Minister Stefanović Attended Celebration of the Day of National Defence School

Today, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Defence Nebojša Stefanović PhD attended the celebration of the Day of National Defence School “Field Marshal Radomir Putnik” which carries the name of the celebrated Serbian war leader since 10^th August.

Congratulating the holiday to its members, the minister assessed that in the previous times, the teachers of the National Defence School had not always been adequately rewarded, nor had there been an established system to adequately value that immense knowledge.



- Of course, that does not mean that the state did not want to do so, it is just that the state today has more opportunities, and today, it has the better understanding of the importance of investing in knowledge and of the importance of the fact that this exact place is where the armed forces and their skills begin. Today, I do not want to speak about the history, and really, and truly speaking, we may never have the greatest armed forces in the world, nor the wealthiest, or the best equipped. But we will always have the armed forces armed with immense knowledge and that is something I am absolutely certain about – Minister Stefanović pointed out and added that it had been proved not only by our history and tradition, but the developments that were taking place in the world.

- Everything that we knew about the use of military, whether it was in some war situation or in the periods of peace, is changing. It is changing at such quick pace that it is often very difficult to follow those changes in one year. In the past, it took an entire lifetime for some great changes to take place, but today, it happens in one, two or three years. The existing challenges, both military and non-military, that are in front of us, are of such scope and kind that it will take all our knowledge and work to jointly succeed in protecting our only Serbia. The things that you could see at regional and local theatres of war over the last several years, and here I am not solely talking about technology and technique, but the way of thinking, the hybrid threats and everything that one who thinks about jeopardising our security may use, supports the fact that we will have to study it more intensively. I myself, with the team in the Ministry, work on bringing to our country people from various armed forces who had such similar experiences, to talk to the people from our University, General Staff, from our Armed Forces, and our services. We should learn from the practical knowledge that they gained in those wars, and in those conflicts so that we can come to know what proved to be effective and successful, and what it was that they had when they were making decisions that changed the history, which after all brought them success against those challenges – the minister of defence said.



Stefanović stressed that the National Defence School was certainly one of the essential cornerstones of such type of thinking.

- The University of Defence, Military Academy, and National Defence School – I do not consider them as separate. But today, because of this holiday, I can say that this is truly a school which has produced significant names, who seriously perform their work and I am glad that Colonel Suvajac makes huge effort, which is quite visible, so that we can have good, serious and high quality cadre that attends this school. The education of our senior officers and officers from other states who come here has proven that quality and it gave the results that we need. There are no serious armed forces, there is no serious commanding and there are no serious successes unless you as teachers, so to speak, do your best, and unless those men gain sufficient knowledge to return to their units and do the hardest thing – to lead their men. God forbid that we find ourselves in the situation where we have to wage war, but in such situation each of you will be responsible for human lives.

Everyone who wears a uniform, especially with a high rank, will have an effect on what the Serbia will look like in the future – Minister of Defence Nebojša Stefanović stressed stating that huge responsibility rests with our armed forces.

He thanked the hosts for successful performance of the mission assigned.



- I wish to thank you on the education, and for having endured many years of hardship and some periods when, we can say, we were not proud of the way in which the state treated this school, but, luckily, things have started to improve. Unfortunately, when something was being destroyed for twenty years, or ten of fifteen, it cannot be made better entirely in four, five or six years. But what we can do is to show will, and progress can be made each year, and I promise you, on behalf of the team that I lead in the Ministry, that you will notice a serious respect for the people who work here that I indeed have, and it will be visible through practical things as well. We will try, of course, through our joint work, to educate new generations of officers, who will make their fatherland proud – Minister Stefanović underlined closing his address with the words – Long live our armed forces, long live Serbia!

Speaking about the history of the National Defence School, which, since the 10^th August, bears the name of the celebrated Serbian Field Marshal Putnik, and celebrates its Day on 19^th October for the first time, Head, Colonel Mićo Suvajac reminded that it fostered the tradition of the Higher School of the Military Academy founded in 1884.

- After organisational and formation changes carried out in 2006, the school became an integral part of the Military Academy, only to become again an autonomous military educational and scientific and educational establishment within the University of Defence in 2018 – Colonel Suvajac said and highlighted that the renowned scientific and military educational institution had produced a great number of officers and that high quality cadre came out of it in the present as well.

The best members of the school received rewards and stimulating measures. In his address that followed, retired Major General Spasoje Mučibabić addressed the present on behalf of former Heads of the school, calling that military educational institution the “knowledge factory”.