Hundreds of military and police cadets became officers this week, reports Amirah Ibrahim Military and police academies wrapped up graduation ceremonies this week, with elaborate shows and demonstrations of their graduates' talents and capabilities. President Hosni Mubarak, Minister of Defence Field Marshall Mohamed Hussein Tantawi and Armed Forces Chief of Staff General Sami Anan attended on Monday the graduation of the Military Academy's 103rd batch of cadets, named Class of General Saad Mamoun. Mubarak and his entourage of top military brass were welcomed by Academy Director Major General Mohamed Feleifil and other academy officials. During a 90-minute ceremony, new graduates along with academy students demonstrated their athletic and technical skills in a live exhibit, which began with a display of the most advanced equipment used to help the civilian community in fighting pollution and solving technical production problems. Cadets then showed off their skill in riding motor vehicles through an obstacle course, followed by commandos in a 15-minute show after landing from helicopters to assault a mock military target. Later, paratroopers put on an exciting show exhibiting great skill in controlling Bat Motors -- flying motors -- and difficult manouevres while parachute jumping. General Feleifil told the cadets about the infinite support by the president and defence minister to develop and modernise the academy, providing it with the most advance education programmes and tools. Established in 1811, the Military Academy is among the oldest in the world, and the pioneer in Africa and Middle East. "Student receive several types of military training, such as parachuting, commando operations and intelligence," Feleifil told media representatives later. Earlier in the week, Mubarak and top officials attended two other graduation ceremonies. Air Force cadets graduated from their academy in Belbeis, Sharqiya governorate on Saturday, at a ceremony headed by Air Force Commander General Reda Hafez. At a 75-minute ceremony, Class 75 showed off their skills through exciting air manouevres in small planes which demonstrated their high ability and professionalism in controlling their planes. The training planes Tokanos and K-8 were also part of the exhibition, while exercises with the Mig-21, Mirage-5, Mirage-2000 and C-130 aircraft also made for a good show. In his address, Academy Director Major General Gamal Mohamed gave an overview of Air Force Academy's development since its creation in 1951. "We are honoured that the president himself was in charge of our academy at one point, and that 15 classes of our pilots were his students," Major General Mohamed told the media later. The next day, Sunday, Mubarak watched 1,472 cadets graduate from the Police Academy during a ceremony which was also attended by Interior Minister Habib El-Adli and other top officials. After an address by Academy Director Major General Tareq Yusr, graduating students displayed the advanced equipment used at the academy, as well as demonstrating their skills in different crime fighting units. According to Major General Yusri, 43 graduating cadets are natives of Arab countries, 53 are African, while 61 cadets come from other friendly countries.
