Under the motto “Commitment and professionalism”, members of the Special Operations Regiment (SOR) today in the barracks, “Ilinden” in Skopje, celebrated the day of the unit and the jubilee of 25 years “Special Operations Forces” with a military ceremony.
Defense Minister Radmila Shekerinska and Army Chief of Staff General Lieutenant General Vasko Gjurchinovski attended the military ceremony. Deputy Defense Minister Bekim Maksuti, Deputy chief of staff, Major General Azim Nuredin, the MOD State Secretary Dragan Nikolic, Generals and Commanders of the units of ARM, former commanders of the special units and other guests from the Ministry of Defense and the General Staff also attended the ceremony.
Words of praise and acknowledgments about the importance of this unit were expressed by the Minister of Defense, Radmila Shekerinska and the Commander of the SOR, Brigadier General Metodi Hadzi Janev in their speeches addressing the audience.
Minister Shekerinska stated: “25 years of special forces in the Army are 25 years in which our country worked, wished and tried to become a member of the Alliance. We celebrate the joint jubilee with successes – successes in the regiment, but also successes at the state level.
You, respected members of the SOR, are one of the most important links in the chain that enabled this success.
As you say, always and everywhere the first, as you say, always step ahead, you are the leaders of our Army and this should be stressed at this jubilee. ”
Brigadier General Hadzi Janev reflected to the beginnings of the formation of Special operations forces, expressing his gratitude to all former members of the unit for the efforts they made to build the unit. He also underlined that the members of the Special Operations Regiment were the first to implement professionalism and pave the way for the full membership in NATO.
At the ceremony, on the occasion of the day of the unit, awards and incentives to former and current members of the unit were awarded for their contribution in the development of the unit and the achieved results in the work.
In front of the large number of guests, the members of the special units of the SOR, with their appearance in the line and the formal defile, showed with dignity that they have rightly gained the reputation of the most elite unit of our Army in the past 25 years.
On this day, 25 years ago, for the first time in the Army, a special operations unit was established under the name “Wolves”. As a command of special units, it operated from 2002 to 2003. In December 2003, the unit was restructured into a Special Purpose Squad, and since November 2006, the unit was restructured into the Special Operations Regiment, which included the Special Operations Battalion and the Ranger Battalion.
