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REVIEW
was overshadowed by developments, Lynn underscored for the media and went on to say: There are many strands for the strategic cooperation between our two countries to follow and develop along. Minister Vondra also conrmed there was a potential for expanding bilateral cooperation. We have a range of other elds where we have recently started to work very specically to the effect of identifying possible cooperation between the Czech Republic and U.S. with practical outcomes. The discussions also involved other topics cooperation on research, helicopter crew training and theatre mobility using helicopters. In the meeting, Minister Vondra introduced to Deputy Secretary Lynn the principal priorities for Czech Armed Forces development outlined in the White Book on Defense that was recently endorsed by the Czech Cabinet. After meeting the Czech Minister of Defense and following the press conference, the senior U.S. ofcials visited the General Staff of the Armed Forces of the Czech Republic to be hosted by the CHOD, General Vlastimil Picek.
Contents
Four Afghani Crosses Now or Never Fighting to Win Condence of Every Single Soldier and Airman Face-2-Face with AWACS An Archbishop Instead of a Pilot Mentors with nger on the trigger Elite Tiger Air Manoeuvres In the role of Combat Life Savers A Valley Too Thorny Together in Afghanistan Pirates from the Horn of Africa In Search of a Universal Soldier One of the Principal Pillars Raven eyes over Logar In a new role Under Dragons Protection Deadly Jungle Under the Biblical Mount The Seeker of Lost Destinies From the School-Leaving Exam Directly to the Air Force The Hunter of War Dukla is the Club of My Heart A Fateful Story 2 6 8 10 12 15 18 22 24 27 30 34 38 42 44 48 50 54 56 58 60 62 64
Dear Reader, You may rightfully ask what it is for a magazine - A review - that you just opened. The answer is quite simple but let me offer you a little bit of history rst. Back in 1994, the Ministry of Defence of the Czech Republic started publishing a quarterly titled Armda esk republiky. From January 1995, the magazine was published four times a year in a dedicated English version with the title of Army of the Czech Republic. The reason was obvious: to reach out and provide the foreign readership, primarily NATO nations armed forces personnel, with information on developments in the Czech military that was starting to signicantly engage in various activities of the Partnership for Peace programme at that time. Thus, many readers had the opportunity to read about training and equipment of the Armed Forces of the Czech Republic, involvement of Czech forces in operations in the Balkans as well as participation in foreign exercises. In 1997, the magazine was renamed and published with the title of Czech Army Today until December 1999. From January 2000, foreign readers were able to get quarterly copies of the periodical named Czech Armed Forces Today. The logo and title of the Armed Force quarterly was changed again in 2008 as a slight modication was made turning Today into Review. Periodicity also altered over the years and got settled in 2008 on semiannual publication. Over the past fteen years, the magazine sought to present information on the Armed Force of the Czech Republic, from 1999 with focus on progressive integration into NATO structures, performance of missions from Bosnia and Herzegovina as part of Operation IFOR to todays deployments of Czech Forces in Afghanistan for Operation ISAF. 2011 has brought about another renaming for the journal as the title of Czech Armed Forces Review has changed to A Review, and that is the periodical you are now browsing through. Reason for that? Progressive introduction of a single visual style for the MoD public diplomacy endeavour, with A standing for the Armed Forces. Consequently, the MoD publishes A Report (Czech) and A Review (English). The coverage remains the same: we are printing for you, the kind reader, a content covering the Armed Forces of the Czech Republic across the spectrum of its operations. With wishes of enjoyable reading, Jan Prochzka, Editor-in-Chief
Published by MoD CR, Public Diplomacy Department Tychonova 1, 160 01 Praha 6, Czech Republic www.army.cz Identication number: 60162694 Address: Rooseveltova 23, 161 05 Praha 6, Czech Republic Phone: +420 973 215 553, +420 973 215 786 Editor-in-chief: Jan Prochzka, e-mail: jan_prochazka@klikni.cz Layout: Andrea Blohlvkov Translation: Jan Jindra Cover photos by Daniel Hlav Distributed by MoD PDD Production Section Rooseveltova 23, 161 05 Praha 6, Czech Republic Oga Endlov, tel. +420 973 215 563 Printed by: EUROPRINT, a. s. ISSN 1803-2125 Registration number: MK R E 18227 Published: June 2011
Another soldier of the Armed Forces of the Czech Republic made the highest sacrice.
Now or Never
The nal chapter and with it the whole White Book on Defence has been written, comments staffed and language corrections implemented. Expert commission headed by the First Deputy Defence Minister Ji ediv could say the job is done. But the contrary is true. Writing the White Book has only been the initial step on the long path delivering the proposed recommendations on future shape and development of the Armed Forces of the Czech Republic. Defence Minister Alexandr Vondra writes in his foreword: It is not a pleasing text to read, but we cannot approach solutions without frankness. Despite that, Ji ediv read the book a thousand times and considered the use of every single word and each submitted proposal from many different angles. How thorny was the journey to the desired conclusion and the statement the job is done was the question posed to the rst deputy minister of defence. Minister Vondra said in a press conference launching the White Book on Defence: It is a true material, that is what distinguishes it from all other transformations. It says where we are and where we want to go to. Ho difcult was it to nd the truth and describe it? In other words truth takes pain sometimes. So how painful would the impact on the MoD and the Armed Forces be? Let us not speak about pain, but about necessity of the proposed steps that will lead to the implementation of the White Book conclusions. The true pain in the form of overall degradation of the MoD Department and especially the Armed Forces would come in the future if we would sit with hands folded and do nothing. With all steps we take, we seek to strengthen the muscle, i.e. executive and operational components and namely the armed forces, and to do away with the fat. Let us look for instance at essential measures Latvia has taken or those prepared by the Dutch (see articles at army.cz). We simply do what is common and necessary in many other states in the current economic situation. It is only pity that many of our recommendations are not new; many problems have been identied namely by the military in the past, but they were not heard. You sought to engage in the process jointly military and civilian components as well as civilian experts. How did that model work? From the outset, we employed integrated or composite civil-military working teams and saw that opinions and recommendations of the military were reected in the nal outcome. Without military experts, we would hardly be able to gather the volume of data and analyses the White Book eventually contains. The same applies to a whole number of the White Books conceptual aspects, be it the section dedicated to personnel management or military capabilities. The
process of continuous and indeed daily collaboration also helped create a brand new quality of relations among us, civil servants and the military. Today we have much greater condence and respect in each other. Involving outside experts also helped us a lot, including members of the White Book Commission, or a whole number of other consultants who provided comments on various sections of the text. Thanks to that open cooperation, we produced an outcome we do not need to be ashamed of. The White Book also states: We are at a crossroads. The situation we are in is critical, but there is a way forward. Do we know those points of departure and are we able to identify them and pushed them forward? For example the year 2015 will we have enough funding to acquire new supersonic aircraft? Let us not narrow the issue down to supersonic aircraft only. First of all, once the policy is approved the Minister will submit options to the Cabinet, including those envisaging the extension of costs over time. The Cabinet will then decide, whether it will accept the White Book recommendation to continue supersonic capability at all, and eventually endorse one of the options we propose. The greater challenge however is that there is a number of additional investments accumulated in 2015 timeframe, which we will simply not be able to cover. We therefore proposed a range of saving measures that have mostly been publicised, so I will not discuss them. Some relate to military capabilities. But again may I recommend that you took a look in how business is done in other countries
was attended by his family as well as Defence Minister Alexandr Vondra, Chief of Defence General Vlastimil Picek and his comrades of the 7th Mechanised Brigade. Master-Sergeant Robert Vyroubal belongs to heroes - he fell in combat. I reassure all of you that the Armed Forces of the Czech Republic will never forget his name. I commissioned him in memoriam to the rank of Lieutenant and bestow upon him the highest defence decoration, the National Defence Cross, Minister Vondra said. It is always vital to have enough courage to stand up and ght for what is right and risk life and limb. Some might say he was a soldier and was paid for his foreign operational deployment. I strongly reject such opinions; he was a citizen of a country, whom we sent abroad to help increase our security. He therefore deserves our respect and thanks same as all of those who fought for this country in the past. The wounded commander of the 2nd deployment the Operational Mentoring and Liaison Team Lieutenant-Colonel Michal Kucharsk decided to continue serving his tour of duty.
obran obrany hy o ih i nihy nistra G knihy Bl o mi elnka ppravu ky vo n pro n en e ro en republi k sk komis a doporu esk tn ench sil brany obr ob obra o n it ji ozbroj k zaji tro obranu tr trola ubliky kontr la 1 repu esk rat s za atick dno osti o odiska vldy demok dpov stup zen a u a od mbice Civiln en obsah am ensk Vy Vymez ko-voj rmec mec Politic ativn Legisl la 2 prosted ri a e eristik eri te Kapitogick R my jmy rizika ri n charak zj Strate ya Zklad nostn hrozby
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R Bezpe nostn sil NATO Bezpe bran obra ench R ivn rce e la 3 ozbroj oz sil kolekt a Kapito spolup a funkce ench R Role rodn ozbroj h orgn Role e pi obranmezin Funkc e v rmci e civilnc Funkc e pi podpo Funkc n la 4 zen Kapito n plnov mick Obran a5 a ekono la pohled Kapiton rmec ck onomi ck pohled zen Finan ho akroek onomi Mak mick ikroek ekono Mik lid Systm van la 6 a motivo pitola tn Kapito etentn a lid zen Komp Priorit ln Personkarir onlu litika onl n ka
Operations
rubrika
Training
international environment, as it became sort of my second mother tongue thanks to West Point.
Division of labour
The total of 49 members of Danish Armed Forces out of 139 foreign participants from 12 nations were involved in the exercise on various levels. Before it started, a staff of thirty spent roughly a months time working out documentation. National representatives spent quite some time over a giant map at the initial stage in addition to that, as they had to place all the monitoring centres on it. Nuclear strikes and chemical warfare attacks build up on the map now. Nuclear attacks are of course ction all the way through. They are said to be a cold war affair. The present general understanding is that the threat is not as high. Possibly, but it is just an impression we get. The peculiar thing about Brave Beduin is that it involves Air and Navy in addition to Lad Forces. And so measurements are also taken on the sea surface. We are not used to anything like that in the Czech Republic. But our centre is updated there dozens of Allied vessels sailing Danish waters. We realise possible targets are out there. So it might be a sort of advantage. Sampling on sea may improve quality or measuring ground strikes and vice versa measurement on land to renes data gained at sea. I receive messages from my colleague and upload them into the system. I gure out what zone they apply to. I zoom in the map and check for military forces located in that area, because I could get additional more specic info from them. I seek to eliminate duplication. Then I add reference number to the message and resend it to my colleague for distribution to other units, Master Sergeant Ludmila enkov explains how a section comprising the computer analysis center. It may happen that later I receive a higher quality information on the attack I correlate it and send it to forces as an update. Though MSG enkov serves in the most important section of the center, she is only third in the row. The rst to receive information from Brigade-level computer analysis teams is an operator who checks them for technical correctness and sorts them out for processing. Another ofcer judges them from specialist point of view checking for discrepancies. The fourth point is responsible for registering and storing information received. The fth workplace specialises in assessing reports on nuclear attacks, the sixth evaluates reports containing rened measurements and the seventh draws incidents into the map.
