Exercise TOXIC VALLEY 2013 (October 4) Within the framework of Central European bilateral cooperation in the field of Chemical, Biological, Radiological and Nuclear Protection (CBRN), the Armed Forces organized the international military exercise TOXIC VALLEY 2013, which was held from 30 September to 4 October in Zemianske Kostoľany. “The Slovak chemical units have earned a good reputation in the world for their capabilities, experience and training opportunities,” said the Minister of Defence Martin Glváč. According to the Minister, the Armed Forces of the SR are ready to provide the expertise needed and specialists in this field to address the needs resulting from the situation in Syria. The collection of samples of toxic chemical substances, their packaging and transportation, as well as their subsequent identification – these were the skills practiced by the military chemical units from the armed forces of Belgium, the Czech Republic, France, Hungary, Poland, Austria and Slovenia. The Armed Forces of the SR were represented by the 18 specialists from CBRN battalion Rožňava. The participation of the 68 chemical experts from abroad attests to the fact that the CBRN Testing and Training Centre in Zemianske Kostoľany gradually quits the role of merely providing the training area and starts to provide for the specialized training aimed at experts and specialists from partner countries. ● 17 members of the Armed Forces underwent a 4-week preparation of non-commissioned officers within the Staff Noncommissioned Officer course run in the Non-commissioned Officer Academy in Martin. The graduates will be placed in different positions at the Headquarters and staffs on the level of units and components of the Armed Forces. The graduation ceremony was held in the 1st Non-commissioned officer club of the AF SR of the Training battalion Martin in the presence of the Commander of the Non-commissioned Officer Academy Sergeant Major Milan Pavlík, commanding Non-commissioned Officer of the Transportation battalion Hlohovec Sergeant Major Jozef Mižák and the Command and Instructor Corps of the functional and specialized courses at the Non-commissioned Officer Academy.
Memorial in Dukla (October 5) On Saturday, the Minister of Defence Mar!n Glváč paid tribute to the memory of Dukla heroes. On a solemn ceremony held at the memorial to the Czechoslovak soldiers, he commemorated the 69th anniversary of the Carpathian – Dukla Opera!on. He emphasized the courage of the Þghters for libera!on of their country and their victory over fascism. The Head of the Defence Department stressed that it is vital to search for new ways to raise the young people’s interest in history. “The younger genera!on has o#en no informa!on and evinces no interest in historical events that shaped our country.” The direct par!cipants of the an!-fascist resistance and war veterans took part in the commemora!ve ceremony as well. Minister of Defence awarded commemora!ve medals to seven par!cipants of the libera!on Þght. He commemorated the events that had taken place 69 years ago in Dukla also at the statue of General Ludvík Svoboda and at the Soviet Army Memorial in Svidník.
Back Home from Afghanistan (October 2) In Trebišov, the Minister of Defence of the SR Mar!n Glváč awarded commemora!ve medals to 92 soldiers returning home from their tour in ISAF, Afghanistan. It is the Þrst rota!on returning home a#er the tragic event from July this year, when Daniel Kavuliak died. “Allow me to thank you for your con!nued performance of tasks even a#er what had happened. At the same !me, I would like to extend my thanks to your families and friends, because the whole situa!on was probably even harder for them,” said the Head of the Department of Defence. He further emphasized that the Slovak soldiers had done a good job during their six-month engagement. Members of the force protec!on unit checked more than 62,000 vehicles and 113,000 persons. They intervened and took ac!on on several occasions when the local inhabitants tried to inÞltrate the military base.
● The Ministry of Defence of the SR wants to obtain more money for the government through the sale of excess real estates under its administration. The system should be adjusted in a manner precluding the potential buyers from receiving the property for one third of its real value. The competitive bidding should be the way to ensure provision of the assistant services, which providers should assist the Ministry in selling the excess property in an electronic auction for 100% and more of its value, as assessed by the expert witnesses. Based on the competitive tender, the Ministry will select the specialized private entities to provide the above services and a four-year framework agreement will be concluded. ● On 30 September – 2 October, the delegation of military police from Russian Federation made a visit to Slovakia. The delegation was led by the Deputy Director of the Main Administration of the Military Police Colonel Vitalij Koch. In Trenčín, the Head of the Military Police Colonel Jaroslav Hamár informed the guests from Russia of the structure, organization and tasks of our military police. The delegation also visited the Training Centre of Military Police and Cynology Vlkanová – Hronsek as well as the Institute of special healthcare and training (ISHCT) of MoD SR in Lešť. Colonel Hamár gave a briefing on the activities of the military police in missions and operations abroad. ● On Friday, 4 October, more than 750 members of the 22nd mechanized battalion group assembled in front of the observation post Veľké Zeme in the Training area of the Military District in Lešť on the occasion of the opening of the exercise under the control of the Deputy of the 2nd mechanized brigade. The activity was aimed at testing the preparedness and coordination of all the components of the 22nd mbg prior to the tactical exercise and combat firing practice to be held on the level of battalion. Evaluating the activity, Colonel Ján Parimucha expressed his satisfaction with the tactical activities of all the involved components and expressed his belief that from 7 to 11 October, the battalion group will successfully cope with all the tasks. ● On 30 September – 2 October 2013, the 21st Annual Conference of European Armies (CEA) 2013 was held in German Wiesbaden under the auspices of the US Army Europe (USAREUR) commander Lieutenant General Donald M. Campbell, Jr. Among those who joined in the discussion was Supreme Allied Commander Europe General Philip M. Breedlove, the US Army Chief of Staff Raymond T. Odierno, the Allied Land Commander in Izmir Lieutenant General Frederick B. Hodges, Chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Great Britain General Sir Peter Anthony Wall and the Chief of the General Staff of the Army of the Czech Republic Lieutenant General Peter Pavel. The Armed Forces of the Slovak Republic were represented by the Chief of the Land Forces of the AF SR Brigadier General Ondřej Novosad.
