HDF OMLT has proved itself through committed service

Szöveg: László Vastagh | 2011. január 17. 13:38

On January 7, the Hungarian unit of the Hungarian Defence Forces Operational Mentoring and Liaison Team (HDF OMLT) that returned from Afghanistan was greeted by Maj-Gen. Zoltán Orosz, Deputy Chief of the HDF Defence Staff and US Defence Attaché Col. Robert W. Duggleby at a Welcome Home ceremony held with military honors in the presence of the troops’ families and commanders inside the Kossuth Barracks in Debrecen.

During recent months, the nearly 50-strong (USHungarian) team was deployed in the Asian country to provide assistance to the establishment of the independent Afghan National Army (ANA).

Following the parade of the unit colors and the historical flags and the national anthems of the two countries, LTC Róbert Rédei, Commander, HDF OMLT 4th rotation reported to the superiors. Delivering a speech at the ceremony, Maj-Gen. Zoltán Orosz emphasized that as long as Hungarian troops had been training and mentoring the ANA, they put in the job their efforts, knowledge and courage to create the essential conditions for normalizing the security situation in Afghanistan. They saw combat in the Afghan theatre of war and had everyday struggles, so their service was given a special importance and received great attention.

The Deputy Chief of Defence also mentioned in his speech that the work and efforts of the OMLT were a part of a trial of more extensive military communities; their achievements have contributed to strengthening their recognition within NATO and in eyes of the Hungarian public as well. With their excellent performance, our troops have proven that their professional skills are the result of a consistent and hard training. Both the American and the Hungarian OMLT staffs have greatly contributed to the generation f the ANA capabilities. The troops of the OMLT developed an exemplary cooperation among national mentor teams, they organized productive, joint staff work, established excellent relations with the cooperating Provincial Reconstruction Team (HUN PRT) in Baghlan Province and the forces of the US 10th Mountain Division. Through their commitment they have demonstrated their professionalism in executing training as well as operational tasks involving combat role and in securing the Afghan parliamentary elections and providing force protection to the inspection and evaluation teams and international convoys.

During these activities the troops also had to drive back armed insurgents on more than one occasion, which required a high level of professionalism, composure and courage. They also had to perform the basic duties of the OMLT, which meant they had a continuous workload as regards the organization of daily life and keeping to the work schedule, training and operational activities and situational awareness. On behalf of the leadership of the Hungarian Defence Forces Maj.-Gen. Orosz congratulated the troops on the excellent task execution.

In his speech, Col. Robert W. Duggleby first talked about the lessons learnt in the preparations, training and task execution, pointing out that the training and mentoring of the Afghan National Army is one of the most important tasks on the road to ultimate success in Afghanistan. Afghanistan cannot be a prosperous country without a properly trained and deployable military that can proudly engage the insurgents. Together with their American comrades, the Hungarian soldiers did an excellent job and successfully met the requirements set during the seven years that have passed since the establishment of the HungarianUS OMLT.

In recognition of their outstanding performance, the Chief of Defence awarded a memento to Lt. Norbert Bakró while the Commanding General of the HDF Joint Force Command (HDF JFC) presented mementos to LTC Róbert Rédei and Maj. János Noszkó. Every soldier received the “For Peacekeeping" Service Sign awarded by the Defence Minister in recognition of their tour of duty abroad.

LTC Róbert Rédei said that they had commenced training exactly one year ago in Budapest with a medical course, and the preparations continued in Hajdúhadház with various courses and training sessions running from 06:00 a.m. to 08:00 p.m. After three months, they attended in several courses in combat vehicle driving, fire support and weapons training at a NATO training base in Germany where their conducted their CULEX too.

When they deployed to the area of operations, they soon realized that they have to use a training method that is different from the one applied at home because the Afghan troops get tired sooner. So they often changed the proportion of theoretical and practical training sessions. The method proved to be effective as they were able to apply the practiced skills together with the Afghan soldiers in firefights. The fact that all of them have returned safe and sound goes to show the effectiveness of their techniques and of the wide scope of cooperation with the German and the US forces and other actors in the area of operations.

Sgt. Gábor Besenyei enlisted in 2004  now he is the Assistant J1 NCO of the infantry brigade of Debrecen  and last year he had a chance to deploy to Afghanistan, where during his first tour of duty he was serving with the HUN PRT. He had personnel management and administrative duties in the fourth rotation of the OMLT, so among others he was the mentor of his opposite number in the ANA.

SFC Miklós Kulcsár, the platoon staff NCO of the reconnaissance battalion of the infantry brigade became a career soldier in 2000. He went on his first three tours of duty in the Balkans (Kosovo, Bosnia, Macedonia), and now it is the second time he has returned from ISAF, Afghanistan. In his opinion the ongoing ISAF mission in Central Asia is a challenge, a ‘really soldierly’ task. The cultural differences and the unfamiliar environment with impoverished stimulus made the execution of tasks more difficult, but the families and friends gave them a lot of support even from the distance to overcome the difficulties.