New Year – New Capability

Szöveg: István Tőrös | 2011. január 14. 11:06

In mid-December an extramural session was held by the Defence and Internal Security Committee of the National Assembly at the shooting range of the HDF Support Brigade in Püspökszilágyi to inspect the first batch of soldiers trained in the system of volunteer defence reserve. The host of the demonstration was MoD State Secretary Dr. István Simicskó.

The training program for the first 2,094 members of the Reserve commenced on November 22 and focused on enabling personnel to perform guard duties at military installations. The reservists had applied to the new corps from currently operating civil security services, so the three-day training program was based on their professional skills. Their program of instruction (POI) covered knowledge of field manuals and drill commands, as well as some shooting practice and medical care.

The reservists are equipped with a PA–63 pistol (plus two magazines) and an AK–63 assault rifle (plus five magazines) as used by the Hungarian Defence Forces. Their winter wear is based on the 90-type battle dress uniform (BDU) with tube scarf, whereas their summer dress code is a BDU which was introduced in 2004.

In special situations, such as in emergencies or wartime, they receive modular lightweight load-carrying equipment (MOLLE) and gas masks. Due to their special tasks, they are also equipped with law enforcement tools such as batons, sprays and handcuffs.

Instead of the usual rank insignia, their uniforms have collar stripes on them to indicate their position. A single stripe denotes a guard, two stripes signify a guard commander, while three stripes indicate a guard unit commander.

The guards wear a badge on their BDU with the text “MoD ED armed security guard" and carry a holographic ID card.
In the first phase of the demonstration, the reservists, who are tasked with guarding 57 military installations as of January 1, conducted pistol target practices on distances of 25 and 50 meters as well as 100 m and 200 m assault rifle shooting practice. After firing single shots at silhouette targets and bursts on knockdown field targets (“Pepper Poppers") they went on to demonstrate in a fictitious scenario how they would perform their guard duties.
While on duty, the sentry of a guarded compound noticed a suspicious movement along the fence. Having challenged the intruder, he first fired a warning shot, then an aimed one at the attacker. Having realized that he had encountered a gunman, the sentry on duty raised the alarm and the guard personnel used their assault rifles to return the fire of a small hostile party approaching from the direction of the hill.

The skirmish ended with the death of one of the attackers, another two gunmen were wounded while the rest were able to escape.
Throughout the “firefight" that was fought with the help of a laser engagement system, the officer conducting the exercise was regularly updating the MPs and journalists about the relevant laws governing the Rules of Engagement (ROE) and the measures to be taken after the firefight.

At a press conference following the demonstration Dr. István Simicskó and Maj.-Gen. István Juhász, Staff Director from the MoD Defence Staff , summed up the results achieved in the first phase of the development of the defence reserve system. The parliamentary state secretary emphasized that this system would put an end to an oft-discussed anomaly as the military installations of the Hungarian Defence Forces would be now guarded by armed and uniformed reservists instead of by civilian security guards. This conveys an important message to members of the public because they will be able to see that in addition to the HDF professional and enlisted military personnel, they can also count on a new force in their daily lives and in natural disasters in endangered areas. The leadership of the Ministry of Defence considers the reservists, who joined the Hungarian Defence Forces on January 1, 2011, as potentially useful members of the host and support elements during NATO operations and training exercises conducted in Hungary.