Sandhurst graduate from Kosovo hails Army's role in keeping the peace with KFOR
A Kosovan soldier who has just passed out as a commissioned officer at RMA Sandhurst has revealed how much she admires the British Army which has been helping to keep the peace in her country for the past 25 years.
Second Lieutenant Lirijona Bajraktari told BFBS Forces News reporter James Wharton how she had been in the army since 2019, starting out as a private before being promoted to lance corporal.
"So I got selected to come here [RMA Sandhurst]," she explained. "We had to go through a selection process... to get the best to come here and to represent our country as best as we can."
Second Lieutenant Bajraktari said of her experience at Sandhurst: "There have been a lot of challenges. But it's been a great journey, and I would say an experience of a lifetime from which I've learned a lot of new things and met great people."
The Kosovo Security Force officer, who will now serve as a platoon commander, spoke about the strong ties between the UK and her own country.
"I'm standing here and I'm commissioning today as the 30th officer cadet commissioning from Sandhurst from my country," she said.
"I think this is a great indicator of the strong history and relationship between Kosovo and the United Kingdom, and the British Army in particular.
"So it was 25 years ago that British troops entered Kosovo as part of a peacekeeping mission.
"Since then, even though I wasn't even born at that time, I've been raised watching the images of British troops and the feeling that the people of my country had when they saw the British uniform."
In March 1999, British troops were deployed to Kosovo to help tackle the violence between Yugoslav and Kosovo Liberation Army forces.
She said some of the directing staff at Sandhurst had served in the KFOR peacekeeping force.
"During my time here I met a lot of instructors who in one way or another knew about Kosovo and who served in Kosovo.
"It was a great thing seeing just 25 years ago they went to Kosovo to support the freedom of the country, and now for me being here and being trained as a Kosovo Security Force officer it means a lot. It means a lot to me."
Second Lieutenant Bajraktari said she did not know which regiment she would be serving in when she returns home.
But she added: "I really can't wait to know my regiment and to join my platoon and just share everything I've been learning through this year in Sandhurst - and just to continue developing our Kosovo Security Forces."
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