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Multinational, soldierly May Day

Text: Gábor Kálmánfi | Photo: by the author |  11:53 May 3, 2023

On 3 May 2022, Headquarters Multinational Division Centre (HQ MND-C) was activated as part of the NATO Force Structure. Together with the NATO Force Integration Units of Hungary and Slovakia (NFIU HUN and NFIU SVK), the military organization stationed in Székesfehérvár celebrated the first anniversary of this significant occasion by participating in the May Day Sports event of the town.

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It is widely known that national defence and sports are closely interlinked, since proper physical fitness and sporting lifestyle in general are among the basic requirements of soldiering. That is why nobody wondered on seeing the tents of multinational units stationed in the town, and none of the visitors were surprised when – depending on their ages – they were required to do three or ten regular squats while wearing tactical vests and helmets.

Of course, the local multinational military organizations did not visit the May Day to assign everyone a hard workout… “Székesfehérvár is the garrison town of our unit that hosts us, and for this reason it is very important for us to return something of this hospitality, so to speak. Besides, our presence here is also important because it enables local people to get to know us better and learn why we serve here” – said Major General Denis Tretinjak, Commander, HQ MND-C. He added that there is an excellent relationship between the soldiers of the multinational units and the civilians. While the youngest ones were busy making military coloring pages even more lifelike, the adults had opportunity to familiarize themselves with the characteristics of the Spanish, Romanian, Turkish or Croatian military culture, for example.

Naturally, visitors to the HDF recruitment tent at the May Day Sports event were able to receive all the information about the types of military service offered by the Hungarian Defence Forces.