(Photo courtesy of the Military Spokesman Facebook Page)
By Charlie Miller
A ceremony for the latest graduates of the Military College in Cairo was attended by members of the interim cabinet on Monday, state media reported. The event celebrated the passing-out of classes of sailors, aviators, military and aviation scientists as well as graduates from the Technical Institute of Nursing.
Military helicopters carrying Egyptian flags, as well as the air force, army and navy standards performed a flypast at the ceremony, which was reportedly attended by interim president Adly Mansour, Defence Minister and Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces General Abdul Fatah Al-Sisi, interim prime minister Hazem El-Beblawi, as well as a number of high-ranking military personnel and senior state officials.
The graduates performed military drills, demonstrating hand-to-hand combat and martial arts skills to the crowd of onlookers, as the latest batch of air force pilots performed a formation flypast in their F-16 fighter jets.
Colonel Ahmed Ali, spokesman of the Egyptian armed forces, sent a message to the graduates in a statement released on Monday: “We extend our sincere congratulations and best wishes to the graduates today […] at the beginning of their military careers defending Egypt’s security and stability.”
The ceremony marked the 61st anniversary of the 23rd July Revolution, in which the Free Officers Movement overthrew the monarchy and brought an end to the British occupation of Egypt.
