Fifteenth Rotation Comes Home
Szöveg: Maj. Csaba Hegedüs | 2015. február 3. 9:00Six months have passed, and the 15th rotation of the HDF EUFOR Contingent – drawn from the 39th Infantry Battalion of the HDF 5th István Bocskai Infantry Brigade (Debrecen) – has come home. The six months have been long, and filled with a lot of work.
The mission site was a novelty, as this was the first time that a sub-unit from Debrecen had gone on a tour of duty in the Western part of the Balkans, in Bosnia-Herzegovina. For this reason, upon their arrival, everybody looked forward to the new challenge, although most soldiers have already served in the Balkans, in Kosovo.
The 15th rotation arrived in Camp Butmir, Sarajevo on July 1, and at the end of the transfer of authority process, took over duties from the outgoing contingent on July 15.
Most personnel of the contingent spent the six months on standby at their home station, inside their base barracks in Hungary, so the execution of the required tasks placed an even greater burden on the members of the reception coordination element, which was operating with a reduced strength. Running the personnel management, finance and administration of the contingent and those serving in individual positions at the EUFOR and NATO commands presented a constant task, just like the servicing, repair and maintenance of the vehicles, weapons and other materiel of the contingent. In addition, they were assigned transportation missions on a weekly basis.
The operational element was busy working too, as the Hungarian troops posted to the staff of the Multinational Battalion (MNBN) participated in organizing, directing and evaluating several battalion-level exercises during the six months.
Besides organizing and running the day-to-day life of the battalion, the soldiers of the 15th rotation deployed in the area of operations took part as role-players in exercises of the EUFOR staff. They co-organized joint training events with the Bosnian armed forces and delivered aid transports from international aid organizations to distant locations, to the people in need.
The 16th rotation arrived in the area of operations during the first days of January. Once again, the transfer of authority process gave a lot of work to everyone. It was in those days that the traditional medal parade took place, during which the Commander of EUFOR pinned the Operation ALTHEA medals on the uniforms of the Hungarian soldiers and the peacekeepers of another five nations.
Photos: WO Attila Gáll, SSgt. György Kovács, Herbert Pendl