An Afghani young man in grey-blue uniform lied on the ground and heavily bled from a gunshot injury. Still under re, two Czech soldiers gave him rst aid immediately. They xed the tourniquet and tried to stop bleeding. One of the wounds however was so extensive that they had to keep their ngers on it throughout the transport. Otherwise he would bleed to death. Other personnel of the Czech contingent cleared the way in the meantime for the group to reach the aid station. Doctor and medic of the 1st Operational Mentoring and Liaison Team (OMLT) stabilised the patient and prepared him for transport by a helicopter into a eld hospital. Though the soldier lost two litres of blood, he managed to survive thanks to an early help.
The 1st Czech Operational Mentoring and Liaison Team (OMLT) deployment returned from an eightmonth operational tour in Afghanistan
In a new role
Skive is a sleepy town with barely twenty thousand inhabitants in central west Denmark. Earlier in May this year, the city was woken up by somewhat unusual teeming of uniforms of twelve NATO nations armed forces. The Engineer Academy compound at the town outskirts hosted the largest computer analysis groups evaluating Chemical, Biologic Radiologic and Nuclear situation in the history of the NATO Alliance.
distorted and inaccurate. That is a thing that cannot be easily simulated in a single-echelon exercise. Our mission includes identifying such mistakes early and redress them, check the reports for correctness and sort out duplicate reports. It is a great school for us. We store our observations, including detected mistakes and use them later on in training back home in the Czech Republic, LTC Vohralk underscores. The individual working these errors most intensively is MSG Ladislav Kojzar. If there is an incoming message with obvious mistake, it gets to my table. I print it out and go to see the author at the respective brigade. I try to gure out where is the problem there. The corrected information then comes back to us. Preparing plays for various exercises in the Czech Republic, we seek for them to be as real-world as possible. And delity here is truly high. There are various nations represented here, with different quality of language skills, and having different procedures. Communicating through protective masks is also demanding. All of that may distort speech. To that effect, I create a database of faults that I will use later in training in the Czech Republic.
In the course exercise Brave Beduin, Czech CBRN specialists keep rotating at various posts. A new team of individuals that have not worked together so far starts to work. The thing is that people practised as many activities as possible. This exercise is not about for people to demonstrate what all they are able to do. It is primarily for us an excellent opportunity to improve ourselves. That was the objective we came here to pursue. This is an environment we can do mistakes in. We are able to cope with them; we learn to correct them. And that is our key goal, the point is not to depart from here as big stars, LTC Vohralk says. Other exercise participants have such understanding too. They improvise frequently. For instance they have a colleague with strong German accent reporting instead of them on the phone, or the brieng is performed by a Belgian Colonel the audience have never seen before. All of that enriches the exercise and generates considerable lessons.
the top priorities ISAF forces have in Afghanistan. To what extent the job is done will show according LTC vejda only at the end of the tour of 3rd OMLT deployment, when the ANA kandak is scheduled for validation. An HQ commission will decide whether the unit is qualied for operating autonomously.
Fragment in shin
Sergeant First Class Luk Zeman never got into a combat engagement during his eight-month tour in Afghanistan. But I was on a convoy that got red at. Fire was not directed at my vehicle, so it did not come to me to be that dramatic. One does not yield to the feeling of imminent
danger, SFC Luk Zeman says. I did suffer an injury during the tour though, but it was not in combat but during preparation. We performed training with the Afghani National Army and it included making a re. I was just passing by as an explosion suddenly occurred and I felt something has bitten me in my shin. Only then we found out a fragment drilled into it. Afghanis perhaps by mistake got some munitions into the re and one of the fragmentation stuff exploded. But Afghani soldiers were otherwise very diligent. One needed to align with their different cultural habits. It just required mutual understanding, respect and a great load of patience, not to yield to frustration that something does not go. When we told them for example to prepare fteen men for a patrol, they chose completely at random fteen soldiers who were at hand, equipped them with materiel erratically and off they went. We tried to explain they would be better off having elaborated a plan for such activity, have an understanding of how it will proceed and what they needed to take along with them to prevent lack of some type of materiel they would essentially need. But it was a big problem for them. Planning was completely Dutch for them, SFC Zeman explains.
Language barrier did not play as big role as it could have seem at the rst sight. There were interpreters available, mostly from English to Pashto and Dari. Two of them were even able to translate directly from Czech. Many Afghani soldiers however spoke with Czechs using pretty good Russian. One of the Afghani commanders was a graduate from Higher Ofcer Airborne School in Ryazan. He was an experienced soldier who had served in the Afghani Army already when there were Russians in this country. I spoke with him only in Russian, it was much more enjoyable and straightforward, LTC vejda says. As a commander, he was apparently happy about bringing all his troops from this challenging mission back home without any harm. If I did not believe that, I would not have come with them here in Wardak. When our soldiers got shot at, they reacted exactly as they were taught. If you are in distress, you proceed according to pre-trained drills. Your head will not let you anywhere else.
Allied exercises on annual basis and Brave Beduin in Denmark is one of them.
whole territory and off the coast of Denmark, explains Lieutenant-Colonel Petr Vohralk, Chief of Staff CBRN Brigade assigned to ARRC. The only Czech graduate from the prestigious U.S. Military Academy in West Point so far joined the CBRN service in 2002. His colleagues value him for working hard and efforts he exerted to get in to the new specialty. I do realise I will not probably be able to absorb CBRN specialty as much as people pursuing it throughout their careers. But I do my best to stand up to requirements placed on me and reveal secrets of NBC warfare, says the Chief of Czech group in Exercise Brave Beduin. Experience from USMA can be used in vocation. Since I gained some familiarity with computers at West Point, I am perhaps somewhat better prepared to formulate requirements regarding my vision of us automating as many our operations as we possibly can. The present military environment is also close to me thanks to the school. I understand how all the structures should look like. English is also an asset in this
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It is always vital to have enough courage for one to stand up and ght for what is right and risk life and limb.
Minister of Defence of the Czech Republic, Alexandr Vondra
Another soldier of the Armed Forces of the Czech Republic made the highest sacrice.
everything that stood in its way, including the Czech vehicle and two soldiers recovering materiel. They were Kolja Martynov and Milo Plil. Other personnel on patrol were lucky enough to be caught just by the edge of the avalanche. The situation was critical. The storm did not fade out, and there was impenetrable darkness all around. The convoy was moreover split by additional two landslides. It was necessary to render urgent aid to the wounded soldiers; it was momentarily out of question to search the two swept by the avalanche. Martynov had his back turned to the avalanche and caught the full blow. The avalanche literally played with Plil, it broke his whole body. There was mud everywhere, he could not breathe. Before he could see what is happening, another landslide approached. It struck him with an immense speed. I did not know what was up and what down. I was ying in the air for a moment only to become absorbed by the rolling rock. The strike nearly took my stuck leg off. I felt my shin was agging loosely, Milo Plil recalls the horrendous moments. The rolling soil took him into the bottom of the canyon. He ended up in cold water, attempted to climb the steep bank but it was no go. There was no end to the rainstorm. Lighting lit the landscape for a moment and Milo saw in the water a wheel torn off the destroyed Land Rover vehicle. And that saved his life. He spent whole night in icy water with heavy injuries. Contrarily to his comrade Kolja Martynov he survived.
was attended by his family as well as Defence Minister Alexandr Vondra, Chief of Defence General Vlastimil Picek and his comrades of the 7th Mechanised Brigade. Master-Sergeant Robert Vyroubal belongs to heroes - he fell in combat. I reassure all of you that the Armed Forces of the Czech Republic will never forget his name. I commissioned him in memoriam to the rank of Lieutenant and bestow upon him the highest defence decoration, the National Defence Cross, Minister Vondra said. It is always vital to have enough courage to stand up and ght for what is right and risk life and limb. Some might say he was a soldier and was paid for his foreign operational deployment. I strongly reject such opinions; he was a citizen of a country, whom we sent abroad to help increase our security. He therefore deserves our respect and thanks same as all of those who fought for this country in the past. The wounded commander of the 2nd deployment the Operational Mentoring and Liaison Team Lieutenant-Colonel Michal Kucharsk decided to continue serving his tour of duty.
the Musa Oula. As the commander, Milan trba always remained cold-blooded and got us safely out of the ambush. He made decisions in a second how to take cover, where to attack and where to withdraw, Michal Adamec said.
