06.08.2014.
The first female noncommissioned officer in the Third Brigade
Sergeant Suzana Kostic is the first woman with the rank of noncommissioned officer in the Third Army Brigade, and probably one of the rare women in the world who fulfills the responsible and complex duty of the operator at the Department of drone aircrafts “Orbiter”.
- If someone had told me ten years ago that I would have the rank of sergeant in the Military, I wouldn’t have believed them, although my father and my husband are servicemen, so, naturally, I was also interested in the military calling – Suzana said.The path to the rank of sergeant was not easy, and it ranged from unwinding cables from the winder at the communications platoon and specific training at the reconnaissance squad, over leadership, selective and basic courses for noncommissioned officers, to drone commands.
Suzana Kocic’s military career started in 2010, when she was admitted to the communications platoon of the 30th Command Battalion of the Third Brigade, as a professional soldier. Soon, she was transferred at the communications department of the reconnaissance squad to the position of a radio-teleprinterist, which fulfilled her wish to become a member of the reconnaissance unit and spend more time in field conditions. Each year, she went with her colleagues to special forms of training, skiing, survival in nature or overcoming water obstacles.
The invitation to the leadership course in Pancevo was unexpected for Suzana, but she gave her best to justify the given trust. The four weeks in Pancevo flew by, and she managed to achieve a great success at the course. The successfully completed leadership course was the gateway for an invite to the selective training in Pancevo, in March, 2013, where Suzana, with great results in standardized actions, managed to be among the 110 candidates, out of the 154 invited, who were to be referred to the Basic Course for noncommissioned officers. She spent another 11 weeks in Pancevo during the infantry training, and then she spent 13 weeks in Gornji Milanovac at the expert-specialist training for the communications arm.
Upon returning to the Third Brigade, this noncommissioned officer was given the duty of the operator at the Department of drone aircrafts “Orbiter”, the best one in the Serbian Armed Forces, and, according to evaluation of system manufacturers in Israel, it is the Third Brigade that has so far proved to be the most reliable user of their system.
Sergeant First Class Vladimir Pavlovic, Commander of the Department of drone aircrafts “Orbiter”, stated that Suzana is the living proof that women can successfully conduct complex tasks in the Armed Forces of Serbia.
