Soldiers, Tanks And Helicopters Played The Lead

At 11 o’clock, when the event began, the organizers were in trouble for a few minutes because the queues were so long that it was difficult to get into the barracks through the regular entrance. But the order came: "Open the gates!" Groups of children from kindergartens, elementary and secondary schools were hurrying towards the stalls in the parade ground but there were also a lot of attractions on the way. Two helicopters flew by above the barracks, which made the children excited: they started to list where they had seen helicopters before. Many were heading for the sports field, the designated landing site of the helicopters. The guests could see the two aircraft floating and landing smoothly.

Following that the children ‘occupied’ the military vehicles displayed in the parade ground and naturally, they sieged the two helicopters as well – they were queuing for long just to enter the cabins for a few minutes. The troops in charge of the vehicles helped them board or leave the helicopters and answered their questions with a lot of patience. Looking at the colourful crowd we could see that the age of guests was ranging from little babies to grandfathers in their eighties. It would have been difficult to find the youngest children, for there were so many. A lot of retired servicemen came as well, they were telling each other and the younger ones their adventures in the military with nostalgia, as we could see.

The dynamic displays started on time. The children enjoyed the troops’ self-defence demonstration very much. What they liked the most was when one of the warriors ’won’ and they could celebrate loudly. The nicely organised ’open air show’ of the brigade band was just as successful among the young. Following that the attention of visitors was directed to two sites: in the parade ground the intervention team of the police held a spectacular demonstration in which masked commandoes caught criminals, and in the sports field the rotors of the two helicopters began to rotate. The roar attracted many visitors to the sports field again, then finally the two helicopters took off, the Mi–24 said goodbye to the guests and the Mi–8 circled above the barracks to gain altitude for the parachute jump.

In the meantime the special Klapka Defence and Skillfulness Contest, organised by the hosts, began in a remote part of the barracks. 15 schools nominated their teams for the competition in various age groups, and the trial consisted of two parts. In the first part the teams of six had to fill out a test on national defence. For each correct answer one second was deducted from the teams’ time in the obstacle course. In the second part of the task the participants crossed a ‘military’ obstacle course. The first difficulty was crawling under nets, then came the rope, that is ‘sloth climbing’ in the military language. It was the most difficult stage of the course because those whose arms were not strong enough were really struggling with the rope and could easily collect extra seconds for their teams. After throwing hand grenades, carrying the ‘wounded’ the teams could sprint into the home stretch. Teachers were loudly encouraging their students and the arrivals were rewarded with an applause.

In the meantime the helicopter reached the right altitude and the paratroopers jumped one after the other, arriving onto the grass of the sports field despite the strong cross-wind. Naturally, the young guests liked this attraction as well, every landing was followed by an applause. When the last parachutist arrived, the firemen began their demonstration.

The firefighters lifted the body of a car by a crane, then dropped and set it on fire. The fire engine arrived with its siren screaming, firemen began to put out the fire, then forced the doors open, imitating the rescue of passengers trapped inside. The kids were watching the ’fiery’ demonstration in awe and naturally, there was another round of applause at the end.

During intervals between the demonstrations there were a lot of young guests at the tents as well. There were queues at the face painting almost until the closing of the event, in the final stage of painting pictures were taken of the ‘disguised‘ kids and the soldiers. Those who came on the open day could try the MoD Zrínyi Ltd’s simulator and participate in the ‘Picture shooter’ program where children – hoping for small presents – took a test about the defence forces individually or collectively. The guests could also meet the representatives of the local recruitment office, the Military Trade Union, and the police. There were tasks and gifts for children and adults in every tent. There was real teamwork among the children, they were sharing with each other with excitement what they have discovered, what to do and where to go, and the rewards of the activities. At the police tent the visitors could take a crime prevention test and receive balloons for correct answers. The simulators were also very popular, there were long queues all day because the children wanted to try the art of controlling an airplane. The hosts ran out of balloons in two hours and had to give other presents to the kids in order to console them.

The open day ended with a tactical demonstration where the hosts showed what their profession is about. First the T-72 tanks were shaking the walls of the houses in the area with their rumbling noise, then the BTR-80 and its crew introduced themselves. Following that they repelled a fictitious attack, first the two BTRs and their crews returned fire. As soon as the pontoon bridge was completed the tanks started a counter-attack and together with the BTR crew as reinforcements, the soldiers left the scene of the battle as winners.