Chief of the General Staff of the Serbian Army General Milan Mojsilovic said that Serbia is late in introducing compulsory military service, adding that it is essential importance to build the defense capacity of Serbia, Tanjug announced.
„Every day and year we wait, we lose generations of young soldiers,” said Mojsilovic. He told Serbian broadcaster RTS that in the first 30 days of the planned 75 days of conscription, the new soldiers will undergo marksmanship training, personal equipment training, exercises related to the Defense Act, as well as training in Medicine and First Aid.
"In the second month we go into some tactical training, are you a rifleman, a machine gunner... Additional infantry shootings are included, day and night, while in the last 15 days we will work on implementing the content in camp and field conditions“, said Moysilovic. He indicated that the training will be conducted in nine training centers across the country, and the remaining soldiers in the garrisons will be trained and trained within the brigades and the ground forces.
Mojsilovic indicated that younger soldiers will be recruited first, starting in 2006. "The older ones will go to training centers and we have a plan to work with them a little shorter than those 75 days,”. Moisilovic pointed out.
We have an idea to propose to the government that those who have loans and have to start military service, get a moratorium on their repayment at least for these two and a half months”, said Mojsilovic.
As for the conscientious objection to bear arms, Mojsilovic noted that this is a constitutional category and cannot be ignored. “There are professions and specialties in the army that do not require training to hold a rifle. But these recruits will also be in training. Those who will not be trained to shoot will be in military service for 155 days. There is no difference between religious and national elements in the army, so you can be a firefighter in the army,” said Mojsilovic.
Talking about the purchase of armaments for the army, he stated that the Serbian army buys according to its own needs and does not pay attention to which country it is bought from. He pointed out that the local specialized industry should be dominant in the supply of the Serbian armed forces, instead of having an advantage over foreign manufacturers. “This is how you create some independence. We produce good ammunition as well as sophisticated combat systems. We have mastered the production of drones, killer drones”, said Mojsilovic.
He noted that the order of fighter jets "Rafal" is "a step forward". “I am happy to say that we have a MiG-29 squadron, a bomber squadron, as well as helicopters and attack helicopters. Air defense units are equipped with medium-range missiles that we didn't have before, Mojsilovic pointed out. He stated that the ground army is being intensively equipped with Lazar 3 and Lazar 3M machines, while the tanks are undergoing a modernization program.
Speaking for the families of members of the Serbian armed forces who are in Lebanon under the UN mandate, he said that the situation was currently under control and that there was no cause for concern. "We have a total of 182 personnel there, they are literally between the two warring sides, every day there is an exchange of artillery fire, including Israeli army planes over the heads of our forces. Our contingent is not directly threatened”, Moisilovic said.