Soldiers with Spur in KFOR

By tradition, the US Army awards spurs only to those professional and properly trained soldiers who meet all the strict criteria and requirements, upon their successful completion of the Spur Ride of Cavalry units, a series of physical and mental tests. Present-day Cavalry fights with helicopters and tanks, but the tradition continues, thus the soldiers (“Troopers") have to demonstrate their preparedness at the end of a weekslong training course culminating in a complex exercise that includes multiple tests.

Several soldiers of the Hungarian Delta Company – a unit assigned to the US-led KFOR Multinational Battle Group East (MNBG-E) – have successfully met the criteria for wearing the spur. Accepting an invitation from the Americans, they carried out a series of training events similar to a scout championship, where the greatest emphasis was laid on assessing individual professional skills.

Although the Hungarian peacekeepers had to execute all tasks with the equipment and weaponry of the US Army, and of course in English as the working language, they didn’t fall short of the standards of their foreign comrades in any respect. After completing a 25km route march, the further tasks included establishing radio contact, tactical combat casualty care and casualty evacuation, land navigation, orientation, request for fire support and live fire exercises. Lt. Zoltán Ágoston, Sgt. István Hideg, Cpl. Szilárd Dóka, Cpl. Mátyás Dóka and Cpl. Róbert Gál did they best and successfully completed all the tests.

The spurs were presented to the participants symbolically, in the form of certificates.