President Yoweri Museveni and Commander-in-Chief of the Uganda Armed Forces has passed out Uganda People’s Defence Forces (UPDF) Tank Crews who have successfully completed one-year Armour Basic Crew Course.
“I want to congratulate the graduands for completing their course and for doing well. I was watching the accuracy of different guns,” he said.
During the ceremony that took place yesterday at the Armoured Warfare Training School (AWTS) Karama in Mubende District, Gen. Museveni expressed satisfaction with the skills exhibited by the over 300 graduands, especially in areas of target identification, acquisition and destruction, among others. The trainees were drawn from all UPDF units in the country and their training introduced them to such topics like design, tactics, military law, medical and public health and political education.
President Museveni commended the Instructors and the UPDF in general for a job well done adding that the excellent performance that had been displayed by the graduands showed that they had fully internalised what the tutors had imparted to them.
Gen. Museveni thanked the expatriates for sharing their valuable knowledge with the newly trained crews adding that their cooperation has been long-standing dating as far back as 1917 to the struggle for Africa’s freedom. He commended their readiness to work with Uganda and Africa in general in all areas of development.
The President highly commended the UPDF for looking after the environment very well noting that the training grounds are impressively covered with green vegetation. He used the occasion to appeal to wananchi throughout the country to emulate the UPDF’s good practice and desist from cutting down trees.
The President handed an assortment of awards to the best students for their excellent performance in various disciplines.
The Chief of the Defence Forces, Gen. David Muhoozi, said the remarkable improvement in UPDF’s training has been registered. He noted that the training that the UPDF has achieved will go a long way in helping soldiers to successfully cope with the ever-changing training requirements with the aim of ensuring that the Army is a better force ready for the protection of Uganda.
Brig. Deus Sandé of Karama Armour Training School thanked the Commander-in-Chief and UPDF for the support. He also commended the instructors for the commitment to a successful training programme.