The Minister of National Defence Mr. Panos Panagiotopoulos attended the oath taking ceremony of the Hellenic Military Academy Cadets of Class I, which took place at the Academy’s facilities in Vari-Attica.
The ceremony was also attended by the Chief of the Hellenic National Defence General Staff General Michail Kostarakos and the Chief of the Hellenic Army General Staff Lieutenant General Konstantinos Gkinis.
After the ceremony, Mr. Panagiotopoulos made the following address:
“Today is a very special day for all of us. With the oath you have taken as freshmen cadets, you have officially entered -as the Commander of the School has pointed out- the great military family of the Hellenic Armed Forces.
No matter how many years will pass, whatever you may do in your lives in the future, after this moment, you will always remember this day as something special, honorary and exceptional.
This day crowns in the most official and symbolic way your great success, the admission – thanks to the high grades needed – to one of the best Higher Military Schools.
I know that in order for you, as well as your parents, to succeed it took many stages of difficulties through which you made great effort. As you will realise after four years of studies that will follow in the Hellenic Military Academy, these efforts were worth it.
The Hellenic Military Academy is the first Higher School of University Level that was found in Greece after the liberation and formation of the Hellenic State. It was founded by the National Governor, Ioannis Kapodistrias, in 1828 and few years after, in 1831, he was the one to offer the shoulder marks to the first Second Lieutenants graduating from the Academy.
As I already said, the Hellenic Military Academy is among the best Military Academies. This is proven every day, thanks to the high level of academic and military knowledge offered and the high level of military and civilian personnel teaching at the academy.
However, the biggest proof of the quality and character traditionally offered by the academy to all the cadets and graduates, are the bright deeds of the graduates who have honoured the Classes of the Hellenic Armed Forces.
My dear children, you who have taken the oath today, you carry on your shoulders a heavy historic burden. Imagine that among the classes of the Hellenic Military Academy’s cadets, were some very important personalities who with their actions have written pages of glory and self-sacrifice to the first line of the struggles given by our Nation, our State, our Country.
This is the historic burden you have assumed. I am certain that you are ready to respond in the best possible way to the ultimate duty you were promised by the Country and the Nation.
We all know that the world is changing around us and that in the broader region of the Middle East and the South-eastern Mediterranean, rapid reversals and changes are taking place. For the country to be able to go forward there is a first, supreme and necessary precondition: to have already secured national security, national independence and the country’s integrity.
This supreme benefit is ensured by the Hellenic Armed Forces that, notwithstanding the cuts and necessary expenses saving, are absolutely devoted to their mission, as it has been defined by the Constitution of the Hellenic Democratic State, our Nation, the Hellenic People.
A public praise should be given to everyone serving in the Hellenic Armed Forces, from their leadership to the simple conscript, our children. They accomplish their mission with self-sacrifice, devotion and self-denial at such difficult times. Thus they ensure the context of security within which the country, our people, can move forward to the great effort for national reform that has started for the country to be able to stand on its feet again; recover and find once more its course.
My dear children, you who have taken the oath today, I am certain that when you will have graduated from the Academy and become Second Lieutenants of the Hellenic Army, you will have a different Greece around you. A Greece that will have gone through many difficulties, that will have made many sacrifices but will be better, prouder, more recollected and ready to re-write new pages of struggles and success.
I wish that God will bless and protect you. I invite you to show complete discipline and obedience to the regulations of your Academy and to always reflect and consider the glorious pages of this country’s History, that have been written by the graduates of the Military Academy and by personnel of the Hellenic Armed Forces.
May God help you be worthy of this glorious history; be fortunate, have good studies and a happy graduation”.
