SVK President appoints and promotes generals (26 November) President of the Slovak Republic and Commander -in-Chief of the SVK Armed Forces Andrej Kiska has appointed three new generals of the SVK Armed Forces and promoted one to the highest military rank. Chief of the General Staff of the SVK Armed Forces Lt Gen Milan Maxim was promoted to the rank of general. Col Ľubomír Gacko, Deputy Commander of the SVK Land Forces, Col Vladimír Kubáň and Col Martin Stoklasa, Commanders of the [1st and 2nd] Mechanized Brigades respectively, were advanced to the most junior general rank – brigadier general. “We view our promotion as a recognition of the work hitherto done not only by us who have been given the honour of standing here today, but also of that done by our subordinates who execute, through their professional team work, day-to-day tasks in delivering the defence and security of our country,” said Gen Maxim. Rejuvenating the Generals’ Corps and gradually seeing through modernization efforts are the two steps taken by the SVK Armed Forces in response to the global security situation. The newly appointed generals will replenish the overall staff numbers for generals in the SVK Armed Forces in line with the planned manning levels and will contribute, through their experience and expertise, to the further development of the units and formations they have been entrusted with in the SVK Armed Forces. ● On November 23, members of the First Aid Station of the Engineer Battalion Sereď, working in cooperation with the National Blood Transfusion Service of the Slovak Republic – Blood Collection Centre Nitra, organized a blood donation event for the third time this year. 47 members and employees of the battalion donated more than 21 litres of the precious liquid. This tradition – dubbed Drop of Blood from a Sapper – has existed for 22 years. To date, a total of 5,958 blood donors have participated in the event.
Experts to be deployed to Mali (27 November) Slovak troops are to join the EU Training Mission in Mali (EUTM Mali). This follows from the proposal adopted by the SVK Government. Accordingly, the SVK Armed Forces will dispatch a maximum of 5 Service members to Africa for a 6-month tour of duty. This comes as a response of the Slovak Republic to the request of the Republic of France, which has, after the recent terrorist attacks, requested support, including from the SVK Armed Forces, in the form of contributions to EU and UN operations in the world’s hotspots. “At the request of the French authorities, we will send highly specialized military experts to Mali. This will include deploying an operational mentor team to provide advice and training. By this contribution, we seek to express our solidarity with our French partners and uphold European and democratic values,” said SVK Minister of Defence Martin Glváč. The precise conditions under which our troops will be deployed are still being worked out with the French authorities. The decision to do so builds on the historically first activation of the common defence clause, i.e. Article 42.7 of the Treaty on European Union. The article was activated by France at the EU’s Foreign Affairs Council session at the level of defence ministers on 17 November 2015. Following the mandate of the UN Security Council, EUTM Mali has been in progress since 2013. It is aimed at supporting Mali’s state bodies in restoring the constitutional and democratic order, exercising fully fledged sovereignty over its entire territory, and neutralizing organized crime and terrorist threats.
● The history of the Mi-24 multi-role combat helicopter has already seen its 38 years of existence. The helicopter was phased out of the inventory of the SVK Armed Forces in 2011. To preserve its importance for helicopter aviation, SVK Minister of Defence Martin Glváč has agreed to donate this valuable machine to the Slovak Technical Museum – Museum of Aviation (STM) in Košice. On 29 – 30 October, members of the Helicopter Wing Prešov transported the helicopter to the STM Košice. On 18 November, Col Róbert Tóth, Wing Commander, together with Lt Col Erik Kropuch, Chief Engineer of the Helicopter Wing, presented a Certificate of Handover of the Mi-24 Helicopter, reg. № 340 149, to the STM’s employees. ● A specialized meeting of members of police enforcement divisions and investigation sections took place in Žilina on 24 – 25 November. Its aim was to assess the fulfillment of the section’s tasks, the protection of buildings, the work efficiency and analytical activities of the police enforcement divisions. A part of the meeting’s programme were also lectures on the amendment of Act № 8/2009 Coll. on Road Traffic and on Regulation № 9/2009 Coll. implementing the said Act, which will take effect on 1 January 2016. Another specialized assignment was a lecture on forensic medicine and toxicology. ● As part of her inspection tours, the UNFICYP Force Commander, Maj Gen Kristin Lund visited the Engineer Unit of the HQ Nicosia to test its preparedness to perform the tasks after the September 2015 rotation, the state of preparations of patrol roads, and the state of ongoing construction projects. The briefing was led by Lt Col Pavol Kobík, Chief of the Engineer Service. Maj Gen Lund expressed satisfaction and appreciated the enthusiasm of the unit members. ● Training of the 2nd and 3rd Repair and Maintenance (RM) Companies of the Repair and Maintenance Battalion culminated in a specialized tactical exercise with the theme of “Deployment of the 2nd and 3rd RM Companies in the formation of the RM Battalion and the provision of repair and construction services on behalf of the SVK Armed Forces and NATO units”. The exercise was held on 24 – 26 November at Sučany Garrison Ground. It was led by Lt Col Daniel Ličko, RM Battalion Commander, and though the weather was not very favourable, the exercise met its goals at a very good level. ● On 24 – 26 November, a training course on first aid, bandaging techniques and cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) took place in the medical field station in Liptovský Mikuláš operating under the Training, Education and Specialized Preparation Section, Specialized Medical and Veterinary Activities Division, Surgeon General Office Ružomberok.
