FOURLOG 2018: Multinational Logistic Training

The FOURLOG 2018 multinational logistic training started on 12 March at the barracks of the Bundesheer Logistics School (Heereslogistikschule) in Austria. The training audience of the exercise comprises graduating logistic officer cadets of four nations, namely Hungary, the Czech Republic, Austria and Serbia. On the first day of the training, the officer cadets were introduced to a fictitious operational scenario and their own role in it, in the framework of which they are to carry out their assigned tasks during two weeks. The students also received hands-on integration training for peace support operations at the Bundesheer 33rd Light Infantry Battalion in Zwölfaxing.

On 15 March, they continued working out the logistic support tasks of peace support operations in Hungary. During this phase the students formed multinational syndicates for the classroom training where they worked out SITREP-based, logistic support-related professional tasks in practice. The closing event of the Hungarian phase was held in the gala hall of the NUPS FMSOT, where OCE Lt.-Col. Dr. József Venekei presented the essence of the tasks, and then the syndicates reported on the accomplished tasks in English. The presentations were attended, among others, by Dean of NUPS FMSOT Col. Dr. Árpád Pohl, and Col. Szabolcs Sári, Commander, HDF Ludovika Battalion. The exercise will be going on until 24 March at the University of Defence in Brno and at the Vyškov training facility of the Czech army.

The roots of the FOURLOG training go back to 2000, when the staff of the institute realized the need for providing English-language practice for students besides the high-level Hungarian-language tactical tasks – and this can be really effective if the students have to communicate with foreign participants of different mother tongues during the practice. In this spirit, the Faculty of Logistics and Finance of the then Zrínyi Miklós National Defence University “joined" an agreement concluded in 2001 between the then-independent institution Bolyai János Military Technical College and the Military University of the Czech Land Forces. At the time, the main training objective was to teach the students the basics of activities in a multinational logistic syndicate, introduce them to the work in the areas of operations, focusing on the assessment of local sources of supply, and have them practice these professional tasks under field conditions.

Photo: Zoltán Tischler