by CPL A.V. on behalf of 2nd OMLT Czech Armed Forces Task Force ISAF
by Vladimr Marek Photos by Vladimr Marek, Miroslav indel and CZE PRT
Now or Never
The nal chapter and with it the whole White Book on Defence has been written, comments staffed and language corrections implemented. Expert commission headed by the First Deputy Defence Minister Ji ediv could say the job is done. But the contrary is true. Writing the White Book has only been the initial step on the long path delivering the proposed recommendations on future shape and development of the Armed Forces of the Czech Republic. Defence Minister Alexandr Vondra writes in his foreword: It is not a pleasing text to read, but we cannot approach solutions without frankness. Despite that, Ji ediv read the book a thousand times and considered the use of every single word and each submitted proposal from many different angles. How thorny was the journey to the desired conclusion and the statement the job is done was the question posed to the rst deputy minister of defence. Minister Vondra said in a press conference launching the White Book on Defence: It is a true material, that is what distinguishes it from all other transformations. It says where we are and where we want to go to. Ho difcult was it to nd the truth and describe it? In other words truth takes pain sometimes. So how painful would the impact on the MoD and the Armed Forces be? Let us not speak about pain, but about necessity of the proposed steps that will lead to the implementation of the White Book conclusions. The true pain in the form of overall degradation of the MoD Department and especially the Armed Forces would come in the future if we would sit with hands folded and do nothing. With all steps we take, we seek to strengthen the muscle, i.e. executive and operational components and namely the armed forces, and to do away with the fat. Let us look for instance at essential measures Latvia has taken or those prepared by the Dutch (see articles at army.cz). We simply do what is common and necessary in many other states in the current economic situation. It is only pity that many of our recommendations are not new; many problems have been identied namely by the military in the past, but they were not heard. You sought to engage in the process jointly military and civilian components as well as civilian experts. How did that model work? From the outset, we employed integrated or composite civil-military working teams and saw that opinions and recommendations of the military were reected in the nal outcome. Without military experts, we would hardly be able to gather the volume of data and analyses the White Book eventually contains. The same applies to a whole number of the White Books conceptual aspects, be it the section dedicated to personnel management or military capabilities. The
process of continuous and indeed daily collaboration also helped create a brand new quality of relations among us, civil servants and the military. Today we have much greater condence and respect in each other. Involving outside experts also helped us a lot, including members of the White Book Commission, or a whole number of other consultants who provided comments on various sections of the text. Thanks to that open cooperation, we produced an outcome we do not need to be ashamed of. The White Book also states: We are at a crossroads. The situation we are in is critical, but there is a way forward. Do we know those points of departure and are we able to identify them and pushed them forward? For example the year 2015 will we have enough funding to acquire new supersonic aircraft? Let us not narrow the issue down to supersonic aircraft only. First of all, once the policy is approved the Minister will submit options to the Cabinet, including those envisaging the extension of costs over time. The Cabinet will then decide, whether it will accept the White Book recommendation to continue supersonic capability at all, and eventually endorse one of the options we propose. The greater challenge however is that there is a number of additional investments accumulated in 2015 timeframe, which we will simply not be able to cover. We therefore proposed a range of saving measures that have mostly been publicised, so I will not discuss them. Some relate to military capabilities. But again may I recommend that you took a look in how business is done in other countries
ran rany o ob a ob ihy nih G inistr l k o m elnka vu B ra p vo n pro p en bliky repu ise ru kom a dopo esk il ra r ny tn nch s ob roje tn i ji ozb k za bliky ontrola branu u 1 p la re t k k sti za o esk ka atic odis vldy emokra ovdno d p dp stu zen a hu a o ice a b n bs Civil zen o nsk am e je Vym cko-voj ec ti rm Poli lativn is Leg 2 ted stika itola pros eri Kap gick harakte R te c jmy a rizika a dn tn zjm Str la y k Z enos rozb h p Bez enostn ATO R p N h sil Bez bran nc n o roje 3 ola ce ozb h sil R kolektiv prce it p lu k c a Ka a fun po en R n s roje Role le ozb obran zinrod orgn e ch Ro ce pi ci m iviln k Fun ce v rm dpoe c o k Fun ce pi p k Fun 4 n la o it nov zen Kap nn pl k omic Obra kon hled 5 e a a la o c p e ito Kap n rm omick ohled n n n p e Fina kroeko omick ho z k Ma ekon mic o ro n Mik m eko d t n li Sys ova 6 otiv itola tn a m p a n K pete Kom orita lid zen Pri nln r erso ri u
Kap it Roz ola 7 voj Poli schopn ti o t Ch cko-vo st je p Vc n oz nsk a h b je i ka roj en mbice Cha odis c r Mod akter p pro pl h sil z p nov rost ulr Bojo n len ed nas n sc Jed v je e a n s n k dnot cho zen Jed otk y bo tky pno n k st o jo j Vele otk y bo v po dp n jo j v Voje a z ho z ory nsk zen abe Voje zpe zp ens en k p ravod Akti aj tv olic jstv ie ie Mob n zlo o i il li iz zac ha In nf e form a n Kyb a e In nfor rnetick komun be ika i Stra man z n tegic ope peno tech Vz nolo st k k race k gie Spo um, ex omun ik kac p l lu im e Udr uprce erim it s ob ent te e ln ln l Kap r ost it sch annm vvoj a Akv ola 8 opn pr ino izic ost ce t oz mysle vace m Akv a hos bro jen iz p z 6 Hos in sy odaen ch s p stm il sm 8 R Slu odae t aje jetk by n s t k e 1 a ag m m 1 Kap end ajetke it m a za 12 Kon tola 9 trola t jio 2 a 2K van vla apit oa stn Str n mi 10 ruktu la sub 6 ura o 2 jekty Kap rga niza 6 ito la la 1 c Rea 2 e a z liza29 1 e ce B n M Sez 9 l 2 O nam knih y zk 2 Glo r9 at os te 31 k
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We do not want to give up on our ambitions, but we are considering abolishment of multi-echelon command and control for instance. What does the future hold for the command headquarters in Olomouc and Star Boleslav? The reality is clear. Operational level command headquarters will be abolished. But it is true to say that there will be one more component between the General Staff and Brigades. Two components with roughly eighty personnel will be created. I underline components, not operational level headquarters. One for the Land Forces and one for the Air Force. Their mission will be to steer training, they will not be in charge of operational assignments. Let us get back to Chapter 6 for a while. It reads: Instructors play a central role in training. Their position and payscheme is not adequate to that though We are also aware of that problem, especially in relation to their ranks and remuneration. We need to adjust both. Soldiers often become instructors at the end of their service career having assembled a body of experience from foreign deployed operations, from training in international environment able to transfer it appropriately. It is not tolerable for instructors to be ranked corporals and sergeants in the future. We discuss changing it to master sergeants or warrant ofcers rank. Those individuals have been through years of hard work and we need their
experience to be passed on. Vykov is the ideal place. Changes are necessary and the process is painful, believe me. General Opata deals with similar problems in the Komando course. Eleven chapters, dozens of charts, fteen-member expert commission to develop the White Book including only two uniformed experts, although general-ranked. Was it not too few to represent the military? I do not see any problem in the number. The expert commission did not develop input documents; their task was to evaluate the submitted materials. A high number of military personnel were involved in developing them and the credit goes to all of them. We did not vote in the expert commission, so our two voices could not be overridden articially. We worked in a comprehensive fashion, chapter by chapter. Conversely, it was interesting to gain familiarity with opinions and views of civilian experts involved in development of this document. It makes you to take a different
perspective on some subjects, see them in a broader civilian context. The civilian security perspective is often very interesting. General, we began with a question from the Facebook and we will also conclude with one. People visiting the pages ask about the future of the reserve component The Active Reserve Component is legitimate and will be retained. Regulation of its status and position will be important. The active reserve today works on volunteer basis and mostly associates ex-military servicepeople. The challenge is that majority of them was trained on hardware and weapon systems of older generation. Active-duty units today have new highly sophisticated equipment, whose mastering consumes some time and money. The objective will be to create an active reserve system comprised of career soldiers who commit themselves on retirement to serve with reserve units for a denite period of time. Those people will be capable of being activated for service with combat units equipped with the existing advanced hardware and weapon systems. Consequently, our plan is to form reserves to augment combat units. It does not mean at the same time however that we would not welcome the existence of active reserve units on the voluntary basis as they exist today. We will still need forces for guard and patrol duties in emergencies, for which no specialists are needed; in other words, we do not close the active reserve component for volunteers coming from the civilian sector. Let me ask the nal question. The White Book was completed. What will be the greatest challenge in its implementation? The key is to stabilise personnel. We may have full depots and hangars of shiny hardware but we are ghting for condence of every single soldier and airman.
NATO
The NATO airbase Gielenkirchen was the venue to an accession ceremony in honour of the Czech Republics ofcially joining the NATO Airborne Early Warning and Control System
For the international community populating the NATO airbase in Geilenkirchen, May 17th is an ordinary day. E-3A AWACS (Airborne Warning and Control System) aircraft come rolling to the runway shortly after eight oclock. ATC clears them for take-off in turns. Four Pratt & Whitney jet engines on the Boeing B-707/320 machines set the machines with a typical rotating radar dome on their backs rolling. Roughly halfway through the runway the Sentry gets airborne and climbs to its ight level. Shortly after that, however, senior ofcials of the Armed Forces of the Czech Republic, not only from the Prague-based General Staff, but also from various NATO command headquarters located in Germany, as well as in Belgium and the Netherlands, began to gather at the club
of the local unit known as the E-3A Component. May 17th, 2011, becomes an extraordinary day the Czech Republic is joining a prestigious club of the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation. A short but proper ceremony ofcially brings Czechs into the NAEW&C program. Commander E-3A Component Brigadier-General Burkhard Pototzky and the Chief of General Staff of the Armed Forces of the Czech Republic General Vlastimil Picek come to the Geilenkirchen Main Operating Base (MOB) ag eld. We are very proud that our multinational Component has gained such a valuable new member. This accession advances the integration of the Czech Republic into NATO structures, said Brigadier-General Pototzky in his remarks and underscored that Czech professionals strengthen capabilities of the unit under his command. Since we support operations in Afghanistan, Libya and the Mediterranean and provide cover for many high visibility events and humanitarian aid missions all around the world, our deployments have an extremely high operation tempo. The more I value the Czech Republics active participation in the NAEW&C program that signicantly strengthens NATOs overall defence capability and mission readiness, the E-3A Component commander stated. General Vlastimil Picek expressed gratitude to the training units on the base for the helping hand they extended to the Czech service personnel and said he fully concurred both with the political decision on the Czech Republics accession to the NAEW&C program and the accession talks that were successfully completed with signature by all participating states. I am particularly pleased that the Armed Forces of the Czech Republic already has four members actively participating in this NATO program. Another four of our specialists will be assigned to Geilenkirchen starting August later this year, Czech Chief of Defence said. Then he took from the hands
of the Czech national military representative in the NATO Air Base Geilenkirchen and AWACS pilot, Major Milan Vojek, the Czech national ag and handed it over to Brigadier General Pototzky, who passed it on to two ag bearers to raise it onto the mast with military honours. The ceremony ended with national anthems of Germany and Czech Republic played. Fifteen minutes after ten oclock, the international community welcomes the Czech Republic amidst them with a long applause. It is a great day not only for me, but for the whole Czech defence community. We may be rightly proud to have become full members of this exclusive NATO unit. The efforts we have invested in accession talks on daily basis yielded the desired outcome, the Czech representative in NAPMO, Mr. Ji Bedn, expressed his feelings.
support to naval operations, support to force command and control, airspace management coordination and support to search and rescue forces. I regard the Czech Republics accession to the NATO Airborne Early Warning and Control system a very positive step. The E-3A Component is a highly valued part of NATO, especially now with the concurrent operations in Libya and Afghanistan. It is indeed a cutting edge technology, and the fact that we are in will positively move professionally ahead, underscores MajorGeneral Petr Pavel, the Czech national military representative in SHAPE (Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe). Director of the MoD Force Development Division Operations Division, Brigadier-General Bohuslav Dvok, makes a follow-up comment: Every foreign tour served by Czech military professionals brings back valuable lessons into the Armed Forces of the Czech Republic. I am condent that possibly the best terms were negotiated for the Czech Republic. Correct to say that funding was one of the limiting factors. Training pilots, navigators and specialists for operation crews ying the E-3A AWACS aircraft are extremely costly. It should be mentioned in this respect that the Czech Republics share in overall cost is 0.4 % and the greatest burden out of the common pie is borne by the Federal Republic of Germany: 33.2 %. Accordingly, Germans have the second highest number of personnel in the E-3A Component, slightly less than Americans. Czech personnel Major Milan Vojek (pilot) and Captain Jindich Snhota (navigator) are presently assigned to Flight Crews while Major Stanislav Hebr (tactical director) a Senior Warrant Ofcer David vagerka (surveillance operator) are members of Mission Crews.
