“We must be ready to give appropriate responses to all challenges”, Minister of Defence Csaba Hende said at the Faculty of Military Science and Officer Training of the National University of Public Service, where 119 graduates received their diplomas on Monday.

According to the Minister, over the last 25 years there have not been any examples of “such unrest around the world”. The situation in Ukraine is changing by the hour, and the daily news from Iraq give cause for concern, because a huge whirlwind is blowing there, overturning everything that the Alliance has done for the peace and security of the region in the last decade”, he said.

Minister Hende stressed that we must be ready, even when there are not any threats of attack to the area of Hungary and that of the Alliance.

The Minister said the greatness of the mission to which the graduates had said yes and dedicated their lives was “captivating”, adding that the words “I serve my homeland” are not empty, and asked the officer cadets to serve their country and the nation in those places and ways where the need arises and will arise, in the way they should and can do so.

He reminded his audience that two years earlier, many people had looked up suddenly on hearing him say that “we do not know what tomorrow brings, but we must prepare ourselves for everything”. He added that now, not far from our borders, a civil war is going on in a neighboring country, which would have been unthinkable even a year ago. 
Addressing the graduates, Minister Hende said that the nation should value this service, and added that the Hungarian state promises them a career lasting until retirement in the public sphere if they were to quit the Hungarian Defence Forces.

According to the Minister, the new career path model, to be introduced in conjunction with the police and the disaster management directorate, means a plannable and predicable future. 
While speaking to the officer cadets, he also noted that, following the replacement of Soviet military equipment, they are responsible for introducing the new armament systems in their special fields.

The National University of Public Service cooperates with the Hungarian Defence Forces Ludovika Battalion in the training of military officers in Hungary. This year, most of the 119 graduates, as many as 80 students took their degrees in the military and security technology engineer specialization. Among the officer cadets, there are 18 servicewomen, several of whom have attended air traffic-related training courses – for example, four of them would like to work as military air traffic controllers in the future.

Speaking on the Graduation Day, Minister Hende presented the graduates with sabers. Following the words of welcome by Rector András Patyi, they took over their diplomas from Gábor Boldizsár, Dean, Faculty of Military Science and Officer Training, and the posting orders and the officer’s epaulettes from Gen. Tibor Benkő, Chief of Defence. 
By tradition, the new officers’ commissioning ceremony will be held on August 20, Hungary’s national holiday in Lajos Kossuth Square, Budapest.

MoD Press Department

(MTI)