The Six-Month Foreign Service Has Begun

The ’backbone’ of the personnel are from the HDF 5th István Bocskai Infantry Brigade, but a further 20 corps of the Hungarian Defence Forces are represented by their troops in the squad. Before leaving, all of them completed a 3-month training to prepare them for the mission and the tasks, and it also gave them an opportunity to be welded together as a contingent. As a closure of the 14-week period, and prior to beginning the execution of the tasks, a formal farewell ceremony was held for the troops in Hódmezõvásárhely on 3 September, where Defence Minister Dr. Imre Szekeres greeted the soldiers and the President of the Republic of Hungary presented the contingent with a unit flag. After that came the task that was the most difficult for everyone: to say farewell to the family, relatives, and friends.

Following the ceremony the troops were re-grouped, which is a task that requires a lot of effort in itself since only the flight takes 8 hours between the two countries, and after landing the soldiers, who had departed from autumn weather, have found that the weather is hot, with temperatures exceeding 30 Celsius degrees and blazing sunshine. Naturally, when they arrived to the camp they did not start with taking a rest after the exhausting travel. The soldiers had to attend the so-called adaptation courses, which are required in theatres of operation, where they are given the essential and up-to-date information about the local conditions. Later everyone had to take over the tasks corresponding to their respective positions from the troops of the previous rotation. There were some people for whom it was not a big problem, for many of the troops have returned to Camp Pannonia as old acquaintances. For Colonel László Szabó, the commander of the 7th rotation of the HDF PRT it is the second time he fulfils commanding tasks in Afghanistan, but apart from him there are 30 more soldiers in the contingent who have already served in the reconstruction team.

The troop rotation ceremony was held only after the handover-takeover processes have finished and the soldiers of the new contingent have fully taken over the operation of the base. The leaders and dignitaries of Baghlan province, and Colonel Trond Lundberg, the deputy commander of ISAF Command North also attended the ceremony on 19 September. First Colonel Lundberg spoke highly of the work done by Hungarian troops in the recent period and handed over a decoration to Colonel Ferenc Korom, Commander, HDF PRT-6. As the next speaker, Col. Korom said that during the last period they left the camp nearly 800 times, travelled 350,000 kilometres, and he also listed many successfully implemented projects and achievements. The colonel underlined that during their mission, the personnel of the PRT-6 have stood their ground in a way that is worthy of the Hungarian military traditions. As a final thought, he wished the newly arrived good luck.

Following his speech, he handed over the unit flag of the HDF Provincial Reconstruction Team to the new commander, who has formally taken over the command of the Afghanistan mission with this gesture. In his response to the previous address, Col. Szabó congratulated the returning troops on the productive work they were able to continue despite the worsening security situation. He thanked the constant support of the local population and predicted that in the future the PRT-7 would also fulfil their tasks in the committed spirit of the former rotations. The deputy governor of Baghlan province and the head of the local sura also delivered a speech at the ceremony. Both of them spoke highly of the activities of all the Hungarian contingents to date and expressed their hope that in the future they can also count on the indispensable assistance of the HDF PRT in the reconstruction of the province and in improving its security situation.

After the ceremony the personnel of the 6th rotation set off for Hungary, to their loved ones, and the troops of the new contingent began to perform their first tasks.