Ninth Rotation Returns Home

Szöveg: Péter Snoj | 2014. március 10. 9:00

“Please, make good use of the lessons you have learned while on mission in an international environment”, Maj.-Gen. Sándor Fucsku said on Wednesday, March 5 in Debrecen.

Speaking at the homecoming ceremony held for the ninth rotation of the HDF KFOR Contingent, the Commander of the HDF Joint Force Command thanked Contingent Commander Lt.-Col. Attila Kovács for “having brought everybody home safe and sound".

Through its attitude and task execution, the contingent has earned further reputation for the Hungarian Defence Forces and the ‘Bocskai István’ Infantry Brigade, Maj.-Gen. Fucsku noted in his speech at the ceremony.

Maj.-Gen. Sándor Fucsku welcomed the soldiers at the homecoming ceremony

Answering a question, the commander of the HDF JFC said he knew well from his own experience too that our foreign partners always speak highly of the Hungarian soldiers’ mission-related activities and performance. “These are not words of courtesy, but real signs of the appreciation our troops deserve", the major-general pointed out, adding that the Hungarian soldiers are a match for those of the partner countries at professional standards and attitude alike.

One interesting thing about the ninth rotation was that its strength had “expanded" with two persons by the day of the homecoming. At any rate, that is how the birth of children gets mentioned in missions abroad. “On the night of September 11, I had a phone call telling me that my son was born. It was very good to hear, and I became increasingly eager to return home and see the baby", a father-to-be, Capt. János Bányai, the commander of the contingent support company told us.

Tokens of appreciation were also presented during the ceremony

Like earlier contingents, the ninth rotation has also spent six months in Kosovo. Apart from their general security and law enforcement tasks, the Hungarian soldiers kept order during this year’s elections too.

Next to the peacekeepers returning from Kosovo, another group of soldiers also lined up on the parade ground of the Debrecen barracks – those who served in individual staff officer positions and have now returned from the Balkans Joint Operational Area. They filled various individual positions at the KFOR Headquarters, Pristina, as well as in Sarajevo at the EUFOR HQ and the NATO HQ.