Cadets from Our Neighbor

Lt. Tamás Garda, Sgt. Ferenc Molnár (see picture), and officer cadet Zoltán Betlen accompanied and assisted the two young Austrians. “During the recent period we have learnt many lessons: while spending some weeks in Hungary, we discovered that there are a number of similarities but also a few differences between the engineer units of the Hungarian Defence Forces and the Austrian military. As regards the military equipment and the motor pool, the Austrian armed forces have mainly US- and Austrian-made items and vehicles in service, which date from the post-WWII period, while the Hungarian engineer units use several Soviet-made items complemented by up-to-date equipment. The various tasks we have executed – such as engineer reconnaissance, construction of obstacles and digging foxholes – have much more in common, as the same time-honored technologies are usually taught and applied everywhere, so that both the Austrian and the Hungarian armed forces make use of them consistently" – said Alexander Placzek. "However, there is a huge difference: here, at the Bocskai Brigade, the soldiers who gave us advice and feedback are, unlike our officers, have completed tours of duty abroad, for example in Afghanistan, and delivered a professional performance on these missions" – Philip Pierzl added. “Experience is invaluable in this profession too, so we believe that we have spent our times usefully here, and are grateful for the help we have received from the Hungarian Defence Forces, in particular from the personnel of the Bocskai Brigade."

The training of the two Austrian officer cadets in Hungary will be detailed in a report, which is to cover everything from their conduct to the exact execution of orders. After their return home, they will be preparing for the state examination which, like its Hungarian counterpart, consists of a defense of the submitted thesis and successful task execution at a culmination exercise.

Photos by the author