by Pavel Lang photos by Radko Janata
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Msgre Dominik Duka: When I was a little boy, I was growing up in the shadow of military sites and uniforms.
showed a high degree of mutual cooperation and recognition, which is what matters most. Do you think these people will be able to make use of the experience they get there later in their career? Certainly. The experience helps them personally, it helps them realize the dimension of their spiritual mission in the society, and it will teach them what churches need most, i.e. modesty and considerateness. And this is priceless. Are you satised with the standard of chaplaincy in the Czech Armed Forces? What direction should it take in future? I am not within this service. However, I attended various meetings of military clerics when I was the bishop in Hradec Krlov. I believe that the people working in this eld denitely do not discredit the church. If you were a young chaplain, would you be interested in the spiritual service in the army? I have repeatedly said, since my time in Hradec Krlov, that I would rather be a military chaplain in Iraq or Afghanistan than deal with some problems that the bishop is required to handle. I think that a stint at the base, where something really important or even ones life is at stake, helps one see petty wars and trie worries from a different perspective. There are not that many worshippers in the army; our military chaplains must have quite a hard time to make themselves heard and attract people around them, mustnt they? Our society is neither militant nor particularly atheistic, but it is secularized as a result of forty years of communist atheization. However, we realize that eighty-ve percent of the Bible is about the man and his problems. If a cleric can learn how to be with and for people, it will open
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a way enabling him to talk about fundamental issues of life, which is what his mission is about. When you became the Archbishop, some journalists mentioned you as a friendly face for heathens. Can you really be characterized as a person with an accommodating attitude toward atheists? My lifelong experience tells me an unbeliever really does not exist. Even atheism is a belief of sorts. A man believes that there is God, or that there is no God. I have certain logical reasons why I believe in God. If I discussed the belief in God with people who claim to be atheists, I am convinced we could nd a number of common issues after just half an hour. If one says something has to exist, it does not mean one is an atheist. However, one also realizes that talking about God as a superman of sorts is comical. I also do not believe in a God like this. We talked about God with ex-President Vclav Havel some time ago. He claims we can say He exists. But know that something is too little. It would be less than a man. God must be more than something, it must be a person, which leads us to a conclusion that God is difcult to dene. We can see Him as the primary cause, supreme intelligence, supreme will, but we know we cannot visualize Him. The Bible even forbids us to do so. Tom Holub, ex-Chief Chaplain of our Armed Forces, used to say that all soldiers in trenches believe in God. Does it mean that men turn to God much more often in critical situations? When I last visited the Senate, its Vice Speaker Pemysl Sobotka told me he was an atheist. My driver claims that an atheist is a man over sixty who has never thought about saying a prayer, not even in a difcult life situation. When I told this to Mr. Sobotka, he just smiled and said: You got me. Being a surgeon, he knows all too well that a man in an extreme situation tends to think about who we are and where we are going, and this brings him to thinking about God as well. Early this year you attended an international conference of military chaplains held in Prague. How did ours compare to their foreign colleagues? I only attended the opening. However, I later talked to Tom Holub and it seems all had a good feeling that there was nothing to be ashamed of. Our military chaplains are perceived as capable partners by their counterparts from other countries. Military clerics help soldiers in missions irrespective of the nationality of the latter. What is the role of their regular annual meetings in this respect? The international aspect of the spiritual service is important, as it helps, inter alia, promote a better integration of our soldiers. If they attend a service held at a foreign unit, there is a greater feeling of solidarity and cohesiveness. And this is reected in a stronger friendship of soldiers of the global community.
by Vladimr Marek photos by Jana Deckerov, Radek Hampl, Marie Kov and Tom Otruba
Operations
The Czech Operational Liaison and Mentoring Team operating in demanding conditions in the Wardak Province, Afghanistan, helped save several lives
Started as engineers
The Czech OMLT comprises fty-four personnel (over sixty per cent from the 43rd Airborne Mechanised Battalion) and is fully equipped and capable of operating autonomously. It also includes artillery and forward air controllers as well as some other specialists. The command
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and staff (16 personnel) supports and plans activities of ve mentoring (training) teams. Four teams specialise in training Afghani forces in tactics and the fth one is in charge of the weapons company. The organisational structure is complemented with a combat support group including a medical team head by a medical doctor. COP Carwile supports the operations by all units in southern Wardak. It was built as a combat outpost and is equipped and furnished in an accordingly stringent manner. There is no luxury there. Similarly as COP Jaghato, Carwile has several hardened structures, a couple of showers, mess-room in a tent-shelter and mobile toilets. No one does anything inessential here. The life for lads in combat outposts that are not called camps, but rather checkpoints, is even harder, Major Dziak describes. Taking over the area of operations from the previous kandak, we identied there big shortcomings in security structures. In the rst weeks upon our arrival, we therefore worked as a combat engineer unit, with excavators and wheeled loaders were our primary weapons here. We reinforced checkpoints, helped Afghanis introduce a security and defence system, and now we can fully devote ourselves to operating across the area of operations.
Nine Trades
A mentoring type of mission requires a broad spectrum of knowledge. Mentors should be good teachers and psychologists, must be very very patient, indulgent and able to appreciate cultural differences. Mentors should be able to steer Afghanis into operating even at inconvenient times and follow procedures they may momentarily deem useless. Mentors must also be able to communicate with American pilots or artillery to provide security to his team and essential re or medical support. Interpreters dislike going to Wardak either. In addition, we may not afford hoards of translators; one must understand some expressions and formulate some sentences ourselves. We operate in a multilingual environment here. The kandak commander and locals speak are at least understand some Russian. It is no exception for you to speak two, three or even four languages on a single day, Major Dziak explains. You also encounter various approaches to mission planning. Afghani National Army, NATO and U.S. Army - they all follow different planning procedures. The OMLT is a joinder type of element that virtually enables interoperation of Afghani and Coalition forces in one area of operations. The mentoring teams operate on 24/7 basis. People in Afghanistan generally recognise
Friday as a free day, but oftentimes things take a completely different course. The Afghani zone at COP Carwile contains a mosque where worship services are held on Thursdays (Afghani Saturday) led by an Afghani National Army religious ofcer. However, patrolling connected with activities seeking to gather information and identifying the needs of local population are underway at COPs even at the time of worship. It is also critical to ensure backbone communication. There are often meetings with council of elders. If there is a problem, such as discovery of Improvised Explosive Device (IED), or shooting targeting the base, it is essential to solve the situation immediately, Lieutenant-Colonel Ladislav vejda underscores. In addition, our forces are often involved in responding to road accidents. Doctor and medic managed to save several lives in such accidents. Czech OMLT members are resupplied by the U.S. logistic support system that is capable of delivering necessary amounts of food even to remote locations in Afghanistan. Mentors at checkpoint prepare food themselves using semiproducts with the whole team taking turns. If they happen to operate together with a U.S. platoon, they support each other. Czech troops are also frequently invited by Afghanis for dining. They are able to cook it in difcult conditions and it is
good endurance, which was particularly proven in joint foot patrols with Allies. They extremely value the knowledge that Czech instructors share. They are very competitive. During training sessions, we seek to maintain their attention by inventing various games. It is Comenius in practice. Perhaps one of the greatest challenges is to persuade Afghani ofcers to take part in training and operations together with their subordinates. That does not apply to junior commanders though, who lead their troops on patrols, in operations or redress potential tactical shortcomings in conjunction with the Czech mentors. It is probably a part of the heritage. Shooting training for instance must be performed separately specially for troops and sergeants and separately for kandak ofcers. One of the combat outposts got attacked already in the rst days of our operation in the Wardak province. Mentors had a hard time to steer eagerness of Afghani soldiers to answer re in all directions, even across the camp. Another COP got shot at a week later and the Afghani unit shot sixteen hundred rounds while our team none. Afghani units have recently achieved a higher level of preparedness. Being on duty at checkpoints without mentors from time to time, they are able to organise defence, re in the right direction and not spend too much ammunition.
Performing operational assignments in the Wardak province is a multinational affair. Besides Afghanis, Czech service personnel frequently cooperate with U.S. forces. In joint operations, they often act as a liaison element coordinating activities of all forces involved. A relationship has progressively developed between Czech mentors and Afghani soldiers. Initial three months they spent training together in Camp Black Horse at Kabul were critical for forming the relationship. During that preparation, the Czech servicemembers made use of unconventional methods and managed to win the heart of Afghanis including thanks to the good reputation the Czech Republic, or former Czechoslovakia, enjoys in the country. In the initial stage of joint training, they also closely worked with UK (especially the staff) and Romanian Armed Forces service personnel. Very good contacts have also been established with the Greek and particularly Spanish OMLT who shared valuable lessons they learnt training Afghanis.
by Vladimr Marek photos by Czech OMLT
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Training
In the NATO Tiger Meet in Cambrai, France, the Czech Tigers also clashed on their opponents in aerial ghts
Commander 211th Tactical Squadron Lieutenant-Colonel Jaroslav Gyro Mka and First-Lieutenant Milan Rimmer Nykodym
After seven months, the Tiger elite units associated in the NATO Tiger Association (NTA) again meets for this years largest Allied air exercise in Europe. The host role was assigned to the French Cambrsis squadron this time with Mirage 2000C/D aircraft in inventory. They have a rich experience with directing NATO Tiger
Meets. Specically six-times, because NTM took place in Cambrai already in 1964, 1972, 1979, 1986, 1994 and 2003. The bitter fact is that this years Tiger Meet is the last major event both for the squadron and for the base. If there is no other solution, it will be inactivated in 2013. Despite this fact, it is great honour for us to
host NATO units year NTAs fho ost N ATO tiger AT r un unit its in the the yea ear r of NTA N TAs f tieth anniversary, Dodi states. that tiet ti eth h an anni nive v rs sar ary, y, D Dod di s ta ate tes. Just t recall ll t hat the rst meeting of NATO air units with tigers or another feline in their logo took place in 1961 at RAF Woodbridge and the then 79th Fighter Squadron was the host unit. Conversely in the last Tiger Meet, Tigers gathered at Vliegbasis Volkel in the Netherlands in October 2010. Operational deployments however prevented some full members of NATO Tiger Association in taking part, for example Belgian 31. Smaldeel, Dutch 313th Squadron, British 230th Squadron and Norwegian 338th Skvadron. In other words, there were apparently fewer F-16s and various rotary wing aircraft on the aprons as
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opposed to previous years. Financial restrictions some NATO Air Forces took denitely played a part. That however had no major impact on opportunities for elite Tigers to again improve common operation procedures for planning and performance of air operations by NATO air forces on possible operational deployments. The more pleasing was the fact that Czech Tigers were present in these air manoeuvres, specically the members of the 211th Tactical Squadron with four JAS-39C/D Gripen multirole ghters and representatives of the 221st helicopter squadron based at Sedlec, Vcenice u Nmt nad Oslavou with a pair of Mi-24/35 gunships. According to information available from the exercise operation center (NTM OPS), the Czech Air Force were involved on daily basis in the morning so-called Shadow Waves and afternoon COMAO (Composite Air Operations) efforts, as well as in Combat Search and Rescue (CSAR) missions. Their xed-wing comradesin-arms were German Tornados, French Mirage, Polish, Portuguese, Greek, Turkish F-16s, Swiss Hornets, Austrian Saabs, Slovak Fulcrums as well as Italian AB-212 helicopters of 21st Gruppo in Grazzanise. numbers of ight and technical personnel and hardware, 1LT Nykodym explains. The next stage may be referred to as hectic preparations. Pilots of the 211th Tactical Squadron primarily focused on beyond visual range tactics and activities by commander of ghter escort in Composite Air Operations COMAO, Rimmer says. In a similar way, naturally with focus on the performance of their operational missions, helicopter guys from the Nm Air Force Base underwent their professional drill. Not less important part of the NTM is a demonstration of the tiger spirit and expression of worthiness in accompanying events. The rst aspect is closely linked with the personnels tiger-like image and colour modications on the aircraft. It is pleasing that Czechs also did not restrict their imagination in depicting tigers of various shapes and forms. The foursome of Gripens and the Hind with registration number 3361 attracted the eyes of passers-by and belonged to the most photographed machines. It is quite difcult these days to come up with something new, something original. Over NTAs fty-year history, all ideas to depict tigers have indeed been used. Imitating is not in fashion here, Czech tigers say collectively and add with a slight sentiment that the essential fund is lled with money mostly from their own pockets. Boots, ight overalls and helmets of the 211th Squadron ground personnel also underwent remarkable tiger tuning. Pessimistic visions do not apply in this case. Why? Demanding missions above are best compensated through collective glee on the ground. The international communitys cohesion builds both on traditional tiger rituals but especially on personal relations among members of NATO air units. And the omnipresent Tiger spirit is able to amalgamate them amply.
