Hungarian Role-Players on Portuguese CRC Exercise
Szöveg: Loretta Czirfusz Tömbölné | 2011. október 13. 9:34The Portuguese company of the Portuguese-led KFOR Tactical Reserve Maneuver (KTM) Battalion rotated to Camp Slim Lines, Pristina, Kosovo in early September. Over the last few days the Hungarian company of the HDF KFOR contingent (HUN CON) took part in a crowd and riot control (CRC) exercise whose objective was to train the Portuguese peacekeepers for smooth cooperation with the Hungarian troops in real-world situations in the future.
As usual, the training session ended with a CRC culmination exercise (CULEX), the same way as that of the Hungarian troops some weeks ago. During the task execution phase the troops of the Portuguese company demonstrated all of their newly acquired capabilities. The conduct of the exercise was directed by the umpires, and the observers were tasked with enforcing the security regulations.
The Portuguese troops were waiting patiently, using loudspeakers to warn the angry crowd. On seeing the crowd putting up increasing resistance, they tried to snatch some leading “protesters" from the front row and to incapacitate them. But the “rioters" were not deterred by this move, and started to set up a barricade which the Portuguese troops had to demolish. Afterwards the crowd continued to stay violent: “rioters" began throwing Molotov cocktails, which provided the Portuguese peacekeepers with an opportunity to practice firefighting by stamping their feet and using their riot shields.
Having retreated under the cover of barricades, the street “rioters" morale remained high, but fortunately, at that point a platoon-sized force of Hungarian peacekeepers arrived on the scene to support their Portuguese comrades, and the two units managed to disperse the unruly crowd by taking joint action.
First Lieutenant Viktor Tabányi, the officer commanding (OC) of the Hungarian rifle company of the KFOR Multinational Battalion (MNBN) told us that they were assigned a complex task, because on top of the bulletproof vests, the soldiers of the unit had to wear a special protective CRC suit which weighs some 30 kilograms. For this reason, it is essential to provide proper physical and psychological training for the peacekeepers.
A German–Austrian–Swiss engineer team (FOMD – Freedom of Movement Detachment) and a Tactical PSYOPS Team (TPT) drawn from Romanian troops also joined the CRC exercise as supporting forces. The airlift of the troops was carried out by a transport helicopter unit of the Croatian Air Force.
Photo: KFOR HUN CON
