“This Cannot Be Described, This Must Be Felt”

The unit, under Hungarian command and stationed in Hungary, contributes to strengthening NATO’s Eastern flank. Its mission is to enhance deterrence with high-visibility training programs, as well as by forging sub-units and taking training to the next level. Besides the Hungarian manoeuvre company belonging to the HDF 30th Mechanized Infantry Brigade’s 2nd Grenadier Battalion, the battlegroup operates with troops contributed by Italy, Türkiye and Croatia.

“Currently, the personnel are preparing for a key phase of next week’s exercise at Várpalota”, said Lieutenant Colonel Battonyai. Near the village of Gerjen, military ferries will be used to cross the Danube, which will be followed by helicopter airlift and company-level live-firing exercises. “Many have participated in the mounting phase, but they also have to refresh their knowledge, as such as those doing this task for the first time.”

Academic training, dry loading into a stationary helicopter, and finally, the live phase itself – listed the steps of the training session the lieutenant colonel, who is also the commander of the HDF 30th Mechanized Infantry Brigade’s 2nd Grenadier Battalion. “Today, embarkation and disembarkation are carried out while emphasis is laid on taking safety regulations into account”; therefore, servicemembers practiced with semicircular armed protection and approach from the nose, among others.

“Adjusting to the size of the H225M helicopter, the training is taking place with units larger than squads but smaller than platoons”, told us Lieutenant Szilárd Sivák. As platoon leader in the HDF 30th Mechanized Infantry Brigade’s 2nd Grenadier Battalion, it was his task to organise the semicircular protection accompanying the embarkation/disembarkation, as well as to give an appropriate smoke signal, by the help of which the air asset could find the exact landing zone.

The personnel’s enthusiasm probably also contributed to the smoothness of the practice, said Private Second Class Roland Gerő. The infantryman of the Grenadier Battalion carried out his task following a predefined order: armed protection, fast embarkation and takeover of the protection duty during the assault landing following the few-minute air manoeuvre. For him, the most special phase was the flight itself, as this was the first time that he set off with a modern Airbus helicopter of the HDF.

“This cannot be described, this must be felt”, he said after the landing. “It was a completely different experience from travelling by a civilian airliner. Here, one can better feel the atmospheric pressure, and the task to be carried out really raises one’s adrenaline level.”