Despite the lack of previous significant experience in diving, 1^st Lt. Perković achieved excellent score in a physically demanding course.

1^st Lieutenant Antonia Perković has served in the Croatian Armed Forces as a medical doctor since 2018, and is the first doctor and first female officer to have completed the Basic Diving Training. After serving as a physician in the ROLE-1 team of the Guards Motorised Brigade based in Knin, 1^st Lt. Perković’ s present post is in the bar chamber of the Institute of Naval Medicine in Split.

Dr. Perković’s military career began with spotting a recruitment advertisement of the Croatian Armed Forces for medical doctors. She briefly reflected and having liked the idea she applied.  “I am glad to have made that decision, but a lot of things I discovered through the service. My job in the Croatian Armed Forces is specific because it entails a combination of medical expertise and basic military skills.  The experience I gained in ROLE -1 is valuable, and I also acquired the necessary military skills and the thinking in the Guards Brigade I had the opportunity to acquire the necessary military knowledge and adopt the necessary way of thinking. The military and the medical vocation are not so difficult to reconcile; on the contrary, and it is what makes my job so appealing”.

The need to combine medical and military expertise became evident when 1^st Lieutenant Perković took the diving training. The basic diving training is conducted in accordance with the needs of the Croatian Armed Forces on an annual basis, and is intended for seamen, NCOs and officers who meet the demanding psychological and physical criteria. The training standards are specific for the aquatic effect and physiology underwater.

A major challenge

Commander (N) Boris Kartelo, one of the instructors, elaborated the basics of the demanding 5-five-week diving training:

The first part of the diving training programme is focussed on the necessary theoretical knowledge, so 1/3 of the training is administered in the classroom, and the second part on diving skills respectively. 

Upon completion of the training the participants are prepared to dive using the AOKD air breathing apparatus (AOKD – air) in pairs up to 30-m depth and to perform a number of underwater tasks, such as vessel hull inspection, maintenance of underwater vessel hull, propellers and suction device; underwater search and detection of explosive devices and the like.