(Military News Agency reporter, Li Yi-Hao, Taipei, Jan 6th) In his meeting with military personnel scheduled for overseas training and military personnel that have completed their foreign studies and training today, Minister of Defense Gao Guang-Chi advised them to cherish the opportunity for receiving new knowledge, enhancing individual competence, and to accumulate their experiences and develop their talents for the building of a strong military force.

Accompanied by Chief of General Staff, General Yen Teh-Fa and other officials on the morning visit, Minister Gao met with Colonel Wu Sheng-Tai and 12 other officials who are about to commence their overseas training as well as Colonel Lin Zhi-Ying and 11 other officials who have just completed their overseas studies.

The Defense Minister congratulated the candidates who have stood out among their competitors to win the opportunity for overseas studies and expressed his expectations that they will take a proactive attitude towards learning and improvement and to strive hard in their studies to upgrade their knowledge with a sense of honor and responsibility.

The Defense Minister pointed out that the military is very concerned with the development of talents and he hopes that through the learning of experiences and knowledge from other countries, the knowledge may be integrated with our military thinking and utilized in our strategies to improve the overall combat competence of our military.

He also reminded the candidates chosen for training that their words and actions will directly affect the image of our country and of our military, so they should “act gentlemanly even when no one is watching”, and demonstrate the “serious”, “responsible” and “honorable” behavior expected of soldiers so as to protect the honor and reputation of our military.

In addition, Minister Gao also ordered the assignment and management departments to implement “counseling, management and assessment, and service” operations to ensure that the trained personnel are under dispatch management and will be assigned to positions where their new professional competence may be integrated with management planning so that these outstanding military officials will be able to utilize fully their knowledge and achieve the objectives of “Training for Usage” and “Integration of Training and Usage”