Fire Phobia Overcome

The personnel of the Hungarian infantry company “Charlie" of the joint Portuguese–Hungarian KFOR Tactical Reserve Maneuver Battalion (KTM) have learned what fire phobia is. The objective of the “fire phobia training" is to make sure that when it comes to live task execution, soldiers do not fear the fire and the crowd attacking them with burning debris or Molotov cocktails, and that the peacekeepers are ready to take proper counter-action and to continue executing their task without breaking the formation.

Similar exercises were, of course, already held for the soldiers of the contingent during the pre-deployment training in Hungary, but they needed to repeat this kind of training in the theatre, since this capability is part of the full operational capability (FOC) validation exercise.

After a briefing on the safety regulations to be observed, the three platoons of the Hungarian company were drilled in the proper activities and techniques at different sites of instruction. The instructors drew their attention to mistakes and corrected them continuously. Following the individual and squad-level activities, the training continued in platoon formation, also involving the Portuguese soldiers in the role of the “bad boys", who kept “bombarding" the Hungarian peacekeepers with plastic bottles filled with water and burning Molotov cocktails.

The training was useful because it gave the soldiers an opportunity to feel “on their own skin" how useful their heavy and uncomfortable protective riot gears can be when during a crowd riot control (CRC) task they are wading through flames, while hot shards of glass are raining down on them.