Joining Forces for a Joint Objective

During their weeklong joint training, the soldiers of the Hungarian-Romanian Mixed Peacekeeping Battalion with a 28-year history perfected the tactics, techniques and procedures they have to use in real-world task execution. The force-level combat of the two platoons was supported by real-time intelligence supplied by drones.

As a result of collective service since 1998, the joint battalion has continuously been developing. At first, this mostly meant battle staff training, and today it encompasses platoon-level cooperation, too, all the way down to the level of individual warriors” – told us Colonel Ciprian Balica, the commander of the Romanian 81st “General Grigore Balan” Mechanized Brigade, who presented memorial coins to the two most successful Hungarian soldiers of the peacekeeping battalion. “In the face of new emerging tactical- and strategic-level challenges, we had to simultaneously recall the historical lessons of WWI trench warfare and incorporate state-of-the-art drone opportunities into our inventory of equipment.”

“Our most important tasks are to develop a common language and strengthen collective thinking in the true sense of the word” – added Colonel Ádám Dienes, Deputy Commander, HDF 30th Mechanized Infantry Brigade, who presented memorial coins of appreciation to Romanian soldiers giving outstanding performance. “According to the exercise scenario, we were tasked with assaulting the positions of a dangerous paramilitary organization. The armed paramilitary fighters did not shy away from laying mines to protect their positions or from defending their trenches step by step. The Hungarian and Romanian troops had to move as a single body in this environment”.

“I’m very happy and proud of having been able to see the joint exercise producing the expected result: over the past close to three decades, our cooperation has entered a phase which enables the Hungarian-Romanian Mixed Peacekeeping Battalion to deploy to the Kosovo area of operations next year, in the spirit of our commitments made in the Alliance system” – this was how Colonel Balica summed up what he had seen.

The purpose of the mixed peacekeeping battalion entails co-deployment of the two nations in the tasks of regional peace operations. The command and control of the battalion is based on standard NATO doctrines with English as the command language. The two nations lead the battalion in annual rotations, just like the venues of annually organized exercises are provided in turn by the two countries.