“He Who does not Trust His Soldiers’ Abilities Cannot be a Good Commander”

Following the strains of ‘Himnusz’ (Hymn’), our national anthem, the incoming commander received the unit colours for safekeeping from his predecessor, and then he made a short speech. Col. Csaba Szilágyi reminded the personnel that he took command of the unit, where he had served ever since its formation.

"I was helping at the birth of the new capability, the civil-military co-operation (CIMIC) back in 2003, and later when it became an integral part of the Hungarian military culture. Less than a year later, the range of the centre’s duties has been extended with a new capability: the psychological operations (PSYOPS)"  said the colonel. "The eight-year-old centre integrates such combat support capabilities which are fundamental in the armies of the 21st century" – he added.

Csaba Szilágyi acknowledged the high quality professional work of the Centre’s personnel and underlined: since its establishment, the organization can boast such an amount of intellectual capital and initiative spirit, which is praiseworthy among the units of the Hungarian Defence Forces.

"This foresight has produced the continuous development which is typical of the centre even today. Naturally, to accomplish this, the CIMICPSYOPS had to find its role among the home defence tasks, but you have proved that CIMIC-PSYOPS support is a must in peace missions as well" – said the colonel. "He who does not trust his soldiers’ abilities cannot be a good commander" – Csaba Szilágyi quoted Marshal Vasily Ivanovich Chuykov, the brilliant strategist of Stalingrad. The colonel pointed out that he expected the same high quality work from his personnel like before.

"I cannot promise anything else but work, and I can assure you, we will have plenty of work in the future, too"  he added. "The professional CIMIC-PSYOPS support of the Hungarian Defence Forces, the fulfilment of our NATO commitments, the standby service, the tasks related to peace missions, and training must be guaranteed on a high level in the future too."

The colonel said: he feels proud that after Colonels Tibor Rózsa and Dr. Gábor Boldizsár, he can be the third to take over command of the centre, and expressed his thanks to Lt-Col. György Pásztrai for his efforts done as acting commander in the past months.

"I promise that I will do my best to earn the trust of the superior" – the new commander closed his speech, wishing everyone success, strength and good health in the common mission.

In his short address, Brig-Gen. János Huszár, Chief of Land Forces, HDF Joint Forces Command (HDF JFC) spoke highly of the new commander’s past professional experience, his outstanding military achievements and pointed out that the centre had done an excellent job in performing its highly complex activity both in Hungary and in the area of professional support to missions abroad.

The ceremony ended with the tunes of the ‘Szózat’(Appeal of Summons), our second National Anthem.

Photo: Veronika Dévényi

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