BRATISLAVA, August 27, (WEBNOVINY) — Soldiers in Slovakia should have more public support because they deserve it. Defense Minister Lubomir Galko is convinced about this. He also believes it is necessary to improve the reputation of the armed forces because it suffered in the past four years because of numerous scandals at the defense department. „It should be noted however, that not soldiers can be blamed for the scandals, but questionable former leadership of the Ministry of Defense. What I care the most about is that the public begins to perceive soldiers as highly committed and determined people, who chose this difficult profession because of their personality and character qualities, which they can put into use serving their country. I am aware that many negative things that happened in the defense department in the past happened may have frustrated the soldiers themselves, and maintaining pride in the profession for them was very difficult. Even on part of the public, soldiers are not perceived with proper respect, which is needed for motivation to carry out a military profession,“ the minister said through his spokesman Richard Sumeghy.
Soldiers maintained their true professionalism, who, despite a lack of funding managed to perform at least the basic mission of the Armed Forces, says the minister. This, according to Minister Galko, is why the people can be proud of the Armed Forces. „They should be proud of the fact that our soldiers carry on their shoulders the commitments of the Slovak Republic toward NATO and the European Union, often in difficult circumstances, where the necessary money for gear and equipment was spent in overpriced tenders. It is hard to imagine, how a soldier feels somewhere on a guard post in Afghanistan, who has to stand in the rain for hours, and spend the rest of the guard service shift in a wet uniform, under direct threat to life, just because someone did not acquire for him water-resistant clothing as other armies have in Afghanistan. In such moments, pride of being a soldier of the Armed Forces is really shattered,“ the minister said in his statement.
SITA