75 Lankan & Foreign Military Officers Receive DSCSC Graduation

The fourth graduation ceremony at the Defence Services Command and Staff College (DSCSC), Sapugaskanda was held Monday (13) morning at the DSCSC auditorium, chaired by Foreign Minster G. L. Peiris as Chief Guest.

Secretary Defence Mr. Gotabaya Rajapaksa, Chief of Defence Staff and Commander of the Air Force Air Marshal Roshan Gunatillake, Commander of the Army Lieutenant General Jagath Jayasuriya, Commander of the Navy Vice Admiral Tisara Samarasinghe and several former Army Commanders graced the occasion as distinguished guests.

The day’s proceedings were inaugurated with the lighting of the traditional oil lamp. It was followed by a two-minute silence in honour of all the fallen War Heroes.

75 Graduands comprised of 47 officers from Sri Lanka Army, 11 officers from Sri Lanka Navy, 11 officers from Sri Lanka Air Force and 1 officer from Sri Lanka Administrative Service and five foreign officers from Bangladesh Army and Air Force, Indian Navy, Pakistan Army and Maldives National Defence Force received their graduation from the Chief Guest on the occasion. Spouses of the graduates and well-wishers were also present on the occasion.

“I believe that the armed forces now have a role to play with regard to bringing together different communities”, the Chief Guest told the gathering. The Foreign Minister said that the three communities, Sinhala, Tamil and Muslim have much more in common than the things that are supposed to divide them.

Those officer students who emerged 1st In Order of Merit of their respective wings were awarded “The Golden Owl Award”.

Major E. W. R. S. B. Ehelepola and Major D. M. V. M. R. Dissanayaka of the Sri Lanka Army, Lieutenant Commander J. M. B. S. B. Jayaweera of Navy and Wing Commander M. A. D. A. Jayathilake of Air Force won Golden Owl Awards in the course.

Wing Commander C. Wickramarathna of the Air Force carried away the “Commandant’s Golden Pen Award” for his research paper.

The Commandant Major General N. A. Ranasingha presented a copy of the College Journal to the Chief Guest.