Blues v. Reds
It is just a couple of minutes before fourteen hours, with the foursome of Gripens taking their places on the grid before the runway threshold. Pilots request the tower to clear them for entering the runway. A couple of seconds later, the rst JAS-39 gets rolling with a deafening roar. It gains on speed and shortly lifts off two-eight. The scene repeats in fteen second intervals. After take-off, the machines turn to bearing twoseven-zero and enter the departure corridor. The next phase is transition to the
ight level and inclusion into the air operational order of battle, where at every group of aircraft has a precisely dened role to play. In lay terms: Blues versus Reds. In expert terms: ghters clear the airspace from possible foes, by which they gain supremacy in the area of interest to allow strike aircraft ying on the follow-on wave to safely engage ground targets. Air clashes of large formations comprising various categories of aircraft (COMAO) last approximately thirty minutes and the number of actors joining the battle is around fty. The remainder of the afternoon two-hour block is taken by transfers into zones located over the French and German territory this time. Morning missions are designed mostly for pilots in training. Their focus is one-on-one and two-versus-two dog-ghting that involves various types of NATO aircraft. It goes without saying that all ight activities are extensively reviewed in debriengs. All pilots and aircrews see a replay of how effective their operations were. Presentation of outcomes is a collective effort. The more pleasing it is to hear that a Gripen got a Hornet for example. Exercise Wild Hind has moved us another step forward. Not only in ight training, because we operated comprehensively with other NATO squadrons in a real mission, but also in terms of getting to know each other. Personal contact in interpersonal relations is indeed irreplaceable. There is no STANAG for that. These ties positively reect in the tactical ying itself, commander 211th Tactical Squadron Lieutenant-Colonel Jaroslav Gyro Mka states and atly rejects opinions comparing NATO Tiger Meet to meetings of interest or hobby groups. It is an important NATO exercise with a unique social dimension, explains LTC Mka who led a twenty-four member group of slav AFB Tigers and a ight of JAS-39 Gripen supersonics into Cambrai. Since we arrived Cambrai as the holders of the NTAs most prestigious award, the Silver Tiger Trophy, we have been
at the centre of exercise participants attention. Our over-motivation showed in the beginning, but it got settled into a standard mode over time. We performed operational missions to required professional standards, Gyro says and heads for a Swiss F-18D Hornet ghter to go for an hours ight. Mutual exchange of pilots in aircraft cockpits is extremely valuable. You nd yourself embedded within another NATO unit and you get a rst-hand experience of their specicities in preight preparation and during operational missions. It is good that we honour this long-standing practice of NATO Tiger Meet as well, commander of 211th Tac Sqn relishes. Windows of silence separating take-offs can be used for short interviews with the members of technical personnel. Individual types of preparation do not differ from activities we normally perform at our home base. The only difference is that we have less people here, and so we have to be multifunctional. We took along the blocks that are most likely to subject to malfunction, says Captain Ale Pokorn, commander of the technical ight the 211th Tactical Squadron. His words cannot be heard anymore. French Mirage ghters pass us by rolling. Another ight block gets ready to take off for an area of interest east to the aireld
effective harmonisation of compactness in planning and employment of all air assets into a single functional block, MAJ Prochzka describes one of the benets Exercise Wild Hind 2011 provides and concludes it is not exceptional for mission planning to exceed six hours while actual mission performance takes no more than ninety minutes. This time the operation to rescue pilots from hostile territory involves a pack of eight NATO aircraft comprising two Italian AB-212 helicopters, two Czech Hinds and two pairs of Portuguese and Greek F-16 ghters. Each ight component has its specic assignment. Following ATC orders, helicopter pilots start engines and taxi for the runway. Exactly at 13 hours 19 minutes both Mi-24/35 lift off and start in bearing two nine zero. The ight into a waiting area some sixty kilometres away takes less than twenty minutes.
Mi-24 Hind captains receive codeword from ghter pilots for the area of interest to have been cleared. A couple of minutes earlier, F-16 had eliminated an anti-aircraft gun battery with radar homing. The codeword prompt the Hinds to ying into the pick-up zone. The Czech gunships rst perform monitoring of the area and then they call the Italian Bells into action to pick surviving pilots onboard. The rescued persons are onboard the AB-212 helicopters. Under the protection of F-16 ghters and escorted by Mi-24/35, they set off for their way back. The CSAR mission only lasted ve minutes, but its value is immense.
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Operations
Similar episodes were not exceptional at all during the eight-month tour the deployment served in Afghanistan. During that period, approximately forty Afghani soldiers were injured, some of them heavily, plus there were eight fatalities. The life of many Afghanis was saved from this destiny by the Czech units doctor Lieutenant-Colonel Ivo Kaprek and medic Warrant Ofcer Mojmr Zdrhal. We worked together with the doctor in very improvised conditions. We have two medical and life-saving kits available. In many instances, we provided rst aid on the spot where soldiers had been injured or attacked. Upon stabilising basic life functions, we secured transport of the wounded by air MEDEVAC aircraft, WO Zdrhal describes his work. In most cases, those were ballistic traumas; several soldiers hit improvised explosive devices. But we also had to deal with tragic road accidents involving fatalities. Both I and the doctor serve in military hospitals back in the Czech Republic, specically in Prague and in Olomouc. It was a very good practical experience for us, as rearms injuries do not occur in the Czech environment that often. At the beginning of May earlier this year, 54 service personnel of the 1st deployment the Czech OMLT returned back to the Czech Republic upon completing their assignment. Most of them were members of the 43rd Airborne Mechanised Battalion in Chrudim. But the OMLT also included artillery re controllers and forward air controllers, a doctor, medic and other specialists. Under the command of Lieutenant-Colonel Ladislav vejda, they operated together with the soldiers of the 6th kandak Afghani National Army from September till December 2010 at Camp Black Horse nearby Kabul and then in the Wardak Province till the end of April 2011. The unit comprised the command and mentoring (training) teams. According to the Deputy Chief of General Staff Czech Armed Forces Director of the MoD Joint Operations Centre Brigadier General Ale Opata, specicity of this mission was that it focused on training the Afghani National Army, which is presently one of
The 1st Czech Operational Mentoring and Liaison Team (OMLT) deployment returned from an eightmonth operational tour in Afghanistan
the top priorities ISAF forces have in Afghanistan. To what extent the job is done will show according LTC vejda only at the end of the tour of 3rd OMLT deployment, when the ANA kandak is scheduled for validation. An HQ commission will decide whether the unit is qualied for operating autonomously.
Fragment in shin
Sergeant First Class Luk Zeman never got into a combat engagement during his eight-month tour in Afghanistan. But I was on a convoy that got red at. Fire was not directed at my vehicle, so it did not come to me to be that dramatic. One does not yield to the feeling of imminent
danger, SFC Luk Zeman says. I did suffer an injury during the tour though, but it was not in combat but during preparation. We performed training with the Afghani National Army and it included making a re. I was just passing by as an explosion suddenly occurred and I felt something has bitten me in my shin. Only then we found out a fragment drilled into it. Afghanis perhaps by mistake got some munitions into the re and one of the fragmentation stuff exploded. But Afghani soldiers were otherwise very diligent. One needed to align with their different cultural habits. It just required mutual understanding, respect and a great load of patience, not to yield to frustration that something does not go. When we told them for example to prepare fteen men for a patrol, they chose completely at random fteen soldiers who were at hand, equipped them with materiel erratically and off they went. We tried to explain they would be better off having elaborated a plan for such activity, have an understanding of how it will proceed and what they needed to take along with them to prevent lack of some type of materiel they would essentially need. But it was a big problem for them. Planning was completely Dutch for them, SFC Zeman explains.
Language barrier did not play as big role as it could have seem at the rst sight. There were interpreters available, mostly from English to Pashto and Dari. Two of them were even able to translate directly from Czech. Many Afghani soldiers however spoke with Czechs using pretty good Russian. One of the Afghani commanders was a graduate from Higher Ofcer Airborne School in Ryazan. He was an experienced soldier who had served in the Afghani Army already when there were Russians in this country. I spoke with him only in Russian, it was much more enjoyable and straightforward, LTC vejda says. As a commander, he was apparently happy about bringing all his troops from this challenging mission back home without any harm. If I did not believe that, I would not have come with them here in Wardak. When our soldiers got shot at, they reacted exactly as they were taught. If you are in distress, you proceed according to pre-trained drills. Your head will not let you anywhere else.
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Training
A combined convoy of Czech Kajman and U.S. Army Humwee vehicles departs the camp. We are passing a ctive Afghani landscape. In reality, more than one hundred and fty service personnel of the 8th deployment the Czech Provincial Reconstruction Team (PRT) has been involved in Exercise Thorny Valley in the run-up to their operational tour in Afghanistan at a U.S. Army Base at Hohenfels in Bavaria.
