Aldina Dugonjić, Second Lieutenant in the Armed Forces of BiH, broke all stereotypes about women in uniform after one year and six months of service.
Although she is a food technology engineer in occupational terms, Aldina is an officer in the rank of second lieutenant. Many young people believe that the Armed Forces of BiH usually recruit officers with vocational occupations, but Aldina shows that it is not always like that.
Second Lieutenant Dugonjić successfully mastered a series of demanding physical and mental examinations. She says that physical examinations, which usually evoke stereotypes for women in uniform, were not too demanding for her and that she mastered them equally well as her colleagues. There were even some situations where women completed these tests with better results than men.
Aldina says that she usually hears the same questions, about how she ended up in the Armed Forces of BiH and how does she manage it. However, everyone who gets to know her better soon realizes that her vocation is just like every other.
“Being an officer is not easy. Examinations are very demanding, but it is all aimed at making us determined young leaders who are capable of adequately responding to all tasks. The Armed Forces of BiH enable us to grow more, both personally and professionally, and provide us an opportunity for a better future,” says Aldina.
The Ministry of Defense of BiH continues renewing the military staff and executes a “shift of generations” that will replace around 2.000 officers in the next five years. Those 2.000 substituted officers will mostly retire, based on directives of the Law on Service in the Armed Forces of BiH. This process creates opportunity for employment of young and educated people.
On September 5 the Ministry of Defense of BiH published the fourth public call for reception of candidates to professional military service in the beginning rank of an officer of the Armed Forces of BiH. The public call, which is open until September 30, opens 74 formation places of different services. This is an ideal opportunity for young men and women who graduated from university and are under 27 years of age. Find more information about the public call at the website of the Ministry of Defense of BiH www.mod.gov.ba.
(Source: radiosarajevo.ba)
