President and Supreme Commander Aleksandar Vučić: Serbia and all its citizens are proud of their armed forces

The youngest second lieutenants of the Serbian Armed Forces were promoted today at the ceremony at the Military Academy. One hundred and fifty-two cadets, including eight cadets of the Armed Forces of Bosnia and Herzegovina, received their first officer ranks.

The ceremony was attended by the President of the Republic and the Supreme Commander of the Serbian Armed Forces, Aleksandar Vučić, Prime Minister Ana Brnabić, Minister of Defence Aleksandar Vulin, Government ministers, Chief of the General Staff of the Serbian Armed Forces, General Milan Mojsilović, representatives of the Ministry of Defence and the Serbian Armed Forces, religious communities, military-diplomatic corps and other guests.

The best cadets of the 140th and the 141st Classes of the Military Academy are Ognjen Zlatić (Army branch), Anđela Bogojević ( Air Force and Air Defence branch), Mladen Živković (services of the Serbian Armed Forces), and Miodrag Hadži Mladenović from the 6th Class of the Medical Faculty of the Military Medical Academy.
   The President of the Republic and the Supreme Commander of the Serbian Armed Forces Aleksandar Vučić presented pistols with engraved dedications to the best second lieutenants of the Military Academy and the Medical Faculty of the MMA.

Congratulating the youngest officers, President Vučić pointed out that the University of Defence made us happy again this year with excellent classes of final year cadets, who will receive second lieutenant’s epaulettes today and go to the units of the Serbian Armed Forces and take over the initial officer duties. 

- The Military Academy has been doing this for 170 years and I take this opportunity to congratulate them on this big and important anniversary. The long existence and the importance of the work that the University of Defence and its units of higher education perform, place it among the institutions of our state which can proudly bear the name of national ones – said President Vučić at the beginning of his address.

 -The Republic of Serbia and all its citizens are proud of their armed forces. The Serbian Armed Forces are one of the most important institutions of our state in which the citizens place a huge, the greatest trust. Serbia is also proud of the system of military education which has achieved exceptional results in the last few years. Although our officers have shown so many times, even in the not so distant past, how important their knowledge and education is for the freedom and survival of their homeland, only recently, for the first time in history, have military sciences been recognized in the Serbian system of sciences as a special scientific field.  It is the result of the vision and great dedication of the University of Defence and its units of higher education – President Vučić emphasized.

Addressing the cadets, President Vučić pointed out that the reputation of our armed forces has been raised in recent years. 

 - You are the ones who mostly deserve credit for that. We only tried to help and do what we were obliged to do. We restored the vocational secondary schools that had been abolished in 2005, we reintroduced in the fourth year the subject of martial arts that had been thrown out, as well as camping on the move, because we have to build serious armed forces, not the people who just get a piece of paper, a diploma and never deal essentially with the army. I’d say that we have also improved your status and standard in the previous period – emphasized President Vučić, adding that what is important and what he is proud of is the fact that there are 30% more enrolled students than in an average of three years, which is a proof that serving in the army is becoming popular again with all citizens of Serbia and that they perceive armed forces as a place for their future, as a guarantor of security and stability of our country and an institution that can provide a decent life to the families of its members.

 President Vučić emphasized that in today’s world of insecurity, challenges and unpredictability, Serbia must have strong armed forces that will protect the Republic of Serbia proudly, bravely and courageously.

 - The Serbian Armed Forces will preserve and protect the neutrality of the Republic of Serbia, but not neutrality on paper, but real neutrality. It is not your or our job to work for anyone else but our country. You will get a number of invitations from different sides, well-intentioned and ill-intentioned, from people who will want to bring you over to some other side, saying that it is the best for Serbia. You need to know and remember that there is only one homeland for all of you and all of us, and that is Serbia – said the Supreme Commander of the Serbian Armed Forces today to the youngest second lieutenants emphasizing that “we will only protect the interests of the Republic of Serbia in the future”.

- We will keep our friendships, we will think of how to deal with different pressures that a relatively small country, such as ours, can and must deal with. But I ask you never to give up and to fight off any potential aggressor on our territory with your strength, determination, knowledge and faith in your homeland. We will be ready to strike back at anyone who dares to strike at Serbia. We will never follow anyone, we will never endanger anyone, we will cooperate with everyone, if that is possible at all in the modern world - President Vučić emphasized, adding that we "just want to be the owners of our own land”, and nothing more.

According to him, that is why we will jealously protect our neutrality and take care of the members of our armed forces and their families and make sure that they get good and cheap apartments so that they can plan a family, adding that the standard of soldiers will improve.

 -Serbia will have to take care of itself; we cannot expect someone else to fight for us if we are attacked. That is why we will have to continue to equip our armed forces with the most modern weapons; we will have to train our soldiers in the best possible way. You are the ones who guarantee us all this with your knowledge, strength and energy and with what you did in the previous period but also with what you will have to do in the coming, more challenging period – President Vučić emphasized, giving special thanks to cadets’ parents and families, “who raised such heroes and gave them to Serbia”.

The President of the Republic said that we have always had soldiers who bravely defended our country and our people.

- You are here to protect the interests of our country in peace. If someone tried to carry out aggression against our country in any way, I know that it would never be successful, because we have you - said the President of the Republic and Supreme Commander Aleksandar Vučić at today's ceremony.

