The Best Non-Commissioned Officer of the AF
(December 3) During a meeting held in the premises of the 1st Mechanized Brigade in Topoľčany, the committee, under the command of the Chief NonCommissioned Officer of the Armed Forces of the SR Sergeant Major Vladimír Beluš, decided to award Master Sergeant Jaroslav Meleg from the Military Missions Training Unit of the Training battalion based in Martin as the Best noncommissioned officer of the Armed Forces of the SR in the 2013 training year. He represented the Training and Support Forces of the AF of the SR. The native of Spišská Nová Ves has been a professional soldier for 16 years. After graduating the Warrant Officer School in Liptovský Mikuláš, he worked as an instructor. He gained experiences within the NATO framework, as well as he did during his training in the USA, or missions and operations abroad. He will put them to good use at his new workplace in the Operations Centre. “This award is not just a form of recognition of an individual’s approach to building up professional forces, but also a firm part of programs aimed at professional development of enlisted men and non-commissioned officers. I am glad that the award has been earning more and more prestige among commanders and in the Non-Commissioned Officers Corps. After all, even members of the Guard of Honor of the President of the SR and the Military Police participated in this year’s selection process,” noted the Chief Non-Commissioned Officer of the AF of the SR. ● On 3 December, Our Lady of the Seven Sorrows Military Parish of the Training and Support Forces Headquarters located in Trenčín organized a meeting for soldiers, civilian employees and their family members in the Church of the Saint Family in the Trenčín’s residential district Juh. They were welcomed by the military dean of the TSF Headquarters Lieutenant Colonel Stanislav Lipka and the Commander of the TSF Headquarters in Trenčín, Colonel of the GS Martin Stoklasa. Children from military families shown their joy most as they anticipated presents from St. Nicholas. On 4 December, members and employees of the 1st Mechanized Brigade prepared an early-evening St. Nicholas’ fairy tale programme for their children in the premises of the garrison in Topoľčany.
Strengthening Cooperation (December 3) Slovakia and the Federal Republic of Germany will seek closer defence coopera!on in the future. The Minister of Defence of the SR Mar!n Glváč and the German Ambassador Michael Schmunk concurred on that during their nego!a!on. “We have evinced interest in educa!ng our officers at the German Defence Academy (Führungsakademie der Bundeswehr) in Hamburg, and we intend to delegate at least one member of the armed forces a year to study there. I would like to note that two of our Chiefs of the General Staff studied at this Academy,” stated the Minister of Defence Mar!n Glváč. According to him, the reciprocal use of the training areas should be encouraged. The German Ambassador showed an interest in the White Paper on Defence of the SR, par!cularly in implementa!on of the individual conclusions and the funding of the established goals. The working group headed by the State Secretary of the MoD of the SR is to nego!ate the common issues and the possibili!es of further coopera!on.
Multifunctional Base Poprad
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(December 2) The Mul!func!onal Supply Base East – Poprad is not being wound up yet. As from 1st July 2014, termina!on of employment will only relate to those employees with Þxed term contracts or those with another income. As from this date, the base will fall under the Base Nemšová. The situa!on is a ma%er of concern to the Minister of Defence of the SR Mar!n Glváč, who met with the leadership of the base as well as with the representa!ves of the workers. “Nego!a!ons will be conducted in a way that would produce an effec!ve solu!on by 31st December 2014,” explained the Head of the Defence Department. The employees themselves are encouraged to bring forward proposals. The decision on winding up the base was driven by the requirement of the AF SR and is incorporated in the White Paper on Defence. The Armed Forces are ready to provide the na!onal crisis management in the case of winding up the Poprad base, where obsolete spare parts are being stored, which spare parts were intended for the equipment da!ng back to the !mes when Czechoslovakia split, which is no longer in the inventory of the Armed Forces.
● Soldiers of the 13th Mechanized Battalion visited children in the Children’s Home in Levice on 4 December to liven up their afternoon with a prepared St. Nicholas’ programme. Apart from a static display of weapons, they put on a demonstration of close combat. Children were delighted by the military coloring books and the opportunity to directly try on camouflage paint, modular vest, helmet or protective mask. Bags filled with sweets and presents could not be missing.
