Admission of 78 Non-Commissioned Officers in Professional Military Service for Indefinite Time
Wednesday, 12.2.2020 | News
Defense Minister Aleksandar Vulin and Chief of the General Staff of the Serbian Armed Forces, General Milan Mojsilovic, attended a ceremony today at the Old General Staff's Great War Room on the occasion of the admission of 78 NCOs and professional soldiers for indefinitely professional military service. NCOs and soldiers, who have worked for a limited period so far, have been recruited on a permanent basis following orders from the Chief of General Staff of the Serbian Armed Forces.
— The Serbian Armed Forces take care of their members. Their Supreme Commander, President Aleksandar Vučić, has ordered righting all injustices in the Serbian Armed Forces, which means righting the wrongs done to the people who, because of various bureaucratic procedures have not gained appropriate NCO ranks, and awarding their hard work — said Minister Vulin Aleksandar Vulin at a celebration organised in the Great War Room.
— Today, we have admitted 78 non-commissioned officers, of whom some used to be non-commissioned officers, and their contracts expired, and some are professional soldiers who are have now gained NCO status. Chiefly, we are referring to the Special Brigade, because in that way we preserve the ones of the highest quality, the youngest and the strongest, and since this moment they do not have to worry about their future, which is now certain and secure - Minister Vulin said and added that those members from that moment had their rights, and their future advancement would depend solely on their readiness to learn and work.
He pointed out that it was the way in which the Serbian Armed Forces demonstrated that they were capable, not only to venture into the past and right the wrongs towards their most loyal people, who had never deserted them, “though it was tough”, but that they also thought about the future, so it gathered new power, new people so that those young men could be promoted into the first non-commissioned officers’ ranks.
— Decades have passed since we had such a great inflow of non-commissioned officers and since we had this many promotions. I expect that this trend will continue and that we will promote more than 200 professional soldiers to non-commissioned officers’ ranks, thus making the Serbian Armed Forces even stronger — Minister of Defence Aleksandar Vulin stated.
For the sake of reminding, recently adopted amendments to the Law on the Serbian Armed Forces created conditions for admission of non-commissioned officers and professional soldiers serving on temporary positions into professional military service without competition on permanent positions in their capacity as non-commissioned officers regardless of stipulated conditions regarding their age, if the requirements of the service require it.
Accordingly, on the basis of decisions of the minister of defence on manning assigned positions in the Serbian Armed Forces through direct admission, and on the basis of the order of the Chief of General Staff, 42 non-commissioned officers, who served on temporary positions, have been admitted to professional military service as non-commissioned officers on permanent positions, and 36 professional soldiers from the Special Brigade, who will now be assigned to permanent positions as non-commissioned officers in newly established 72nd Special Operations Brigade and 63rd Parachute Brigade.
Yesterday’s professional soldiers, and today Corporal Ivan Obrenović, is one of the people who has tied his destiny to the Serbian Armed Forces.
— We are here today for our promotion into the first NCO ranks, which opens a new chapter in our lives. That enables us a lot of things and brings us many benefits, but naturally, lot of obligations and responsibilities too. My colleagues and I will try to justify the given confidence. I will remain in the Special Brigade and I am very glad that I will have a certain career in the Serbian Armed Forces, and I hope that it will advance over time - says Corporal Ivan Obrenović. He particularly points out that he finds pleasing “certain financial stability” which is to ensue: “I have not started a family yet, but now I can think about starting it, and about buying a flat or something of the sorts”.
We hereby remind you that Corporal Ivan Obrenović won a gold medal at the International Military Games in the event “Sniper Border” in Belarus last year.
Sergeant First Class Dragan Čučak, an operator in Command Company of the Central Logistics Base, says that this day is one of the happiest since he started working in the Serbian Armed Forces.
— From the first day, 27th July 2009, when I became a professional soldiers of the Serbian Armed Forces, my sole wish was to become their non-commissioned officer. This action of the minister of defence and Chief of General Staff ended my pains, when it comes to that problem, and I am ready to fully commit myself to my job and work in my unit — says Sergeant First Class Dragan Čučak.
