KFOR-6 Training Completed

To check the completion of the training, the superior ordered the contingent to conduct a culmination exercise (CULEX). On the first day the troops mounted patrols at the ‘Vay Ádám’ Training Base in Hajdúhadház, where set up a checkpoint and executed crowd and riot control (CRC) tasks to control a smaller group of protesters. The objective was to convince the umpires that the platoon and squad leaders are able to command the men under them, and that the staff can efficiently control the troops’ actions. The main incident list (MIL) of the CULEX was so crowded that the training audience had almost no time to take a breather. They were receiving a continuous flow of information from the patrol teams concerning the whereabouts of wanted persons, suspicious vehicles and road blocks.

On the second day the training battalion of the KFOR-6 HUNCON had to ensure freedom of movement. That is, it had to remove all obstacles hindering the movement of the local people and the troops. Wearing riot gears, the personnel at the Debrecen barracks had a biting and cold morning, but the soldiers soon felt hot upon getting the news that one of the patrols reported seeing a crowd of protesters that was equipped with stones and sticks and built a road block too.

In the first stage the training battalion pushed back the crowd to the road block. The protesters were unwilling to leave the scene despite the repeated warnings: instead, they forcefully “attacked" the peacekeepers. They were not choosy about the things they had on hand, starting to throw Molotov cocktails, stones and logs on the soldiers who asked the opposing crowd to leave the area or else they will use tear gas and take down the roadblock. In what followed, an armored personnel carrier (APC) arrived under the smoke screen to breach the protesters’ lines, after which the peacekeepers carried on with dispersing the crowd. They gradually crushed the rioters’ resistance, so the crowd soon melted away. With the successful execution of the task, the KFOR-6 training battalion secured the area and ensured freedom of movement in “Kosovo".