Participants in Pilot Training of National Defence Forces Take Ceremonial Oath

Brezova pod Bradlom, 20 July (TASR) - Forty participants in the pilot training of the National Defence Forces (NOS), including President Peter Pellegrini and Defence Minister Robert Kalinak (Smer-SD), took a ceremonial military oath near the General M. R. Stefanik's Mound on the Bradlo Hill on Sunday. Pellegrini pointed out that every day brought situations where it was necessary to go to the limit of one's physical and mental abilities. However, the training doesn't end with the oath-taking. "The most difficult part is yet to come, as we have the final training from Monday to Tuesday, which will be about surviving 24 hours under the open sky somewhere in the forests and using all the skills and information that we have learnt during the whole training," he said. He reiterated that as a NOS member he is ready to help the Slovak Republic whenever necessary. Sunday's oath-taking strengthened the president's conviction that undergoing the training was the right thing to do. The hardest thing was to overcome one's own limits, he said, adding that he hasn't missed a single discipline so far. Pellegrini doesn't understand the criticism from the public and part of the political spectrum regarding his participation in the training. NOS has been divided into three types of reserves. Operational reserves are intended mainly for people with military experience, for example, former soldiers or people who have already undergone some kind of training or underwent basic military service and know what they would do in the army. Army newcomers without experience could apply for the standby reserves. Within the NOS structure, military reserves have also been established, in which those interested can receive training without the obligation to commit to the reserves. Those who undergo the training will receive an allowance and the salary of a soldier of a respective rank. The Defence Ministry has also promised to provide some other benefits. ko