Patrol Championship – This Time for Two Days

Contrary to the practice of previous years, the Hungarian Defence Forces-level patrol championship for men was organized not on one but on two consecutive days, on 7 and 8 September in Tata, inside the barracks of the HDF 25th Klapka György Infantry Brigade and in the military training area and shooting range of the unit.

On Wednesday morning Brig.-Gen. Zsolt Sándor, the Commander of the Tata Brigade welcomed the troops lined up on the Szomód garrison shooting range of the unit. In his opening speech for the patrol competition, the commander emphasized that this year’s competition was special because the running results were perhaps a bit overridden by physical strength, training levels and military skills.

Brig.-Gen. Sándor added that 150 personnel of the Tata brigade provide real-life support for the competition. “I hope the winner will be chosen after a hard, manly, soldierly contest", the commander said.

Maj. Krisztián Éless, the vice-chairman of the championship organizing committee told us that the standards set for military patrols have changed over the past few years, so they have complemented the list of events with several new elements in addition to the usual ones.

This year’s competition started with a shooting practice, during which the participants fired their assault rifles to take three shots at the targets placed in a distance of 100 meters. Afterwards they had to execute a number of different tasks in the barracks and the military training area of the unit, including BTR pushing, target practice with pistols and providing first aid to the injured.

According to the organizers, the most difficult task was the several-hundred-meter-long obstacle course, since the team members had got quite exhausted by the time they negotiated it. The most interesting one was the rowing on the pond of the “Klapka György" Anglers’ Association, which is a new addition to the events of the patrol competition.

Maj. Éless also told us that the competitors executed the patrolling task on the second day of the championship. They had to cover a distance of 20 kilometers and find several pre-designated control points on the way.