Officers’ Sabers without Blemish

‘Our top priority is to introduce a new career path model. We are visiting the HDF units to assess their needs as well as the special situation and requirements of the garrisons in order to identify the range of possible solutions. From early autumn on, we will start working out the details. Instead of implementing a recently fashionable reform, we intend to create a well-functioning system that will stand the test of time’ – this was how Defence Minister Dr. Csaba Hende determined the priorities for the near future at a ceremonial staff meeting held on August 19 in Stefánia Palace, Budapest.

At the event that took place on the eve of August 20 – Hungary’s national day –, the Defence Minister and the Chief of the HDF Defence Staff awarded the graduate officer cadets ‘For National Defence’ honors and sabers, thereby reviving an old tradition after several decades. ‘Soldiers usually don’t write history. As a rule, history is written about them’, the Defence Minister said in his speech, drawing the moral from the 1,000 year-past of the Hungarian Defence Forces. He went on asking ‘What is our mission? What are we, Hungarian soldiers supposed to accomplish here and now? These questions are worth asking and answering over and over again on August 20. The answer is that we must rebuild and fundamentally renew the institutional structure of national defence’, the Minister pointed out. Addressing the young officers, he reminded them that in fighting for Hungary and the constitution they should make use of force as well as science – this is the essence of their mission.

After the award ceremony Lt-Gen. Tibor Benkõ, Chief, MoD Defence Staff made a toast. In his speech, the Chief of Defence said that restoring public trust must be the top priority of the Hungarian Defence Forces. Addressing the young officers, he urged them to make sure that their reputation is without blemish throughout their time in service and asked them to broaden their knowledge all the while, likening it to their just received sabers which need constant burnishing.