According to the unit commander, such decision is exclusively up to the mobile observation team commander to take. Once the convoy leaves the base, the responsibility is solely up to him. The MOT commander decides to stop at the moment an object appears suspicious to him. His priorities include the provision of protection to his service personnel. Often the slightest trie may have a good reason. Exercise Thorny Valley is also designed to help him strike the right balance of choice. commander of one of platoons comprising the 102nd Reconnaissance Battalion. At JMRC Hohenfels for exercise Thorny Valley, he is however in command of a mobile observation team. He was has just recently promoted a commissioned ofcer. He joined the military eight years ago after serving with the Police of the Czech Republic. He earned his university degree through distance studies, and so he was promoted Lieutenant from the Warrant Ofcers corps. The whole situation is yet more complicated for me. We know each other very well with my subordinates. They will only respect me if I show natural authority. In this regard, I believe my situation is worse than if there was somebody coming from somewhere else as a ready-made commissioned ofcer, he explains and immediately joins negotiating with the Americans. They learn that the Czech soldiers escort civilian experts of the Provincial Reconstruction Team. There is construction underway of a medical center in Shan Kot that needs to be checked for the progress of work done. The American counterpart nods in agreement, but he cannot let the convoy go on into the housing area. A U.S. servicemember got lost, and they had been searching the place house by house. It will last at least till the evening. We are told to come tomorrow.
Led by Mustangs
Whilst in Hohenfels, the Czech 8th is embedded to the Task Force (TF) Mustang comprising mostly of U.S. Army 172nd Infantry Brigade personnel. Contrarily to some of the
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centre has been denitely postponed. Asked by the U.S. troops whether we would come to the community tomorrow, Lieutenant Pyszko only shrugs. It depends on tasking he would get from the PRT commander. Not a single soldier on the exercise has a clue what the moments to come will hold for them. Everything is as real as it possibly gets that is the greatest benet of the local training system. In case the exercise director wants to gain some time, for individual episodes to match better, he is able to adjust the course of training this way. He only needs to instruct the governor on the radio to protract the negotiation as long as he possibly can, Warrant Ofcer Pavel Bodrogi explains. People hired by the JMRC are able to play their roles with high delity. They are mostly individuals with perfect familiarity of Moslem environment and able to create the atmosphere of an Afghani community. They played for instance that our interpreter was shot dead and we had to cope. But we were also able to practice controlling artillery re and recovering persons from beneath an overturned car. Underground tunnels, which are increasingly found in Afghanistan, were also built at JMRC Hohenfels. The tactics used in the tunnels is completely different to what soldiers have been used to. So, they have opportunity to practice how to penetrate the underground system and how to move inside. Whether to light it with ashlights, or use night vision goggles. They would nd only here what they need for such tactics and add equipment to their kits accordingly.
The Field Surgical Team commenced the series of deployments of Czech military doctors and medics in the French Hospital at the Kabul International Airport
Together in Afghanistan
the base doing casualty drag with a guy on stretchers. They sat each day from nine to seventeen hundred hours in the classroom and received a huge amount of information. Training here at Hohenfels focuses on drilling standard things, we keep repeating what we have learnt. It is nothing new, but you have to get it under your skin. Perhaps the most interesting was the lesson we had on new ways of planting Improvised Explosive Devices, SFC Oldich Sieklik says. The strength Americans have is that they have much more money, including for training. Given the locations they operated in previously, they also have a tremendous body of experience. And they can sell it better than we can do. They are able to deliver all of it in briengs nicely. But I am condent the Czech Armed Forces is able to work its own lessons better. Even the way back to the camp does not do without constant halting to check suspicious objects. None of the Czech troops knows whether the exercise director still has something at hand for them. There are talks that opposing forces might attack the convoy on their way back. That does not eventually happen. We are arriving at the base without slightest harm. Now it is essential to maintain weapons, hardware and recuperate. But the Mobile Observation Team will be having the most important session on the next day. They will review and assess performance by every individual during the patrol step by step. People learn best from own mistakes.
by Vladimr Marek
On the seventh day of February 2011, a premiere deployment started for the Field Surgical Team of the Medical Service of the Armed Force of the Czech Republic in the French military hospital stationed at the Kabul International Airport (KAIA). Four months on, they will be relieved by another Czech tenmember group of doctors and medical personnel. The relay is planned to be passed on six times till January 2013.
French military hospital under command of Colonel Bernard Guennoc is able to provide specialised surgical treatment at Role 3 level. It is stationed in the northern part of the Kabul international Airport (KAIA-North), close to the location where the Czech Armed Forces eld hospital (Role 2E) operated in 2007-08. The spectrum of local patients is quite wide. The responsibility of the Czech Armed Forces Field Surgical Team primarily includes ISAF service personnel deployed for operations in the Regional Command Capital RC(C) territory. Medical support is also provided to the members of the Afghani National Army and the FST also provides treatment to locals. The Czech team comprises three doctors (surgeon and the commander of the 1st FST, Lieutenant-Colonel M.D. Martin Oberreiter, traumatologist Lieutenant-Colonel M.D. Ivo vk and anaesthetist Major M.D. Luk Balcrek), and six medics serving at operating rooms, intensive care unit and emergency wards (perioperative
nurses LT Jana Makov and WO Hana Dukov, pre-hospital urgent care nurses WO Lenka Panchrtkov and WO Jitka Dukov and at the emergency, MEDIC 1 and 3 duty, WO Martin Studeck and WO Jan Barimov). Not less important member of the Czech medical team is the liaison and operation ofcer, Captain Vlastimil Schlinger, who works at the French military hospitals operations centre (MEDOPS) and is involved in coordinating acceptance of casualties. In case needed, he also works with doctors stationed at Camp Shank, Sharana and Wardak on organising medical evacuation (MEDEVAC) from areas of operations, both into specialised medical facilities in Afghanistan (TACEVAC) and national (home) hospitals (STRATEVAC).
An operation a day
They very rst hours they spent at KAIA-North showed that a premiere embedding of Czech military doctors in the French eld hospital will not bear the hallmark of ordinary augmentation, but an erudite teamwork. FST members are no
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novices in battleeld medicine and they have proven their professional skills for the French personnel, enhanced by experience they gained in previous operations. Although we ofcially started operational assignment on February 7th, already two days from our arrival to Kabul, on February 5th, the French requested our presence in the operating rooms, LTC Oberreiter recalls the kick-start they had and species he personally attended treatment of two patients with so-called double cavity ballistic trauma, which encompasses simultaneous injuries in abdominal and thoracic cavity. A good start by Czechs spawned respect. Initial distrust by the French and their tending to have oversight soon withered away and cooperation turned into an equal colleague-like and even friendly relationship. They soon realised that we had experience with receiving and operating patients with polytrauma, that they operated around thirty patients in full anaesthesia mostly with combat wounds over rst three weeks. The remainder of operations accounted for common injuries and sudden abdominal strokes (such as appendicitis, perforation of duodenal ulcer or ileus). There were days with up to four operations a day, says the military surgeon, who was decorated with the Defence Cross of Merit, 3rd Class, in 2008, for his contribution to saving the life of a Norwegian diplomat in a foreign operations. He elaborates that they most frequently receive patients with combat wounds including ballistic traumas caused by projectiles red from AK-47 and fragment wounds, plus brain injuries. Lieutenant-Colonel Oberreiter regards the most complex operations they have performed so far those involving several organs in thoracic and abdominal cavity as the same time, injuries of main arteries in the neck or heavy injuries of the crus. Apart from operations at operating rooms, doctors serve standby and consultation duty shifts every other day. It goes without saying that they also do the morning rounds at standard wards and at the intensive care unit. They have a specialist consulting session once to three times a week. Except for acute cases, the operating program normally starts at eight oclock in the morning. Nurses are likewise not exempt from twelve or twenty-four hour shifts at the wards. Apart from that, they are assigned to standby duties for MASCAL (Mass Casualties) alert. Calling both live and practice MASCAL is not exceptional here. Originally we were supposed, at least at operating rooms, to work in a single team, but the practice showed there was need to reorganise, and so we now take turns in serving shifts with the French. Our medics mostly work in international teams, LTC Oberreiter says and underlines that doctors would do nothing without medics and nurses, same as medics could not work without perfect organisation of casualty transport. Material, equipment and instrumentation is only specied for emergency operations, and is very similar in this respect to the trauma center at the University Hospital of Hradec Krlov or at the Central Military Hospital Prague. We are lacking some specialised branches here, such as maxillofacial surgeon, and namely the
possibility to perform laparoscopic operations that are the domain of planned surgery. In addition, the hospital does not have a radiology specialist. That entails increased demands for surgeons who need to read X-Ray and CT scans themselves. Their knowledge of the rudiments of arterial surgery is also essential, LTC Oberreiter adds. Same as himself, other members of the 1st FST enjoy their cooperation with their French colleagues. I would say we got well on terms with each other and it works ne for us together. We recognise our professional qualities and we have a very similar sense of humour. We do our best to perform our operational assignment with honour, the Commander of the Czech team states.
Yugoslavia, in Albania, Iraq and more recently in Afghanistan. Battleeld surgery is a specic add-on module to what is approximately six-year specialist training of surgeons, which prepares individuals for operations in crisis areas. In practice, future surgeons attend a series of focused courses and lectures that our department provides as part of its educational program. The curriculum reects current knowledge, but is also based on experience gained on foreign deployments from Czech professionals, and indeed from our NATO partners, retired Brigadier Leo Klein, the Head of the Battleeld Surgery Department, species and points out the biggest stumbling block for military doctors assigned to foreign operations: Their feeling that as opposed to the stony hospital they have neither all the support background nor other specialists within reach. We therefore focus on building with them a necessary portion of self-condence and self-reliance based on their knowledge and skills acquired as a part of training. BG Klein rejects there would be a world of difference between operating in war zones and everyday practice in domestic environment. Let me give you a practical example. The most effective preparation for traumatology related branches that are closest to battleeld surgery in addition to that are the shifts military surgeons serve at trauma centers. There, they are confronted on daily basis with patients after road accidents or heavy injuries with nearly analogous situations that they would encounter
in Afghanistan for instance. Though it is not the case of legshots or fragmentation wounds, treatment procedures at emergency wards are universal and standardised. I say again it is not completely identical, but vey similar activity. I mean we know exactly what the Field Surgical Team personnel are going to be up to in Kabul and we can therefore focus their preparation accordingly. I personally do not recall a situation that would take them completely aback there. BG Klein regards the Czech involvement in the French military hospital not only an ideal investment into further professional development of military medical doctors and medics, but also as a conrmation of the quality of military battleeld medicine. Czech doctors and medics have enjoyed a high credit in the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation on sustained basis. Why? The cornerstone is a six-year specialist preparation at the military school, where future doctors acquire professional skills from the very beginning of their careers. As time progresses, experience builds as well as the art of being able to improvise in any circumstances. Eventually, they are able to apply the knowledge of medicine in specic conditions, argues the respected medical doctor, who has served, inter alia, in 1999-2002 as the Chief Medical Ofcer at Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe (SHAPE) in Mons, Belgium.
