Gunfire, Helicopter, And Morning Exercises

There was a busy Friday waiting for those who, in spite of the public transport strike, came up even from the countryside for the open day of the university, where the program started in the early morning hours: the visitors were allowed to see the morning exercises, squad muster, report, and lining up of ZMNE students – their everyday, routine tasks. Maps assisted the visitors in wandering about the huge campus, so it was easy for them to find their way to the parade ground where the first thing they could see was the guard company marching in, then out. At nine o’clock it was clearly visible that many visitors came to the event, irrespective of gender and age. The three Ürmös-kids, around five or six, who were examining with great enthusiasm the helicopter that had landed on the university campus when I addressed their father and them, must have been the youngest visitors at the open day. "All three children say that they will be soldiers or commandoes when they grow up, so I have brought them with me today, naturally," tells me fireman Károly Ürmös, who is also a Zrínyi student, majoring in defence administration. "I asked permission from Dr. Klára Kecskeméthy to see the programs with the kids. It is mainly the combat demonstration we are waiting for, it will be very exciting," says the father and he is already in a hurry with the children, they are heading for the assembly hall where Dr. János Szabó, the Rector of the university addressed the large crowd.

“We have 11 BSc majors, 9 MSc majors, and two doctoral schools. In the 11 BSc majors there are 26 specializations, and in the 9 MSc majors we offer courses in 18 specializations. Those who are looking for the professional content of the defence sector will find it here. But only 18-20 per cent of the courses are ‘uniformed’, the rest of them are civil," said the rector, who underlined that their majors in engineering have so high standards and are so prestigious that the third technical training center in the country is here at the Zrínyi. The rector also told us that the people graduating from the university stand their ground in the NATO missions all over the world, and they have good results in national schools competitions as well. Then Lieutenant Colonel Zoltán Krizsán told the visitors about the admission process, and two students from the military and the civilian faculties, Marianna Gömör and Gergely András told the guests about the faculties: Marianna told them about the basic military faculties, PE and pushups, the diploma requirements, and Gergely about accomodation, the ‘cruel’ freshman camp (where the students meet the instructors for the first time), and the closed campus. “It is also good because my bicycle won’t be stolen" – said the young man at the end of his speech. By the way we could already see him on the billboard advertising the open day.

"I was playing poker in the IMO (a cultural center on the campus) when I received a text message. I went up to the chancellery where I was told what it would be about, and it turned out that I had to go to a photo session at 5 o’clock in the afternoon," Gergely told honvedelem.hu after the speeches. When I mentioned to Marianna how interesting it was that there was a young lady from the military and a civilian boy standing in front of me – for we would think it is rather the men who choose a career in the military, while girls are more interested in the civilian majors – she said: "There are 361 of us at the battalion, of which there are forty girls. We have to be persistent, us girls often have to live up to the expectations of not only our superiors but our comrades as well," explains Marianna, who also told me that both of them are majoring in military and security technology engineering. Finally they told us in confidence that Gergely would like to deal with the security technology of buildings, and Marianna is interested in military electronics and within that, she would like to specialize in signalling.

After our conversation we hurried back to the central car park because the combat demonstation had begun – we could see choreographed acts, the arms were rattling (only with blank charge, of course), and sometimes a few empty cartridges knocked on the head of those who were standing too close, and what is more, the huge smoke from the smoke bombs did not die down for long.

The events never stopped and just seconds after the fight, suddenly a helicopter standing a few meters from us started, then took off, stirring up a strong wind in the crowd – but everybody liked it, apparently. Then the demonstrators were subject to another terror attack, and the second and third-year students demonstrated the rescue of hostages. And naturally, the traditional car-flattening with tank, which is a hugely popular event every year, was not missing from this scenario either – after the action several guests closely examined the wrecks that remained from the car.

After these programs the visitors had many options to choose from at the open day: they could try an airplane simulator at the stand of the MoD Zrínyi Communications Co., but in the assembly hall of one of the buildings they could learn about the profession of EOD divers, as well as the HDF 93rd ’Petõfi’ Chemical Protection Battalion for instance. There were people who wanted to see the library, many went to see the accomodation quarters, or put on the gigantic and heavy work clothes of the EOD troops, attended a demonstration lecture on military history, terrorism. The HDF Civil-Military Cooperation and Psychological Operations Center also represented themselves in the assembly hall, moreover they did so with burkhas and the Koran. Here Warrant Officer Erika Varga told the young people about Afghanistan, showed them the Koran, an Afghan newspaper, and told me that there are also several civilians, for example two anthropologists working in the Center. In response to my question what is it that interests the visitors the most, she said: "Many people admire the garments exhibited here, which we have brought straight from Afghanistan. The Kosovo Handbook is very popular, but it is exciting mainly for those who will be preparing for a mission," she said.

Those who registered in advance had some delicious bean goulash for lunch, after that there was another military close combat demonstration waiting for the visitors in the small parade ground, and the people interested in disaster prevention could even take part in an obstacle-race: the Disaster Prevention and Defence Administration Institute of the Bolyai János Faculty of Military Engineering announced an obstacle-race with tasks like rescuing a pet from a labyrinth with navigation. Those who could use the remaining time well could have a dogtag made as a souvenir.