Winners of Literary Contest
(December 5) More than two hundred authors took part in the 9th annual literary contest of the MoD of the SR, which was aimed at students of secondary schools and universities. The committee selected five of the best works and the public voted through the Facebook profile of the MoD to determine the final ranking. The topic was: Assistance of Soldiers at floods, fires and other emergencies. Radovan Potočár from Masaryk University in Brno won first place with his work Throw over, surprise, help (1,329 votes). Matúš Bachynec from the Academy of Performing Arts in Bratislava ended up in second place with his contribution Affection of a Little Soldier (908 votes). The special award went to the students of the Apprentice Training School of Milo Urban at the Combined Boarding School in Námestovo, namely to Dávid Kutlák and Peter Rusnák.
● On 5 December, members of the Recruiting Group Prešov of the Personnel Office of the AF of the SR visited the Secondary School of Electrical Engineering in Prešov on Plzenská Street to help the soon-to-be graduates in their decision-making about the future. They provided the students with information regarding the conditions of the state service in the position of a professional soldier, and possibilities to study at the Armed Forces Academy of General Milan Rastislav Štefánik in Liptovský Mikuláš. The most original questions were awarded with promotional items. ● From 3 to 5 December, a work meeting was held between Col. Aleš Knížek, Director of the Military History Institute Prague, and Col. Miloslav Čaplovič, Director of the Institute of Military History Bratislava. They exchanged information regarding the Institutions’ activities and their future heading in respect to preparations of events related to jubilees and anniversaries in 2014. They agreed on a mutually favorable exchange of items from museums’ collections. The directors stated that there has always been a special relationship between their two Institutes, and that they want to further strengthen and deepen these relations. ● Members of the advisory team (SFAT) completed the first phase of preparation and training. The main training objectives were operations, actions and cooperation in case of emergency situations related to a detonation of an improvised explosive device targeted against a convoy. Members of the SFAT got acquainted with the MaxxPro MRAP vehicles and their special equipment (pointers, radio stations, etc.), which they will use during transportation, movement and training. From January 2014, The Slovak SFAT will be mentoring a partner unit of the Afghan Armed Forces in Zabul province. This unit will also carry out the key tasks of providing a secure and stable environment for the upcoming presidential elections.
Partnership Bears Fruit
(December 5) The State Secretary of the MoD of the SR Miloš Koterec and the First Deputy Minister of Defence of the Czech Republic Daniel Koštoval met in Bratislava to assess the progress made over the past year in the field of cooperation between the Czech and Slovak Republic. The evaluation report will be submitted to the ministers of defence for endorsement by the end of the year. “We have managed to deepen and to extend mutual cooperation to the new areas, e.g. cooperation between the defence industries or between the organizations subordinated to the ministries, or intensive consultations on possibilities of joint procurement,” stated Miloš Koterec. The State Secretary and the First Deputy Minister of Defence Daniel Koštoval also discussed a work plan for the upcoming year.
Gift from American Friends
(December 3) The armored vehicles MRAP or radio communication means were the first part of the military materiel donated by the US. The gift, in a symbolic way, received the Minister of Defence Martin Glváč. “Delivery of the material is a testament to the fact that the American party derives satisfaction from the joint engagement of the Slovak and American special forces in ISAF, Afghanistan,” he said. The first part of the delivery, amounting to USD 4.6 million, contains mainly means of communication that previously have not been in the inventory of our special forces. “Donating the equipment to the members of the Slovak Armed Forces is one of the indicators of very close cooperation between the both armies,” stated Theodore Sedgwick, the US Ambassador to Slovakia. The Department of Defence received materiel of a total value of approximately 20 million US dollars, which will be delivered in stages. In the second stage, primarily helmets, weapons and other components of the special forces’ equipment will be delivered, i.e. weapon systems with auxiliary equipment and ammunition, technical, special and communication means to facilitate performance of tasks in special operations.
eBULLETIN MoD SR
December 2 - 8, 2013