Podgorica, Montenegro – Command Sergeant Major Davor Petek, Allied Command Operations Command Senior Enlisted Leader, and CSM Jürgen Stark, Joint Force Command Naples CSEL, visited Montenegro December 6, 2018, meeting with military leaders in the Montenegrin Armed Forces.

During the trip, the NATO CSELs met with Colonel Svetozar Brajković, Deputy Chief of Defence of the Armed Forces of Montenegro, and CSM Stevan Krgović, Command Sergeant Major of Montenegrin Armed Forces, discussing recent updates to the newest NATO member’s military and future reforms on the horizon.

"As a new member [of NATO] we are trying to empower and enforce our NCO corps to lead our soldiers in the best way and give opportunities to our NCOs to show the strength of our Montenegrin Armed Forces and give support to NATO missions,” said CSM Krgović.


According to Krgović, the Montenegrin Armed Forces plans to create a new NCO Development Plan by 2019 to 2021 that aligns with the NATO NCO BI-Strategy and Guidelines. The force also aims at sending their NCOs to more international training and education hosted by Allies or their country. NCOs make up roughly 40 percent of the Montenegrin Armed Forces.

"As an Alliance we focus on readiness and a massive part of that is the interoperability of our forces,” CSM Petek said. "Montenegro has done a lot to adapt to the NATO standards and they continue to show their commitment to the Alliance through adaption and reform. They have done outstanding work further developing an already strong NCO corps.”


CSM Petek and CSM Stark also visited the Montenegrin Armed Forces Training Centre. Montenegrin military training—for soldiers, NCOs and officers—is conducted at the Training Centre.