Where They Do Not Know The Underground And The Tram

Even though he returned from Iraq almost five months ago, Colonel Dr. Tibor Kovács is still under the influence of what he has experienced in the Middle Eastern country. The principal of the HDF ’Pál Kinizsi’ NCO Training School of Szentendre (KPTSZI) was one of the senior advisors in the NATO Training MissionIraq (NTMI) for eight months.

We sit down to talk in the principal’s office. While I am sipping my coffee I am told that two years ago Col. Kovács would not have thought that he would ever get to Iraq, for he began his military career as an engineer officer: he graduated from Kossuth Lajos Military College in Szentendre in 1984. Until 1990, he was serving in Szentes in various positions, then in 1993 he finished his studies at Zrínyi Miklós Military Academy.

After obtaining his senior military leadership qualifications his career continued in Szentes and later at the Hungarian Defence Forces’ Engineering Directorate, from where he went to Okucani with the Hungarian Defence Forces’ Engineering Contingent twice. In the first year  between 1996December 1997  he was the commander of the pontoon-builder company, and from June 1998  for another year  he was serving as chief of operations and deputy commander of the contingent.

By the time he returned, the Engineering Directorate was wound up and he was given a position at Zrínyi Miklós University of National Defence where he started as an assistant professor and became an associate professor during the years. Like he says he has not lost contact with the military institution of higher education and last year he had the honour of receiving the Honourary Professor title.

Col. Kovács has been leading the NCO training school since 1 December, 2007, when he applied for the vacant position of the principal. He does not deny that in the first few months it was strange for him to readjust to the atmosphere of a different type of educational institution. He had to learn a lot in this position but fortunately, he has managed to get used to the new tasks and today he feels definitely good as the leader of the only NCO training school of the Hungarian Defence Forces.

 A year after my appointment, Major General Dr. János Isaszegi, who was the commander of the other corps in Szentendre, the HDF Central Training Base at that time, called for me and all the colonels in the barracks. The general asked us what we thought about going on a mission, for there were several foreign postings in the Hungarian Defence Forces that had to be filled by colonels and unfortunately, there were only very few senior officers to select from. I thought about it for a while and said I would go. For in Szentendre we prepare NCO students not only for defending the country at home but also tell them that if necessary, they will have to carry out mission tasks as well. In addition to that, I have always believed and still believe that the only way the principal of an educational institution in the military can be credible is if he has also been on a few missions – says the colonel who, after signing up for the task, requested only one thing of his superiors: since he had taken his examination in English more than ten years ago, he asked for permission to enroll a three-month intensive language course at the national defence university. At the same time his preparation for the mission began in Szolnok.

Col. Kovács tells us that he arrived to the International Zone of Baghdad, the capital of Iraq on 19 April, 2009, in the early morning hours. He went with two other Hungarian military officers to the desert country, all of them in the framework of the NTM–I, responsible for the preparation and training of the new national military established after the disbandment of the Iraqi army led by Saddam Hussein.

– I did not know much about my exact duties until my arrival, but in the course of transfer of authority everything was clarified. We did not have too much time for that because our plane arrived a few days late to Iraq and we had only two days until the return flight so we had to complete the transfer in these two days. My predecessor was Colonel László Bagi, a senior officer from the HDF Operational Centre, who helped me with everything even in this short period of time – remembers the senior officer, who was assigned to the Strategic Security Advisoring Mentoring Division (SSAMD) of the training mission as the senior advisor of the Joint Operations Centre of the Iraqi Ministry of Defence (MoD JOC). He performed this duty for four months, after that he became the acting chief of the SSAMD because the Dutch did not fill the position maintained for them. In this period he had to coordinate the activities of the three working groups in the division.

The colonel also tells us that after his arrival – and the usual administrative tasks and presentations about local specialities – he integrated and got used to his new responsibilities very fast, with the help of subordinate colleagues. In recent years, this position has been filled by Hungarian soldiers and today lieutenant colonels can also apply.

Unfortunately, during the eight months Col. Kovács spent in Iraq attacks against troops serving in the country happened almost every day. At the JOC they discussed the events of the previous day every morning and exactly knew how many attacks were launched against convoys and how many explosions there were in the country. The Hungarian officer personally experienced three major explosions, like he says one of them took place only six hundred meters from the JOC building and almost every window blasted in the detonation. More than 170 people died in this assault and the ambulance teams had to treat more than 500 casualties. Fortunately, they were not hurt.

During the time he spent in the operational area he found that the Iraqi army is still not in a good condition. In addition to Iraqi soldiers working in the Ministry of Defence, he regularly met the personnel of the brigade responsible for the protection of Baghdad and in his opinion there is still room for development. He has also observed that soldiers have mixed equipment, besides their armoured Humvees which are older models used by the US Army earlier, they still use small arms manufactured in the former Soviet Union.

– However, the biggest problem with the Iraqi army is that they are not properly trained, and what is more, they are overloaded. Personnel are always busy, they are patrolling, operate checkpoints, as a result of which they can maintain a relative order but their mentality is entirely different than that of the European or American troops and it caused several problems, mainly as regards discipline – says Col. Kovács, who has been to most parts of Iraq during his tour of duty. In his opinion it can be still seen that in the Hussein-era Iraq was a ’centralised state ruled with an iron fist’. But war has taken a heavy toll of the country, everything is covered with garbage and there are serious problems with infrastructure as well. Although in the International Zone they had water and electricity, but in the outer districts of Baghdad there are no public utilities and an European observer would say that people live in unbelievable poverty. There is no public transport, they do not know the underground or tram, and do not operate regular bus and coach lines.

– There are people who live very well, mainly the politicians, but the majority of Iraqis are impoverished and scrape by. There is widespread corruption, funds disappear without a trace. But they have every opportunity to change their lives because for example twenty per cent of the world’s oil reserves are located under Iraq – says the commander of KPTSZI, who returned last December and knows it well: he will not be able to forget for years what he has seen and experienced in Iraq.