Joint Parade in Hungary
(October 2) In Székesfehérvár, the Chief of the General Staff of the AF SR Lieutenant General Peter Vojtek, together with the Chief of Defence of Hungary General Tibor Benkő, awarded medals to the members of the Slovak and Hungarian Armed Forces returning from the peacekeeping mission UNFICYP. Twenty two Slovak professional soldiers stood to parade. “Slovakia, as the Lead Nation in Sector 4 in the UN-led operation has actively cooperated with the unit of defence forces of Hungary since February 2005. Interaction and coordination of the Slovak and Hungarian contingents set a good example for the Cypriots of friendly relations between the neighbouring countries,” reminded Lt.Gen. Vojtek.
Riflemen in Competition
(October 3) In the premises of the Institute of special healthcare and training (ISHCT) of MoD SR in Lešť, the 9th annual competition of the armed forces was held in combat firing, which competition was organized by the Ministry of Defence of the SR. More than 120 representatives from units and institutions of the AF SR as well as the riflemen from the ranks of police, customs administration and municipal police took part in the competition. The purpose of the competition was to test the level of preparedness of the competing participants and their weapon handling skills, namely the use of short and long barreled service handguns and standard equipment in simulated combat conditions. The category of 9 mm pistol Makarov was won by the two-man team from the 5th Special Forces Regiment in Žilina, followed by the Staff Sergeant L. Hinzeller and the Staff Sergeant R. Cvengel from the mechanized battalion Levice. The winners in the category of 9 mm Luger were T. Poor and R. Lovecký from the units of Ministry of Defence, who also won the Challenge Cup of the Director of ISHCT of MoD SR in Lešť.
Lt. Gen. Peter Gajdoš Becomes the 1st Deputy Chief of Defence of the AF SR
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(October 1) In the presence of the Minister of Defence of the SR Martin Glváč and the Chief of the General Staff of the AF SR Lieutenant General Peter Vojtek, the handover ceremony
was held on the occasion of taking over the position of the 1st Deputy Chief of General Staff of the AF SR. Lieutenant General Peter Gajdoš took over the position of the Deputy Chief of General Staff of the AF SR after returning from the position of the military representative of the SR to the NATO and EU Military Committee. In that post he was replaced by Major General Miroslav Kocian, who had before held the position of the 1st Deputy ChoD. Lieutenant General Gajdoš, who had held the position of the 1st Deputy ChoD by the end of
eBULLETIN MoD SR
2010, emphasized that he had two ambitions in this new and old position: to proceed from the plans, as stipulated in the Strategic Defence Review of the SR and in the White Paper, to the implementation stage and to provide for a full support of the political representation of the Slovak Republic during the Slovak EU Presidency in 2016. In appreciation of their professional work performed so far, the Chief of General Staff of the Armed Forces of the SR awarded the both Generals with the Badge of the Chief of General Staff of the AF SR.
Certification of Field Hospital
(October 4) From 30 September to 4 October, the international evaluation (certification) of the field mobile medical unit ROLE 2E was carried out in Liptovský Mikuláš by the international team from the Centre of Excellence of Military Medical Service (CoE MiMED) based in Budapest, led by Colonel MUDr. Roman Jantoš. Establishment of FMMU ROLE 2E is one of the goals set by the forces. In line with this effort, in October 2012 the national evaluation of FMMU ROLE 2E was carried out on levels I and II (evaluation of individuals and evaluation of field hospital modules). At the same time, the evaluation was made of the preventive medicine team and rapidly deployable team to control the spread of infection and contamination (the teams are not a part of FMMU ROLE 2E).
September 30 - October 6, 2013