The Alternate Minister of National Defence Dimitris Vitsas visited the HQ of the 9th Mechanised Brigade in Florina, accompanied by MPs of the SYRIZA party, Kostas Seltsas from Florina and Giorgos Ntzimanis from Kozani, the General Secretary of the Ministry of Infrastructure and Transport Peti Perka and the President of the Local Municipal Community of Florina Nikolaos Mouratidis on Friday 23 December 2016.

The Alternate Minister exchanged wishes with the Brigade’s Commander Brigadier General Prokopis Karatzetzos, the Commanders of the Units located in Florina, as well as officers, NCOs and soldiers. The Alternate Minister will visit Kosovo and the Kosovo Hellenic Force (ELDYKO-3) to exchange wishes with the Unit’s personnel on Saturday 24 December 2016.

The Alternate Minister while addressing the personnel of the 9th Mechanised Brigade mentioned the following:

“You are serving in difficult times but you must not forget that Greece has been through harder times and has managed to survive. Greece will stay on top once more. What we are trying to do in the Ministry of National Defence is to achieve more with less. Three issues are of particular interest to us: acquisition of knowledge, continuous training and taking care of the officers’, NCOs’ and soldiers’ living conditions.

I would like to take this opportunity to answer some of the questions posed to us. I want to stress that there is no intention to increase or decrease the duration of service. Those of you who currently serve will soon go home, but you must remember two things: the first is that you passed a part of your life among other Greeks and fellow humans and that you learned basic things so that you can defend our country. The second thing which you must remember is that the Army executes its duty, which is deterrence but also contribution to society. But the essence of the country’s defence concerns the whole people. The elements which are essential for every people are health, education and morale.

I would like to wish you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. I wish that 2017 will bring better days for our country (better days already seem to come) and that wars near our region will cease, so that we will be able to dedicate ourselves to the development of our country. You should also set goals and achieve them along with your families, the people you love, the people you live with and the people you think about, but also act for the sake of yourselves and society, because there is no personal benefit, if it is not integrated to the benefit of society. On the contrary the personal benefit is distinguished through the effort for the sake of society. Merry Christmas!”