SVK Chief of Defence in Turkey (23 November) On 22 – 23 November, Chief of the SVK General Staff visited the Slovak servicemen deployed on Operation Active Fence in Turkey. He received a tour of the premises where members of the fourth rotation of the DCM C unit, which provides communications for a Spanish Patriot Air Defence Missile System Battery, serve. The Battery Commander, Lt Col Castilla praised the Slovak soldiers’ professionalism and technical preparedness. Lt Col Maxim met with Brig Van, Commander of the 10th Tanker Base of the Turkish AF, and Col Walker, Commander of U.S. troops at Incirlik Air Base. They also acknowledged a high level of professionalism of the Slovak soldiers serving at the base. Since 2013, this is the fourth rotation for members of Ružomberok-based DCM C Unit. At the request of Turkey, the operation was activated in southeastern Turkey to defend population centres against possible short-range ballistic missiles launched from Syria.
2015 MOD competitions
(25 November) An evaluation ceremony and exhibition preview of the 6th Defence Ministry’s Competitive Exhibitions Foto Atak (Photo Attack) and Gallery MIL were carried out at the SVK Armed Forces Academy in Liptovský Mikuláš. The Personnel Office of the SVK Armed Forces in Liptovský Mikuláš, Section of Educational and Cultural Activities, organized the exhibitions for the sixth time. 90 competitors with 367 contributions represented professional soldiers of almost all ranks. Similarly active were their family members and ex-servicemen. In the category of “SVK Armed Forces through Camera Lens” as part of the FotoAtak Competition triumphed SFC Pavol Frtús, of Military Unit (MU) 1090 Topoľčany, the winner of the “Military Equipment” category became Col (Ret.) Jaroslav Novák, of Melčice, and the first place in the “Freestyle” category took 1st Lt Petra Podhradská, of MU 4977 Sliač. The Gallery MIL Competition’s “Painting & Sculpture” category saw Jozef Syrový, Trenčín Garrison Club, as its winner, in the “Applied Arts” category triumphed Eva Nagyová, of MU 3030 Zvolen, and the first place in the “Children’s Works” category won Valentina Stoilová, of MU 2790 Žilina.
SVK Military Police personnel participate in Exercise NATO Compact Eagle 15 in Poland
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(27 November) Exercise COMPACT EAGLE 15, an international tactical-level exercise, organized by the NATO Multinational Corps Northeast (MNC NE), headquartered in Szczecin, Po-
land, took place with the aim of training the nominated troops in the process of planning and executing NATO combat missions, as well as preparing the headquarters (HQ MNC NE) for its certification and follow-up Exercise LOYAL LANCE 16. It was attended by a total of 1,700 exercising troops from Slovakia, the Czech Republic, Germany, Denmark, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Slovenia and other MNC NE members. Slovakia was represented by 18 professional soldiers, including staff officers and exercising troops. The exercise tested the coordination and execution of collective defence tasks in accordance with Article 5 of the North Atlantic Treaty. A NATO Multinational Military Police Battalion (MNMPBAT) unit under
eBULLETIN MoD SR
Polish command, involving Military Police personnel from the Czech Republic, Croatia and Slovakia, exercised at the Polish Military Gendarmerie Headquarters in Mińsk Mazowiecki, while members of EXCON trained at the Simulation Technologies Centre of the National Defence Academy in Warsaw. MNMPBAT was established following the decision of the NATO Prague Summit in 2002. The command positions of MNMPBAT are staffed by MP personnel from MNMPBAT member states on a rotational principle. This year, MNMPBAT is commanded by Maj Jozef Šoltýs, of the SVK Armed Forces, with Maj Franjo Barunčič, of the Croatian Armed Forces, as Second-in-Command (2IC) and Maj Marcin Czuprinski, of the Polish Armed Forces,
as Chief of Staff (COS). Apart from this, SSgt Miloš Serbin, of the SVK Armed Forces, has held the appointment of MNMPBAT NonCommissioned Officer in Charge (NCOC). After the end of the exercise, as three years have already passed since its last certification process, a second regular certification of the MNMPBAT command post staff is scheduled to be conducted by the CREVAL team. On the team, led by Lt Col Roman Gavlas, of the Czech Armed Forces, is Lt Col Marián Turanský, Director of the Training and Canine Military Police Division Vlkanová – Hronsek, as well as other representatives of Slovakia.
November 23 - 29, 2015