Chief of the General Staff visits SLOVCON in BaH
Lt Gen Milan Maxim paid a visit on 11-12 December 2014 to the Slovak Contingent (SLOVCON) in EUFOR ALTHEA, Bosnia and Herzegovina (BaH), for the first time since assuming the post of Chief of Defence. During his visit to BaH, he was accompanied by Brig Gen Jindřich Joch, Chief of the Crisis Management Strategic Centre, and Sergeant Major Vladimír Beluš, the Chief NCO of the SVK Armed Forces. The delegation was welcomed in Camp Butmir, Sarajevo, by Lt Col Ladislav Kisel, SLOVCON Commander, who briefed the guests on the performance of assigned operational tasks in all SLOVCON components. Lt Gen Milan Maxim met with Mr Ján Pšenica, Ambassador of the Slovak Republic to BaH, and was then received by Maj Gen Heidecker, EUFOR Operation Commander. During a joint dinner with the SLOVCON members, Lt Gen Milan Maxim read out a greeting letter from SVK Minister of Defence Martin Glváč and handed over the letters from primary school pupils from Turany for the SVK soldiers deployed on operations abroad, as well as giving Christmas presents and a commemorative plaque to the SLOVCON Commander.
● On 12 December, the SVK MOD received guests from the NATO Defense College (NDC) in Rome – an education establishment dedicated to delivering education programmes for officers and public servants working at the MODs in dozens of countries. At the SVK MOD, 68 NDC course attendees from NATO member countries and 10 from partner countries listened to a series of presentations on the current issues of Slovakia’s defence and security policy, as well as on the significance of Slovakia’s presidency in the EU in 2016. ● The Military Police Trenčín facility hosted on 19 December this year’s last meeting of the Military Council of the Military Police Director (MC MPD), where the 2015 Military Police Training Plan was approved and signed, alongside the Military Police’s inspection plan, courses, seminars and the action plan for the MC MPD. The signing ceremony was reinforced by the presence of Mons František Rábek, Ordinary of the SVK Armed Forces and Armed Corps. Col Hamar thanked him for his co-operation with the Military Police and presented him with the Military Police Director Medal, Grade III.
At the top of athletics
(19 December) SVK Minister of Defence Martin Glváč congratulated the sportsmen and women of the Military Sports Club DUKLA Banská Bystrica (MSC DBB) on their placement in the prestigious 2014 Athlete of the Year Award. “This year our athletes have proved to be among the best not only in Slovakia but, considering the two medals from the European Championships, also in Europe,” said the Minister. The winner of the 2014 Athlete of the Year Award was, just as last year, Matej Tóth, race walker, followed by Martina Hrašnová, hammerthrower. During the awards ceremony, Pavol Blažek, retired race walker, and Juraj Benčík, legendary coach of Slovak race walkers, entered the Hall of Fame of Slovak athletics. Matej Spišiak was voted the 2014 Coach of the Year. The winners were judged by the selection board comprised of representatives of athletics clubs, Slovak Athletics Association executive board members, and coaches and sports journalists.
Meeting of state secretaries
www.mosr.sk/ebulletin/
(16 December) Progress achieved in the field of defence co-operation, V4 planning and joint military training – these all were among the topics discussed by the MOD officials from Slovakia, the Czech Republic, Hungary and Poland, which took place in Bratislava. The State Secretary of the Slovak Ministry of Defence, Miloš Koterec hosted the historically first meeting at the level of state secretaries, the so-called Senior Body. “We have agreed to meet, depending on the tasks delegated to us by prime ministers and defence ministers, officially twice a year,” said Miloš Koterec. The aim of the meetings will be to determine the strategic direction for defence cooperation via the Action Plan for V4 Defence Cooperation, to identify the areas of common interests, and to oversee the ongoing implementation of assigned tasks. The next meeting of the state secretaries of the V4 MODs is due to be held in the spring of 2015.
