever they lived and lasted.
- I wish to congratulate you and to ask you never to stop being worthy of your ancestors, and never to stop being a role model and the subject of respect and love of your descendants. When the great and mighty request that we admit genocides which we never committed, when they request that we write the history the way they think we should write it, or when they demand that we throw the proud and honest name of our people in the arena of daily politics, to forget ourselves and annihilate ourselves, then we know the value and greatness of our choice to make our own decisions, to write our history on our own and tell it the way it truly happened. When we were winning and even when we were losing, when we were on the winner’s pedestal, when we returned to freedom, when it was difficult and terrible – we were dignified. Then, and now alike – Minister Vulin said.He sent a message that “no one should think that they will write the history of the Serbian people and that we will agree that the evil which they recognise in themselves should become our truth”.
- We marked the 100th anniversary of the end of the First World War and the 20th anniversary of the end of NATO aggression. We have learnt a lot from our history and our past. We have learnt that we were winning and won the wars which we did not want, which we did not wage by our own will, which we did not cause, and which we did not justify. We won those wars because the people and the military were one, and because the values for which we fought were the values of every man; the values that everyone can accept and understand. After the civil wars in the territory of former Yugoslavia in particular, we have learnt that where there are no Serbian armed forces, or Serbian state, there is no justice for the Serbs, or compassion or care. We have learnt that only the strong Serbian state and strong armed forces, capable of responding to any challenge, are a sufficient guarantee that we will last and live where we were born; not in a place where someone has brought us, expelled us, or where someone could speak about us as aggressors, but in the place where we were born. No matter if the borders of the state of Serbia stretch there or not, the Serbian people has the right to expect attention and protection of its state and its armed forces – the minister of defence stressed.
According to him, the Serbian Armed Forces do not exist to threaten anyone and to make anyone’s childhood horrific, but they exist “so that no one could threaten us, so that crying and terrors of war would not end the childhood of any of our children”.
- The Serbian Armed Forces exist so that there will be no more wars, and you do that, and you are the greatest deterring factor for anyone who thinks that Serbia should be spoken to in the language of force. We have learnt that without the policy of neutrality and independence, we would have to listen to others – what to buy, sell, who our friends are, and who our enemies are, and we have learnt that we can ultimately rely solely on our own selves – on our people and our armed forces. It was the same both in the past and today – Minister Vulin stressed.
The Head of the National Defence School, Colonel Mićo Suvajac stresses that the ranks of the Serbian Armed Forces grew stronger today by another class of command and staff officers resolved to discharge all the missions and tasks.
- We are standing today in front of the magnificent Monument to Unknown Hero, but we do not forget the heroes of Cer, Kolubara, Kajmakčalan, Košare, Paštrik and other theatres of war where Serbian soldiers defended their freedom. It is because of them and their struggle that we have to be better educated today, tougher and more resilient. In front of you are the officers who are educated, capable and eager to prove themselves, and I am confident that they will meet the requirements of their new duties – Colonel Suvajac said.
Upon a decision of the President of the Republic of Serbia and Supreme Commander of the Serbian Armed Forces, the three best ranking officers of the Command and Staff Course and the officers of foreign armed forces received officers’ daggers, and they were conferred by Minister Vulin, while the certificates for the students of the 65th Class of acquired title of Command and Staff Officers were presented by the Dean of the University of Defence, Lieutenant Colonel Goran Radovanović.
The first ranking officer of the 65th Class of Command and Staff Course is Major Milan Jevtić, the second ranking is Major Duško Cvijanović and the third ranking is Major Slaviša Knežević.
According to Major Milan Jevtić, who addressed the gathered on behalf of the students of the 65th Class, the Command and Staff Course is one of critical moments, both in the military path and in life of an officer, since it enables further advancement in professional terms and further advancement in the Ministry of Defence and Serbian Armed Forces.- The privilege which we have been given in the form of frequenting this level of professional advancement has offered us a priceless opportunity to improve our personal competence, to upgrade our experiences and knowledge gained in the previous years, and it motivated us for the highest responsibilities in the work with people and to be ready to efficiently dedicate ourselves to facing all challenges and resolving problems in our organisational units – Jevtić stressed.
Major Saša Lazarević from the Armed Forces of Bosnia and Herzegovina stated that he was honoured to celebrate the completion of the Command and Staff Course together with the colleagues from the Ministry of Defence of the Republic of Serbia and Serbian Armed Forces, and colleagues from Nigeria and Algeria. As he says, as of today, the countries from which the students come from are richer for new command and staff officers, but they are also richer for great friendships.
The Command and Staff Course represents the second level of officers’ professional advancement. It is organised and carried out as regular activity and lasts for one academic year. In the 65th Class, the Course was completed by 50 officers, 43 of them being from Serbia, five from Bosnia and Herzegovina and one from the armed forces of Algeria and Nigeria respectively.
Today’s ceremony was attended by numerous members of the Ministry of Defence and Serbian Armed Forces, families and friends of the students of the Command and Staff Course, and the programme for the celebration included the performance of the Mixed Choir of the Ministry of Defence and Serbian Armed Forces.
PHOTOGALLERY
VIDEOGALLERY
mp4 