by Pavel Lang Photos by CZE 1st Field Surgical Team
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PIRATES
did not play a role. Conversely, I rather think they were a bit surprised by my knowledge and the interest I take in the history of British Royal Navy. That is what helped us to win hearts over, at least with Brits, Lieutenant-Colonel Podoba recalls. Everything builds on personal qualities at command headquarters of that kind. Either you are good and can do the job or you cannot. Naval operations support procedures in my specialty do not differ that much from those used for land operations. In addition, we were able to apply lessons learnt in previous foreign operations and start tours at international headquarters. After six months, we were so deep in the subject that we became valuable members of the whole headquarters. That was what our colleagues conrmed to us when we made our farewell. Since government is virtually non-existent, piracy ranks among the most lucrative sectors in Somalia. Not only top bosses running maritime robbery live in luxury. A pirate group usually comprises three boats. The largest one, so-called whaler, carries barrels with water and fuel, food and naturally weapons and munitions, and serves as a oating logistic base for the assault teams. They start forward on the smaller fastboats when a random target in the form of a merchant ship shows up. In addition to armed crew, there is a man at the bow, whose task is to hook up a ladder up to fteen metres long at the edge of the assaulted ships board. If attack attempt fails, there are other ones to follow as long as they succeed or the merchant ship manages to escape or call help. Sailors on merchant ships naturally seek to defend themselves against such attacks using all means available. Forming convoys is the safest way. Convoys are organised by countries such as Russia, China and South Korea. Merchant ships of those countries transit the security corridor escorted by military vessels. Another option is the so-called group transits as part of Operation Atalanta. Armed escort is also provided to ships carrying a high number of passengers or hazardous cargo. In case the sailors are on the high seas, they usually manage to identify pirate attacks early. But options they have to defend themselves are limited. According to international maritime law, there may be no arms onboard merchant vessels. When targeted, they try to manoeuvre and pick up maximum speed.
Atalanta is the very rst operation of the European Union naval forces with the mission to provide security primarily to vessels operated as part of the World Food Programme to ship food and aid deliveries to the displaced persons in Somalia. The mandate provides for repressing piracy and armed robbery off the coats of Somalia. The presence of navy vessels also represents a deterrent. Involving twenty-six states at the moment, the operation is performed under command of British Major-General Buster Howes. If there is a pirate incident response operation, it is commanded by a Rear Admiral onboard the agship cruising the Gulf of Aden and Somali Basin. For Operation Atalanta, the EU NAVFOR forces use a base located at Djibouti for logistic support. It is in the local seaport where individual vessels refuel, replenish water, food and other materiel. When we came to the Northwood HQ in January last year, it aroused some attention and the Czech Republics involvement in the operation was widely covered by the media. That fact that we have no sea access and no military navy
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Boards of ships high above the water surface are naturally less prone to attacks. Pirates have hard times getting onboard, plus the crews set up various barriers using concertina and barrels to make boarding as difcult as possible. Another quite frequented option is deterrence. There are mock-ups of soldiers onboard bent behind ctive machine guns.
factsheet
Operation Atalanta is the European Unions rst naval operation (EU NAVFOR). It was launched 8 December 2008 in support of UN Security Council Resolutions 1814, 1816, 1838, 1846 and in line with the European Security and Defence Policy. Its mandate was extended till the end of 2012. The mission is to protect vessels of the World Food Programme (WFP) delivering food aid to displaced persons in Somalia, protect vulnerable vessels cruising off the Somali coast, and deterrence, prevention and repression of acts of piracy and armed robbery off the Somali coast, plus monitoring of shing activities off the coast of Somalia. Twenty-six states are presently involved in the operation on permanent basis. Thirteen EU Member States participate directly, while other nine have sent their service personnel for staff tours in HQ EU NAVFOR Northwood, plus there are members of four non-EU members participating in the operation. The common funding for the operation amounted to EUR 8.4 million for 2010 and EUR 7.8 million for 2011. Including land-based personnel, EU NAVFOR consists of a total of around 2,000 military personnel. The operational zone covers an area of 4,000,000 square kilometres (equivalent to 30 times England or 10 times Germany).
Czech soldiers in Northwood were involved not only in the operation, but they also represented the Czech Republic. In the absence of the branch head, I presented regular briengs to two Rear Admirals (Commander and Deputy Commander Operation EU NAVFOR Atalanta) on the situation at sea in the area of operations. I was one of a few to brief on four robbed ships over a single weekend. In case of any incident, we continuously updated Commander EU NAVFOR on current developments. It was a huge experience for me to communicate on such level and also a great challenge to steer a branch whose members were mostly experienced sailors. Given the size of the area of operations, intelligence and aerial sensors are critical for the operation, Lieutenant-Colonel Jozef Podoba explains. Perhaps the strongest experience was my assignment on the OHQ delegation to meet with the President of Somalia and his Ministers in Northwood. The discussions involved the mission and tasks of the operation, roots of piracy and the situation in the territory of Somalia. In the United Kingdom, traditions are very much observed, so we had to keep all the protocol rules for instance.
The three Czech servicemen returned to the Czech Republic after a six-month tour. Already the third rotation was sent to Northwood in January earlier this year. It has become clear at this time that the Czech Republic will participate in Operation Atalanta at least till the end of 2012, as piracy attacks continue. Potential prey is too attractive. There is a strategic maritime route leading through the Gulf of Aden, which carries up to ninety-ve per cent of European Unions shipping in terms of volume and twenty percent of global trade. Pirates have changed their tactics based on our pressure. They stand off routes patrolled by EU NAVFOR warships and are therefore forced to operate in faraway areas. Despite it represents a considerable risk for them given the size of their boats, they cruise deep into the Indian Ocean, Senior Warrant Ofcer Voln concludes. It is very demanding to maintain control over so vast waters. One of the options of the future is that there would NATO or EU military personnel onboard merchant vessels, or PMC security contractors.
by Vladimr Marek photos by Lubomr Voln
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A demanding screening process selects Commando course trainees
The test of abilities, which will take several days and eliminate every other candidate, was opened by a psycho-diagnostic examination. It focused not just on the motivation of the candidates, but also on their ability to respond to various stimuli and on their mental capacities. Results of the entry test were subsequently compared against test results obtained after the most demanding, high-stress course segments taking place at night and involving lack of food and sleep deprivation. We want to nd out how soldiers react to stress and whether and how they are able to make decisions in such situations. We can also identify any potential change of their abilities. However, the course is not primarily focused on physical strain or drill. The primary purpose is to establish what kind of abilities and skills each of the candidates can offer before the course starts, says Major Pavlaka.
supposed to test whether they had attached their gear properly so that nothing would fall off. The instructors were happy not to hear any tinkling sounds that could be a giveaway during the march. However, the rustling of the dry grass they had used to camouage themselves was heard all the more. You place all camouaging elements too high. This is wrong. Rather than breaking your outline, the camouage makes you look bigger. You should also have access to your magazines, water bottles and other useful things. The biggest mistake some of you have made is that the camouage prevents you to get your weapon. You should also bear in mind that you will usually lie down or crawl when out in the eld. This means you do not have to pay that much attention to camouaging the front part of your body; you must concentrate on your head and shoulders, explained WO Vladimr Zahrdka, one of the instructors. It is obvious our military is not paying enough attention to individual camouage. The time we often spend over bureaucratic red tape should be devoted to these things. Soldiers lack even elementary
camouaging knowledge, they do not know to break the outline or face shape, or how to do this using materials that are around us. The selection process itself is focused on testing the candidates knowledge of tactics, marksmanship, communications, topography and basic medicine. For example, the candidates must prove their prowess with a map, ability of orientation in the eld, ability to operate the RF13 radio transceiver or use the submachine gun, machine gun, RPG-75 anti-tank disposable manportable weapon, ability to provide rst aid or to handle transport of a casualty. It also comprises a physical test which is, however, more difcult than the standard test all soldiers must pass every year. It consists of a march to a distance of up to 8 kilometres within a set time limit, which the candidates must cover with full equipment, i.e. with weapon, helmet and full gear, followed by pull-ups, push-ups and sit-ups and topped up by a combat obstacle course. The whole process gives us a clear idea of how a particular candidate is prepared for the course in physical terms. However, one must
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bear in mind that physical condition is just one of the selection criteria which will decide whether the candidate will qualify, elaborates Hynek Pavlaka. The candidate may be eliminated because his professional skills and abilities are not good enough, or because of unsatisfactory results of the psycho-diagnostic examination. We are looking for people who will be very good to excellent in all elds. It is not a narrowfocused superman that we are after.
but he knows what he is talking about, and this is why he lectures. The trainees nd out very soon there is something they can learn from him and try to make the maximum possible use of the opportunity.
a team leader, you know your job, but there is one thing missing you have to pass the Commando course, says Captain Pavel Kovara. We want our army to have team leaders who possess certain capabilities. And we focus on testing such team leaders. In addition to skills and abilities, they must also show appropriate physical and mental sturdiness. Some time ago, Brigadier Ale Opata came up with an idea to establish a centre in Vykov, which would not only train soldiers in Commando courses, but also deal with the latest trends with respect to the conduct of warfare in operations abroad. It would assemble instructors capable of training soldiers in new skills not included in our combined tactics before they depart for a mission. The Czech Armed Forces has such experts, but they are unfortunately scattered among different units. We have people who have rsthand experience of what running over a mine or an IED amounts to, who can manage combat, says Major Pavlaka. Moreover, they can share their experience with others, which is priceless. You can read hundreds of books, but
you cannot explain issues described there as well as a guy with real experience.
amounts to, so I sent an application, explains Private First Class David Huek of the 42nd Mechanized Battalion stationed in Tbor. I dont think we are doing something essentially new here. I dont think this is the purpose of the selection process. It is rather a refreshment of the things I have already forgotten. There are people from various branches. This is also an advantage, as we learn from one another. But I have no clue whatsoever how I have fared so far. It remains to be seen whether I will qualify or not. Each of the candidates rst received a white helmet cover with a number. The number replaces his or her name. From now on, all candidates are anonymous. They receive points for each discipline from the instructors. However, they learn their interim scores only at the end of the day. The successful candidates are selected by a commission consisting of the ofcer in charge, instructors and psychologists. Using a mathematical formula, these twenty people choose the ones who have qualied. We can know the peoples faces, but it is good for nothing. The points are assigned to
numbers. Personally, I would divide the unsuccessful candidates into two groups. Those in the rst one heave a sigh of relief; as a rule, they were nominated by their COs. They simply say to themselves it is good it has turned out this way, I am lucky not to have qualied. I would have had to work on myself throughout April! describes Hynek Pavlaka. The other group consists of real soldiers. Their way of thinking is as follows: OK, now I know what the selection process is like. I admit I have not prepared myself as I should. I will put in more effort next year and I will qualify! These are the people I admire most. Between April 4 and 29, 2011, the 36 best candidates resulting from the winter selection process will compete for a narrow green strip bearing the Commando inscription. Only a few soldiers ranking among the best in our army have so far earned the right to sew it on their uniforms.
