Reservists conduct joint Hungarian-American live fire exercise

Brigadier General László Drót said that the two-week exercise had started one and a half weeks earlier, and by then the soldiers had reached the training level required for conducting live fire exercises. He added that on Wednesday, they carried out an individual one, while on Thursday they are to conduct a collective live fire exercise.

The general noted that the military trainers and trainees present at the live fire exercise number 105, of which 30 have arrived from the United States.

He pointed out that two or three years ago they started preparing for a task which will be a validation exercise in the USA next year, where a Hungarian unit will also be participating in the activity of a designated unit of the Ohio National Guard. According to the American unit commander’s intent, the Hungarian company would be divided into platoon-sized forces to be distributed among the US companies.

Brigadier General László Drót is of the opinion that this will provide the territorial defence forces of the Hungarian Defence Forces with a good opportunity to train and participate in multinational tasks as well, to acquire language proficiency and to practice international cooperation. He emphasized that as part of a long training process, the commanders were selected and sent to attend preparatory training sessions in Hungary and the United States.

He mentioned that next year’s tasks are the further education and training of the command group and further practice by a Hungarian unit carrying out tasks in an American company, for which the current live fire exercise is an excellent occasion.

Major General David B. Johnson, Assistant Adjutant General for Air, Ohio National Guard reaffirmed that the ongoing exercise is a good opportunity to weld the American and the Hungarian forces into a larger one.

As he said, in fact the only differences are the weapons and the languages used by the two parties. Apart from these, all detachment- and force-level operations are the same. He added that his men looked forward to conducting this live fire exercise in Hungary, since it gives them an opportunity to further strengthen the more than 30-year-partnership with Hungary and the Hungarian Defence Forces. He also noted that this is one of the longest-running partnerships in their State Partnership Program.

“Being able to participate in a multinational exercise just two weeks after my basic training is an exceptional opportunity” – this was how László Hegedűs, a soldier of the HDF 1st Territorial Defence Regiment praised Exercise Valiant Panther.

Private Hegedűs emphasized that besides broadening knowledge, one must not forget that networking is another great benefit of the exercise. “I think it’s great for us to get to know the soldiers of the Ohio National Guard and exchange the lessons learned. In addition, it is also new to me that I can meet soldiers of other territorial defence regiments” – said he about his experiences gained at the exercise.