Among Clouds

Szöveg: HUN PRT-12 PAO | 2012. augusztus 16. 15:02

The camp of the HDF Provincial Reconstruction Team (HUN PRT) is a “small Hungary” in Pol-e Khumri, the seat of Baghlan Province in Afghanistan. The soldiers of the Hungarian contingent serve here on six-month tours of duty together with their Montenegrin, Albanian and Croatian colleagues. Before the rotations take place, the personnel receive a several-month pre-deployment training during which they familiarize themselves with the cultural and other characteristics of Afghanistan. The most important things, however are the professional skills and the coordinated work of the cells.

How does this coordination work? What are the rules of living together in the camp? How do the soldiers experience the characteristics of the area of operations and the absence of their families? This series gives answers to these questions and allows an insight into the everyday life of a military camp.

The short-range unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) entered service with the Hungarian Defence Forces in 2009 and has been present in the HUN PRT for two years. The UAV is handled by a staff of three: the commander who is responsible for its functioning, an operator who actually operates it and the vehicle driver who is in charge of its carrier, a specially equipped and converted MBG270 Mercedes truck. Every movement of theirs shows they have been drilled to work as a cohesive team, which is no wonder since they have been serving together for years with the 5/24 “Bornemissza Gergely" Reconnaissance Battalion in Debrecen.

“We should not do things as a matter of routine", the operator says. “True, I am on my first mission abroad, so I don’t have so much experience as yet, but I have learned many lessons from each flight. During the training phase we practiced take-off and landing in an area where we were able to see around, but here in the area of operations it may happen that we are tasked to launch the UAV from a hilltop and land it in a very small area where multiple dangers lurk. This needs greater concentration and cohesion."

“We are responsible for each other", the driver adds. “This is my second “adventure" in Afghanistan – six years ago I was protecting my comrades in the machine gun turret in Kabul, and now I do the same inside the driver’s cab.

Theirs is a cohesive, close-knit team. However, it is not easy for them to serve far away from their families. Most of all, it is quite difficult to make children understand and accept the absence of the head of the family. For example, the commander’s three-year-old child proposed a serious deal during their latest conversation, saying “Dad, I know you have to work at that faraway place but please come home for the weekend. After that, I promise I will let you return to the other soldiers."