● Headquarters Bratislava Garrison was visited on 15 December by the Chief NCO of the SVK Armed Forces, Sergeant Major Vladimír Beluš. He was welcomed by Col Ján Marek, commander of Headquarters Bratislava Garrison. SgtMaj Gabriel Zelej, the most Senior NCO at the HQ, updated the Chief NCO on the current status of the NCO corps in the units subordinated to HQ Bratislava Garrison. Sergeant Major Beluš thanked for the accomplishment of assigned tasks and wished everyone Merry Christmas, full of love, peace, joy and much success in 2015. ● Attended by Lt Gen Marián Áč, Chief of the SVK President’s Military Office (SVK PMO), and SVK PMO members, the unit’s formation ceremony took place for the last time this year on 16 December. Lt Gen Áč extended his thanks to soldiers and employees for their accomplishment of duties in the 2014 training year and awarded selected personnel with the Chief of the SVK President’s Military Office Medals. ● On 18 December, Col Milan Hamar, Director of the Military Police, awarded the Military Police Medal, 1st Class (golden), to Lt Col Ľudovít Bálint, Director of the Military Police Enforcement Division Prešov in recognition of his long-term commitment in favour of the Military Police and presented the Military Police Medal, 3rd Class (bronze), to Maj Juraj Kopčík, Chief of the Crisis Management Section, Military Police Enforcement Division Prešov. ● In the run-up to Christmas, SVK Air Force personnel remembered to visit child patients at the Children’s Teaching Hospital with an outpatient clinic in Banská Bystrica. On 15 December, they met with children and the teaching staff from the elementary school based in the hospital. Having collected donations, they bought gifts and aids which allowed the young patients to forget, at least for a moment, about the hustle and bustle of the hospital environment.
(19 December) The initial phase of national preparation for the key personnel to carry out tasks under Operation Resolute Support (ORS) in Afghanistan is coming to an end. Most of the Slovak Contingent (SLOVCON) to be deployed to ORS will be comprised of the Special Operations Advisory Team (SOAT), which is aimed at advising and assisting the Afghan National Security Forces (ANSF) in training Special Operations Forces (SOFs). An important component of the deployed force is the National Support Element (NSE), a point of liaison between the host country and the SLOVCON units operationally committed in Afghanistan. Personnel from the above-mentioned units, along with the officers to staff positions in the ORS command structures, familiarized themselves with the basic information on the mission. As part of the training programme they couldn’t miss out on
eBULLETIN MoD SR
Guest in Liptovský Mikuláš
(18 December) Lt Gen Milan Maxim convened the end -of-the-year meeting of the Military Council of the Chief of the General Staff on 18 December at the Gen M. R. Štefánik Armed Forces Academy in Liptovský Mikuláš. At the meeting, he welcomed, among others, Brig Gen MUDr. Božetěch Jurenka, Director of the Czech Army’s Military Medical Agency, and awarded him with the SVK Chief of the General Staff Commemorative Medal for his personal and professional contribution and willingness to provide solutions to joint medical support tasks.
Remembrance event in Levice
(18 December) The Levice Municipal Office, working in co-operation with the Regional Committee of the Slovak Anti-Nazi Combatants Union in Levice, the District Office, and the 13th Mechanized Battalion Levice, organized a remembrance ceremony to mark the 70th anniversary of the town’s liberation. Held on 18 December, the ceremony attendees paid tribute to those who laid down their lives while defending our country in WWII. At the opening of the ceremony, the order of SVK Minister of Defence Martin Glváč was read out, followed by the awarding of the 70th Anniversary of the Slovak National Uprising and the End of WWII Medals to eleven surviving WWII combatants. In his speech, Lt Col Dušan Michálek, 13th Mechanized Battalion Commander, emphasized that our past is also relevant to the young generation who should avoid the past mistakes and thereby prevent new conflicts from erupting. At the remembrance ceremony, members of the Slovak Anti-Nazi Combatants Union awarded honorary awards for merit in the national struggle for freedom and against Nazism, for spreading the message of the Slovak National Uprising, and for long-term active engagement and cooperation with the Slovak Anti-Nazi Combatants Union. Among the recipients of the awards was also the 13th Mechanized Battalion.
such essentials as medical assistance to injured personnel, first aid, calling for medical support, medical evacuation (MEDEVAC), casualty evacuation (CASEVAC), and the basic procedures for handling communications systems and reporting. Practical exercises, built around the expertise and standard operational procedures acquired in Week 1, formed an indispensable part of the training. Therefore, Week 2 placed emphasis on co-ordinated action during troop redeployments, convoy movements, and foot patrols. The SVK Armed Forces members who have been earmarked for Operation Resolute Support and trained for two weeks by the Peace Support Operations Training Unit (PSO TU), Training Battalion Martin, are experienced professionals with expertise from their former deployments abroad.
December 15 - 21, 2014