Minister Vulin at cadets’ training: Our armoured units will get first-class officers

Today, the Minister of Defence, Aleksandar Vulin, and the Commandant of the Military Academy, Major General Bojan Zrnić, visited the cadets of the 141st and 142nd classes of the Military Academy - Armoured Unit Module, who are undergoing a training in target firing from the M84 tank and the M80A infantry fighting vehicle at the stationary camp in the "Orešac" Military Complex.

After the firing, Minister Vulin said that our armoured units will certainly get first-class officers, great people and great professionals in the coming period as well.

- Today, the cadets showed that they have an excellent command of weapons and that the coronavirus epidemic did not affect their motivation and their willingness to learn. During the fight against Covid-19, the Military Academy had to suspend instruction to students for a while. Of course, they all studied remotely, showing excellent results, but nothing can replace field work and real contact with weapons.

Minister Vulin also pointed out that all the cadets of the Military Academy showed exceptional motivation, and thanks to their commanding officers and those who educate, train and instruct them, they achieve exceptional results.

The Minister of Defence was briefed about the training of the third and fourth-year cadets of the armoured units of the Military Academy, by the commander of the camp site, Lieutenant Colonel Miloje Ilić, a Tactics teacher at the Military Academy. According to him, the cadets are carrying out scheduled firing practices as part of the course on weapons and firing.

- In their schooling so far, the cadets carried out firing drills, observation exercises, and then the third-year cadets moved on to preliminary firing, and the fourth-year cadets moved on to range practice. The next stage is carrying out service practice, which is carried out on the range that has ballistic conditions for firing 125 mm projectiles - explains Lieutenant Colonel Ilić.
 
He adds that the results of today's firing are excellent, that the firing range at the "Orešac" training ground is extremely good, and that the concrete paths enable the tanks to move at the required combat speed and to easily engage targets.
 
Jovan Pavlović, a fourth-year cadet of the Military Academy (Armoured Unit Module), points out that today's task - firing at targets from the M84 tank - was demanding and that it is an important step in his education. 
 
- Today, as part of the field training, we had the opportunity to participate in target practice. We were able to check the theoretical knowledge we acquired at the Military Academy in practice. As part of the firing, my role was that of a tank commander and I had a number of tasks to perform - said Cadet Jovan Pavlović.

One of the third-year cadets who performed preliminary firing from the M80A infantry fighting vehicle, was Cadet Mirko Pavlović, whose role was that of the commander of the combat vehicle.

- It is a very responsible role and it implies a lot of things, such as the control of all events in the combat vehicle and reporting to the officer conducting the firing, so that everything goes according to plan - emphasizes Cadet Mirko Pavlović and adds that it is important for cadets to go out to the field and, for him, firing from a combat vehicle was an interesting and beautiful experience.