President Milanović tells Special Operations Forces members: You’re looked on in a special way and a great deal is expected of you – you’re up to it
The President of the Republic and Commander in Chief of the Croatian Armed Forces Zoran Milanović attended a ceremony on the occasion of the 31st anniversary of the formation of the Special Operations Forces of the Croatian Army and Croatian Special Operations Forces Command Day. At the ceremony held in Colonel Ante Šaškor Barracks in Delnice, President Milanović told members of the Special Operations Forces they are an exceptional unit looked on in a special way and that a great deal is expected of them.
“This Croatian Guard belongs to a special category. Here you’re taught, you train and you master the most intricate skills, and to refer to you as an elite group is no exaggeration, it’s a fact. You’re looked on in a special way and a great deal is expected of you, you’re up to it and always keep that in mind. Your reputation must not be sullied”, President Milanović noted.
He added that the skills the members of the Special Operations Forces acquire can best be acquired in cooperation and interaction with others because “small nations and a small army cannot progress if they’re not in constant contact with what is different and open”. “Our world is wide, and we must cooperate. On the other hand, we are not members of all those alliances for their sake, but for our own. The know-how, the skills, the aptitudes and the routines you acquire are first and foremost to defend Croatia, its interests and its place in this world. Everything else is good and necessary, but secondary”, President Milanović said.
The President stressed the need that certain things from the past must not be forgotten. “The facts on how your unit originated, who were its members, where you operated – that is easy to forget”, President Milanović stated, and underlined the importance of remembering because “it determines one’s identity, it determines one’s nation and connects us one to another”.
“One should remember the fact that out of the 75 members who were killed, your combatants, friends, Croatian heroes, thirty were born in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Of the remaining 45, half of them likely originated from Bosnia and Herzegovina. It was a time when Croatia was mostly defended by sons from small communities. We must not renounce those individuals, their children and descendants, they’re a part of our people in another country, and will remain in another country, but we must not stab them in the back. That’s politics, politics I have the need and the imperative to speak about publically, and I will speak publically”, he stated.
In concluding, he congratulated the members of the Special Operations Forces on their day, and told them their know-how, their lives, their security and their families’ happiness will never be in vain, but will forever and exclusively take into account one imperative, namely Croatian interests, Croatian borders, Croatian democratic authority, Croatian territory and the Croatian individual. “Everything else is secondary!”, the President stated.
The event marking the 31st anniversary of the formation of Special Operations Forces and Croatian Special Operations Forces Command Day began by paying tribute to the fallen members of the Special Operations Forces of the Croatian Army in a wreath-laying and candle-lighting ceremony at the cross in front of the memorial room in Colonel Ante Šaškor Barracks. Alongside President Milanović at the wreath-laying ceremony were the Chief of the General Staff of the Croatian Armed Forces Admiral Robert Hranj, the Commander of the Special Operations Forces Command Colonel Ivan Miloš, and the Adviser to the President for Defense and National Security Dragan Lozančić.
PHOTO: Office of the President of the Republic of Croatia / Tomislav Bušljeta