The Commandant of the Military Academy, Major General Bojan Zrnić, PhD, pointed out that this year’s ceremony to promote the youngest second lieutenants is held in compliance with the health recommendations related to the coronavirus epidemic, pointing out three challenges.

- Firstly, the epidemic has prevented us from communicating with our past and nurturing our tradition in the way we want. We want to build lighthouses that illuminate present and future roads by reflecting on the past. That is why we hoped, at the beginning of this year, that we would celebrate our great jubilee, 170th anniversary of the foundation of the Military Academy, in a more visible way. Unfortunately, in the new circumstances, our ambitious plan had to be reduced to a few events worth mentioning - said General Zrnić, highlighting the unveiling of the bust of General and Academician Jovan Mišković and the opening of a memorial room.

He then emphasized that the pandemic threatened to jeopardize the most important tasks of the Military Academy and the Medical Faculty of the Military Medical Academy, and that is the educational process.

- We swiftly responded to the new challenge and redirected a large part of the teaching process to our own distance learning platform. In addition to this, there was no shortage of field training. We are especially proud that we successfully carried out the exercise “Graduate”, in which cadets of all branches and services, including the medical service, participated for the first time this year. This confirms that the mission of the University of Defence to build professional officers loyal to Serbia and ready for the challenges of an officer's calling in the service of the homeland, has been successfully accomplished - General Zrnić pointed out.

Speaking about the third challenge, the Commandant of the Military Academy pointed out that even in the circumstances of the pandemic, final year cadets will have the promotion they deserve, with a military ceremony worthy of these young people’s hopes, patriotic ideals and big dreams, their hard work, knowledge, sacrifice and success.

- Despite all the challenges, here we are today at a ceremony that is being held again at the Military Academy after 14 years. Bringing back the promotion ceremony to this place is very symbolic and there are many reasons to be proud of it. It is at this place that many generations of officers listened with attention and pride to presidential decrees giving them the right to officer's epaulets, and with them to commander's duties and responsibilities - said General Zrnić, emphasizing that the "General Jovan Mišković" barracks, thanks to new investments, are tidier and more beautiful, and that they are ready to welcome the promotion of the youngest second lieutenants.
 Speaking about the youngest officers, General Zrnić pointed out that these are excellent classes and that among them there are exceptional soldiers who made us proud at military cadet competitions and medal-winners in international military sports competitions, and winners in knowledge competitions, excellent shooters, polyglots and exceptional orators.

- They are superbly trained, their knowledge is huge, their talents are numerous, and they can certainly make great achievements. Their spirit is sharpened, their hearts devoted, their muscles trained, and their will steadfast. With them, the Serbian Armed Forces gained new strength, and Serbia gained new hopes - said the Commandant of the Military Academy, Major General Bojan Zrnić.

Speaking on behalf of his colleagues, the top-ranking cadet, Second Lieutenant Ognjen Zlatić, expressed gratitude for the opportunity, but also the privilege, to get an education in institution such as the Military Academy and the Medical Faculty of the MMA. 

- The officer's profession is noble and honourable, and all those whose thoughts and hearts are filled with love for the fatherland should choose it. As always in life, one usually becomes aware of the best things at the end, when after all the hard years, exams, field training and line-up, the morning comes when we put on full dress uniforms and ties and stand with an officer's rosette on our shoulders in front of a mirror and we see a reflection of a new, mature and accomplished person, who had a clear goal, who overcame all obstacles and today stands proudly here with his or her colleagues and friends of the same generation – said Second Lieutenant Zlatić and clarified that when he says “his friends”, he means friends for life "because we went through all the challenges together, fighting for each other, not allowing anyone to lag behind or give up walking bravely towards the goal."

- We leave school carrying only the most beautiful memories, the necessary knowledge and experience and the invaluable wealth that cannot be bought, and that is the awareness that we have become better people. We owe a debt of gratitude for that to all our professors and commanding officers. The stamp they left on our moral and educational progress is eternal and lasting - said Lieutenant Zlatić, especially thanking families and friends, adding that the end of schooling is at the same time a new beginning for all of them who are "going bravely towards new victories".

The promotion of the youngest second lieutenants was marked by the performance of the cavalry platoon of the Guard of the Serbian Armed Forces which, displaying the noble skill restored in 2018, reminded the audience that the Serbian Armed Forces preserve the tradition and the memory of the cavalry division which participated in victories for the liberation of Serbia in the Balkan Wars.

As part of the cultural and artistic program, our prominent actor Tihomir Arsić read an excerpt from the book "Thessalonians Speak" by Antonio Đurić, referring to the motto of the Military Academy "Honour is our Homeland", but also to the fact that love for the fatherland, a soldier’s word and honour have always been the first and most important lessons during military education.
 Opera singer Oliver Njego performed the anthem of the Republic of Serbia at the beginning of the ceremony, as well as the song "This is Serbia", to the accompaniment of the Artistic Ensemble of the Ministry of Defence “Stanislav Binički”.

The ending of today's ceremony was marked by overflights by the Serbian Armed Forces’ aircraft, and Mi-17V5, H-145M, Mi-35M and Gazelle helicopters flew over the sky first.

During the overflight, the pilot of MiG-29 aircraft, Captain Bogdan Kovačević greeted his youngest colleagues. 

- Congratulations to our youngest colleagues on their first officer rank! Serve your people honourably and be the pride of your homeland. Long live Serbia! - said Captain Kovačević.