Honvéd Palace Guard Introduces Itself

Lt.-Col. Ferenc Kiss, the commander of the Honvéd Palace Guard delivered a short speech on the historical traditions, the organizational structure, the equipment, the weaponry, the training and the tasks. He said that the 75-strong Honvéd Palace Guard is to take over the protocol guard duties at the Office of the President of the Republic of Hungary as from January 7, 2012.

The palace guards are equipped with 1895M Mannlicher repeating rifles with nickel-covered bayonets, while the commanders and the formation leaders have 1861M infantry swords on them. The palace guards will wear the parade-specific variant of the “Tihany"-type dress uniform with boots. The soldiers’ assignment is indicated by the President of the Republic’s small coat of arms on their uniform.

Lt.-Col. Kiss talked about the progress made so far in the training program that was launched in early November. He said that during the program special attention was paid to military physical training (PT) beyond the preparation for drill and parade tasks.

During the practical display the commander of the Palace Guard commented on the ceremonial hoisting of the flag by his soldiers as well as on the palace guards’ formation, movement, changing and weapon drills.