Speaking the same language

Eger, 22 April. The four foot patrol teams made up of members of the training audience had to cover a close to 20-kilometer distance full of challenges. The exercise included five different stations, where the soldiers had to hold their ground in realistic situations. Their tasks included, among others, the setting up and manning of observation posts and gathering intelligence about the enemy and the local population. Moreover, the participants had to fight their way through illegal armed checkpoints while they also had to professionally administer first aid to a civilian who had been seriously injured in a mine explosion – while the pushy representatives of the local media kept harassing them all along.

Course leader Major Szabolcs Bakk told us that the training has official UN accreditation, thanks to which all students who successfully complete the course may be delegated to real-world, international peacekeeping missions by their sending countries in the future.

The course is a true cultural melting pot. The students’ nationalities are quite diverse: they have come, among others, from Algeria, Bangladesh, Cyprus, Egypt and Poland. The multinational character is true of the teaching staff as well, since Hungarian, Polish, Kazakh, Serbian and Croatian instructors are sharing their experiences with the participants.

The course has attained its objectives. Polish Lieutenant Mateusz Niewiadomski pointed out the unpredictability of the training methodology and the situations arising from it, which require continuous flexibility. To First Lieutenant Ákos Szénási, besides the professional challenge, personal ties also played a role: in his words, the old, abiding memories motivated him to return and choose this form of training.