Austrian Soldiers Finish their Work in Hungary

The last Austrian subunits will soon leave their foreign duty station, the Zrínyi Miklós barracks in Hódmezővásárhely. The first group of Austrian soldiers who have taken part in the engineering works of border security operations and have now completed their service arrived in Hungary in November 2016. During the more than one year activity of the four contingents serving here, the army engineers of the Austrian armed forces participated in the construction of border defence bases. By constructing and maintaining service and access roads, and carrying out a range of different transportation tasks, they contributed to border security tasks in Hungary.

Speaking at the farewell ceremony, Brig.-Gen. Dr. Romulusz Ruszin, Commander, HDF 5th Bocskai István Infantry Brigade said that the most important message of the Austrian comrades’ presence is that “Hungary is not the only country that thinks that something must be done to stop illegal migration, because our Austrian colleagues also think the same way. The militaries of these two countries have proven again that we are ready and able to work together." He added that it is a very good thing that Hungarian troops can participate in border security operations, as the service of the country is a fundamental task. Brig.-Gen. Dr. Romulusz Ruszin noted that before 2015, they had mainly performed this service abroad, in Iraq, Afghanistan, the Balkans, Cyprus and the Baltic states. “Now the Hungarians can feel much more why it is good that the Hungarian Defence Forces exist and how much the Hungarian soldiers are prepared, how much they are ready and able to fulfil their oath of service", he concluded.

In his speech, Col. Volkmar Ertl, the commander of the forth and at once last Austrian contingent serving in Hungary said that during their stay in Hungary, they were assigned two important tasks: one was to construct macadam (gravel) roads to facilitate the use of roads leading to the border. The army engineers of the Austrian military have constructed 12.5 kilometers of road network in total. The other significant set of tasks concerned transportation, and the Austrians covered 250,000 kilometers along the southern border of Hungary.

After the lowering of the flag, Maj.-Gen. Dr. István Szabó, Deputy Chief of Staff for Coordination expressed his esteem in front of the Austrian and Hungarian soldiers lined up at the ceremony. “I think that this great and successful cooperation has shown how we can work together and accomplish our tasks while complementing each other’s capabilities. Please allow me to say thanks, on behalf of the Hungarian Defence Forces and the citizens of Hungary, for the excellent job our Austrian friends have done here at the border", the major-general said.

“I would like to thank the Ministry of Defence and the Hungarian Defence Forces for the excellent comradeship and the excellent cooperation that we have been able to perform here in the last one year", underlined Austrian Deputy Chief of Defence Lt.-Gen. Bernhard Bair in expressing his appreciation.

Photos by the author