They Have Returned from the Balkans

Speaking at a homecoming ceremony held on Monday, the Land Force Chief of the HDF Joint Force Command welcomed the members of the 10th rotation of the HDF KFOR contingent returning from Kosovo. During the ceremony, Gen. Böröndi stressed the significance of peacekeeping in the Balkans. “Kosovo’s security is a priority for the Hungarian Defence Forces, since the security of Hungary crucially depends on that of the neighboring countries and the peace of the Balkans. While serving with KFOR, you have done your tour of duty on an outstanding level, which has contributed to strengthening Hungary’s security", the general said.

The personnel of the close to 200-strong Hungarian contingent were mainly drawn from the HDF 5th ‘Bocskai István’ Infantry Brigade 3rd ‘Bercsényi László’ Infantry Battalion (Hódmezővásárhely). Lt.-Col. László Fábián, the commander of the contingent told us that their mission had been to maintain public safety and civil order in Kosovo. They arrived in the area of operations in February, and then took over their areas of responsibility and the logistic procedures. Over the last six months they conducted patrols, manned checkpoints, provided QRF service, executed force protection (FP) tasks in the camp, organized international training programs and exercises and held tactical training events.

Additionally, the members of the tenth KFOR rotation had another task, that of making arrangements for the reception of a sizeable subunit. The reason is that the Hungarian Defence Forces are increasing the troop level of the contingent with the deployment of the 11th rotation, so the 10th rotation was tasked with creating the conditions for accommodating the incoming Hungarian maneuver company in Camp Novo Selo near the capital, Pristina.

Field Chaplain Capt. Dr. Ervin Alácsi blessed the members of the homecoming contingent, and then Gen. Böröndi personally thanked the best ones for their service. In recognition of their outstanding work done in the 10th rotation of the HDF KFOR Contingent, the Commander of the HDF Joint Force Command awarded tokens of appreciation to Lt.-Col. László Fábián, Lt. Anna Luxeder, Lt. Attila Vida, WO Norbert Nagy, WO Gyuláné Szakter, SFC György Hegyes, SFC Róbert Süle, SSgt. Zoltán Répás and Sgt. Zoltán Herczeg. Cpl. Krisztián Baksics, Cpl. József Mihály Bokor, Cpl. József Bugyi, Cpl. András Frankó, Cpl. Pál Koszta and Cpl. Attila Kukla as well as PFC Béla Gombár and PFC Tamás István were presented with certificates of merit for their work.

Photos by the author