The ceremony was attended by the President of the Republic of Croatia as the Supreme Commander of the Croatian Armed Forces,\u00a0 Kolinda Grabar \u2013 Kitarovi\u0107, the\u00a0 Speaker of the Croatian Parliament, \u017deljko Reiner, the Defence Minister, Josip Buljevi\u0107 (also in the capacity of the envoy of the Prime Minister), the Chief of the General Staff of the Croatian Armed Forces, General Mirko \u0160undov, other senior officials and visitors, as well as the friends and family members of the gradutes. <\/p>\n
Congratulating the graduates on their success and the 25th anniversary of independence, the President recalled and paid tribute to the fallen and the deceased participants of the Homeland War and the Croatian defenders.\u00a0 The President also highlighted the role of the first Croatian President Franjo Tu\u0111man, after whom the Acadeny has been named. <\/p>\n
The 1990ies were the part of the recent Croatian history when the then\u00a0 Croatian government, led by President Tu\u0111man wisely made strategic decisions, after thorough examination of the complex situation. Today, 25 years on, their decisions gain in value, and one of them was the decision on the establishment\u00a0 of the Military Academy, which has since then been one of the crucial facilitators of professional training and development of the Croatian Armed Forces, who continue to enjoy high respect in the society and trust by the Croatian people.\u00a0 \u201cThe Croatian soldiers have proved to belong to the world\u2019s \u00e9lite troops\u201d, stressed the President. <\/p>\n
The Chief of General Staff, General Mirko \u0160undov in his address recalled the heroic sacrifice of Croatian defenders from the Homeland War as the foundation of the modern state of Croatia. General \u0160undov congratulated the students too:\u00a0 \u201cMy most sincere congratulations to to all of you for your commitment, the studying motivation,\u00a0 professonalism and soldier-like conduct. I wish that you continue to gather new knowledge, skills and capabilities\u201d and said that the students of the military schools have demonstrated their superiority and reliability. <\/p>\n
The ceremony was the occasion to present the best peforming students with commendations and awards. Major Davor Vladovi\u0107 has been proclaimed the best student of the 24th generation of the Command and Staff School), 2nd Lieutenant Ivan Dejanovi\u0107 the best student of the 15th generation of the Basic Officer Training, 2nd Lieutenant\u00a0 Robert Matok the best student of the 19th generation of Military Pilot Training \u2013 Cadet Pilot) and 1st Sergeant Dalibor Dumbovi\u0107 the best student of the 14th generation of Senior NCO Training.\u00a0
As many as 240 students graduated from the Croatian Defence Academy in the academic year 2015 \u2013 2016; 222 from the Croatian Armed Forces (20 females), one student from the Croatian Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs and 17 from foreign armed forces (Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, Kosovo, Republic of Macedonia, the Republic of Slovenia and the Republic of Serbia). <\/p>\n
The graduation ceremony on the occasion of the Statehood Day was preceded by the wreath laying ceremony at the Zagreb Cemetery (at the grave of the first Croatian President Franjo Tu\u0111man and at the Monument to Croatian Defenders), at the momument at the Medvedgrad fort\u00a0 and at the \u0160estine cemetery (at the grave of Ante Star\u010devi\u0107), the Mass served in Saint Mark Church and the formal session of the Croatian Parliament. The members of the Croatian Armed Forces fired honorary volleys at Medvedgrad Fort, and five ships of the Croatian Navy led\u00a0 the honorary naval parade from the Lora Navy Port to the town port of Split, and their crews manned the rails at noon rendering the salute to the Homeland.\u00a0<\/p>\n[nggallery id=2069]\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The traditional ceremony of the graduates from the schools of the Croatian Defence Academy was held on the Statehood Day (25 June) in the Academy.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":36086,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[117],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-11081","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-press-releases"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n