New Rotation In Sarajevo– The Story Of A Busy Week

The third rotation of the HDF EUFOR contingent arrived at Camp Butmir, Sarajevo in three groups between 16-26 June. The contingent has been replaced with another one. The staff of the second and third contingents executed the tasks of handover-takeover in the shortest time possible, in cooperation with each other.

The duties of contingent command have ended on 26 June following the signature of the handover-takeover protocol by Captain Sándor Varga on the side of handover and Lieutenant Colonel Sándor Bakos, in charge of takeover. Mr Zoltán Juhász, head of the Consulate of the Hungarian Embassy was also present at the intimate celebration. Lieutenant Sándor Bakos noted in his speech that “we must forge into a single community. Our community should be characterized by the trio of professionalism, comradeship, and solidarity. In the period ahead we can only count on each other, being far away from home, and it is all of us together who must solve the difficulties arising." The staff of the second rotation started their journey home early morning on the following day. For them the six months spent in the operational area have ended…

…for the others, the service has just began. The third rotation have held their first staff meeting in the afternoon on the very same day, and our fellow Hungarian soldiers have introduced themselves. In his speech Lieutenant Sándor Faludi, the doyen of the Hungarian troops has highlighted the requirements of proper service provision, and called the attention of the staff to the fact that we are in the most undermined area in the world, where it would be an irresponsible act not to follow the designated road. Following that the command regulating the life of the contingent in the premises was presented and staff queries were answered.

On the following day the contingent celebrated the chivalrous king Saint Ladislaus (László), the patron of artillerymen. To be true to the expression “the early bird catches the worm", the contingent started the day with a 3.6 km run before breakfast, then we commemorated our late king at the staff meeting. In the afternoon there was a competition for archers and a “sweating" futsal championship, both ending in the evening. Those who did not participate in the exhausting programmes had something to do too: they were cooking the popular goulash soup in three enormous stew pans — some chopped wood, some peeled the potatoes, sliced meat, made “csipetke" pasta for the soup, or spiced the dish.

The outcome of the excellent groupwork, the dish they had been longing for, was ready by the evening. Nothing else could be a better proof of our affection for Hungarian flavours than the fact that in spite of the abundant offer in the “international" canteen of the camp, every Hungarian soldier chose goulash on Saturday night.