23.05.2019.
Minister Vulin: Excellent response for serving with Reserve
Minister of Defense Aleksandar Vulin visited soldiers above 30 years in training with the reserve forces at the First Training Center in Sombor. Out of the total number of persons above 30 years of age called to train with the reserve in May this year, theresponse is higher than expected, with 104 persons currently in the Training Center in Sombor, 90in the Second Training Center in Valjevo, and 97 people in the Third Training Center in Leskovac.
- All these men have came here to serve their country, adopt the basic military skills and show that it is worth dedicating their time and their engagement to servingtheir country - said Minister Vulin during his visit to the “Aerodrom” barracks in Sombor.
According to him, we should all be proud of these people who, in their thirties, are ready to separate from their families and jobs and to adopt basic military skills, which speaks in favor of us being a military nationwishing to stand proud with their country and their own armed forces.- Being reserve and serving your country is something that goes without saying, something that is normal and something that is a practice in almost every country in the world and Serbia is certainly not an exception. It makes me really proud to have this high response and suchexcellent results achieved by these men; and it makes me proud that they have received the support from their families, support from their social surroundings, that no one is criticizing them any longer for this, that no one laughs at them anymore and everyone understands that this is normal - said Minister Vulin.
During today’s visitto the Sombor Training Center, Minister Vulin was presented the contents of the training of persons above 30 years of age in the reserve forces. He also visited the preparations for the shooting practice and talked tothe members of the reserve in their second week of training, as well as with the officers in charge of the training.
Dejan Jovanović, Assistant Professor at the Faculty of Political Sciences at the University of Belgrade, was also training todaywith his platoon. He expressed gratitude to the state and military leaders for making it possible for all these young people to participate in and pass this type of training.
- I believe that we are the best defense of the state, we are the citizens. My main impression from the training here is the training officers, whose morale is enviable and who are full of energy, and each day they invest that energy to show us things we did not know, and the officers and non-commissioned officers who are with us are the ones training us. This is what gives me additional energy throughout the extensive day of training, when we are on our feet for up to 10 hours - said soldier Jovanović, adding that although participation in the defense of the country is an obligation of all the citizens, it is also a privilege to learn something new. He went on to emphasize that it is also important to legally regulate the relationship with the employer during the course of the reserve training, so soldiers can fully devote themselves to training.
Soldier Damir Čohodarević is also in the May-class training contingent at the Sombor Training Center, and for him as a professional programmer he says that over the first couple of days the hardest part was being “on his feet” most of the day.
- With the knowledge of weapons, the most valuable thing I learned here is moving in battle, taking cover behind the buildings, as well as initial training, because a man in the armed force is not an individual, but a member of a platoon, and that’s the valuable thing you learn. The atmosphere with the comrades from the class is fraternal, said soldier Čohodarević and added that it is a “at the knack of time” that you manage to master everything that needs to be mastered during a fortnight of training. He believes that an increased number of the non-commissioned instructors that are lacking would improve the training of the reserve.