by Vladimr Marek
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The afghani police station is quite surprised with an unexpected visit. But they recollect fast and invite us inside their premises. It is a standard building comprising several rooms designed not only for guarding, but also for relaxation and for cooking meals. The terrace on level roof enables observation as well as defence if needed. There is also a water reservoir with piping to the rooms below and two light machine guns in the corners. The Czech Provincial Reconstruction Team invested its funds particularly into these police stations along the Utah Road that Turks built a couple of years ago. We improved the stations security and equipped them with infrastructure. Now we are out to check how these assets are used. It is our rst activity with focus on security. This is where we closely cooperate with the civilian component of the PRT, CIMIC personnel explain. In the meantime, we hand out a magazine published by the ISAF high command for the local population. It contains information about reconstruction projects and other activities by the Allies as well as useful advice relating to hygiene
and health. We inquire about any requirements the police may have towards us. They point to the top of the stone wall with embedded holders for concertina wire. It is an important security element, but nobody has delivered it so far. The Czech troops promise to check on it and get it done. There were several attacks targeting the base in the past, but recently it has been calm around here. A high range reaching over three thousands metres above sea level rises on the south side. It seems to us an ideal place for hostile snipers. The station commander disagrees though. No harm to them can come from there. Access to that peak is protected by the neighbouring station, which is however in the Paktia province already. One of the local policemen was shot dead by insurgents in the Logar province yesterday. Such new are much too frequent these days. Afghani National Police (ANP) personnel are commonly subject to threats and blackmailing, which results in a high desert percentage. To be a policeman is a relatively well paid job in the local circumstances. They get around three hundred
dollars a month, which is above average. The problem is that it is a high-threat profession. Short and insufcient training makes its mark too. Graduates illiteracy also plays its role. If there are ten people able to read and write on the course, then it is a good number.
Inoperational Generator
In the back at the wall, we are nding a damaged wind generator that the Czech Provincial Reconstruction Team delivered here a time before. It is the only power source for the whole station. Asking why they have not requested it to be repaired, they just shrug. We are encountering similar disinterest in other stations as well. At Altimor, everybody grumbles their comms is inoperational, but it just takes recharging batteries. Evyerthing goes down to their mentality: they are not used to be overly active. They show passivity a lot. If they are given something, they enjoy and take it as a present. But that is just for some time, one of the soldiers explains. I did not get many positive impressions during our visit. I have a feeling they are not able to value some things. They do nothing to maintain
them and keep them in seamless operation. They take everything as natural. I am nevertheless condent investments like these help enhance security. The security expert of the Czech Provincial Reconstruction Teams civilian component, Mr. Zbynk Pavlica, concurs with that opinion. That is why we focus on building police stations and checkpoints on main roads. We have completed seven sites along the Utah Road, and we construction works in progress on two additional ones. Further two stations are in the preparatory stage. The security situation in Koshi and Baraki Barak districts is quite complicated. The contractor refused to commence works. We are unable to nd sufcient quantity of workers who would be able to realise these projects somehow. The Czech Provincial Reconstruction is also involved in building installations to improve logistic support for the Afghani National Army (ANA). A cookhouse, mess-rooms and ambulance are in the process of construction in the barracks. It is not just about Camp Shank, but also Camp Altimor nearby. We have preparations
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underway for projects establishing an ambulance response station. We would like to build on the experience gained in the Czech integrated rescue system. That would provide a single command post for hospitals and the whole rescue corps. But it is surely rather a relatively distant future. Priority is presently attached to activities realised in relatively short timeframes, Zbynk Pavlica adds. Training Afghani National Police personnel is also hoped to enhance security in the country. Our objective is to prepare courses for law enforcement forces of all districts in the Logar province. So, local police ofcers would have single standard equipment and training. But we have not managed to succeed in that yet. We have recently trained ANP personnel recruited from Kabul area. We should contribute to increasing the numbers of this ANSF component. ANP is planned to comprise some one-hundred and fty thousand personnel. But the question remains whether that is enough, especially considering the high drop-out, desert and fatality rates. security personnel. The custody jailhouse will in turn relief the Allies. To date, detainees were transferred to Camp Shank, which naturally entailed some risk.
Jailhouse on a hill
The last of the series of security projects is located high above the province capital. It resembles a medieval castle from distance. We
Court facilities
Our next trip also focuses on security projects. We are worming our way through the streets in the capital of the province, the city of Pol-e-Alam, which lead us to the local court. There are dugouts already made for foundations of a new structure next to the main building. Workers are just in the process of laying reinforcement. The civilian component of the provincial reconstruction team checks on the progress of work and quality standards. It seems like everything is all right. It is company that has already worked for us in the past, and our previous experience has been very good. The newly built facilities will house library, study room and internet rooms. We would like to realise the whole project as soon as possible. The contractor promised to have it completed by spring next year, Zbynk Pavlica explains. We plan for the building to be used in the future not only by judges, public prosecutors and police ofcers, but also the educational centre in the vicinity - those going should also have access. Equipment and furnishings for this multipurpose facility will be provided by the U.S. In addition to furniture and books, we plan to introduce advanced electronics. A modern compound will come into being to provide adequate facilities. This is not a random investment at all. Security is one of the principal pillars of reconstruction efforts in Afghanistan, and justice is high on the priority list. If the rule of law prevails, the government and everything else will also become functional. Local people hold justice in high esteem; this is one of the ways to strengthen it even more and enhance respect that the court enjoys. We will enable it to work to high standards. There must be punishment after every criminal act. It is two sides of the same coin immediately affecting security in this region. We may see for ourselves in the security services compound nearby how such building will look like once completed. That is another project funded by the Czech Republic barracks and custody jailhouse being handed over for use there. Modern housing and ofce rooms are designed to facilitate demanding duty of
invest into a male / female jailhouse here, which is designed to house one-hundred and sixty prisoners, of which twenty women. The existing facility of that kind in Pol-e-Alam is in a wretched condition. It is basically vaults dug in the ground. All barriers on the surface are only made of clay. According to what the jailhouse management say, it just takes kicking a wall and a hole shows up. Its capacity is insufcient moreover. Eighty prisoners are packed in cramped premises. They are watched by over seventy guards, so it is actually a guard per a prisoner. That itself shows little effectiveness. There are security risks tough as well. There has not been an external attack targeting the prison, but the more frequent is unrest and rioting inside. The only imprisoned female was repeatedly raped during the last Ramadan. The guards were unable to guard her. The cost of the
large jailhouse construction is only budgeted at ve hundred and forty thousand dollars. The principal material here is rock, which is used not only for building security walls but also for some buildings. Rock is amply available in Afghanistan and therefore cheap. The same applies to manpower. On the other hand, the construction that has been protracted over several years is complicated by the security situation. Insurgents do anything they can to prevent it from completion. Insurgents often threaten construction workers with kidnapping. The location is not without problems too. In the Czech Republic, a jailhouse would be built in a plain area, whereas here it is placed into a very rugged terrain, which called for extensive review of the original design. There is no big activity going on at the construction today either. The site agent tells us most of the bricklayers
stayed home for security reasons. Barely a dozen turned up for work. Czech civilian experts again check the quality of works performed. They inspect documents to see whether amounts released were truly invested by the site agent. Despite all the promises and assurances, we have no illusions whatsoever we will be happy to set the jailhouse operational by mid-2011. The whole thing is also complicated by the fact that our money is transferred through the local Ministry of Justice, which did not always pay the contractor in time in the past. That was also one of the reasons for delays in construction. Fifteen per cent of the total budget was invested here over the rst twenty months; presently we are at some sixty-ve per cent. There is some visible progress, Zbynk Pavlica concludes.
by Vladimr Marek
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A convoy of armoured vehicles was being formed at the Shank Forward Operating Base in Logar, Afghanistan. The civilian segment of the Provincial Reconstruction Team was about to set out for the village of Derwish under the protection of soldiers, its task being to hand over a new school to local authorities. However, a Raven reconnaissance UAV had already been airborne for some time.
their instructions. All the communication is naturally in English, V.N. says. The notebook displays not only the ight route, but also the live feed from the Ravens onboard camera. The feed is also branched off to the Ops Centre. As soon as the UAV detects something suspicious, the ofcer in charge can immediately take necessary countermeasures. We operate in relatively high altitudes where air is thin. This is of course more demanding for operator skills. There is also a dense radio trafc produced both by units on the ground and air assets. We thus lose the signal from time to time. The Raven is preprogrammed, so it reacts to a situation like this
by returning to the starting point and circling in the air until the signal is restored. If we do not want to disclose our position, we give it a backup landing site where it lands and we then pick it up, describes T.K. The landing of the UAV poses no problems at all. Its fuselage and wings are made of Kevlar, which is extremely sturdy.
If it lands on a hard surface, there may be some scratches, but the system remains undamaged and functional. To extend the Ravens useful lifespan, we catch it by hand whenever possible. Thanks to regular training, we have been quite successful in this so far, although the high altitudes make the task more difcult here. If there is a defect and the required spare part is not readily available, the operators order it in the Czech Republic. However, it is a fairly lengthy process, which also depends on the frequency of resupply ights. Fortunately, they maintain
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international environment, as it became sort of my second mother tongue thanks to West Point.
Division of labour
The total of 49 members of Danish Armed Forces out of 139 foreign participants from 12 nations were involved in the exercise on various levels. Before it started, a staff of thirty spent roughly a months time working out documentation. National representatives spent quite some time over a giant map at the initial stage in addition to that, as they had to place all the monitoring centres on it. Nuclear strikes and chemical warfare attacks build up on the map now. Nuclear attacks are of course ction all the way through. They are said to be a cold war affair. The present general understanding is that the threat is not as high. Possibly, but it is just an impression we get. The peculiar thing about Brave Beduin is that it involves Air and Navy in addition to Lad Forces. And so measurements are also taken on the sea surface. We are not used to anything like that in the Czech Republic. But our centre is updated there dozens of Allied vessels sailing Danish waters. We realise possible targets are out there. So it might be a sort of advantage. Sampling on sea may improve quality or measuring ground strikes and vice versa measurement on land to renes data gained at sea. I receive messages from my colleague and upload them into the system. I gure out what zone they apply to. I zoom in the map and check for military forces located in that area, because I could get additional more specic info from them. I seek to eliminate duplication. Then I add reference number to the message and resend it to my colleague for distribution to other units, Master Sergeant Ludmila enkov explains how a section comprising the computer analysis center. It may happen that later I receive a higher quality information on the attack I correlate it and send it to forces as an update. Though MSG enkov serves in the most important section of the center, she is only third in the row. The rst to receive information from Brigade-level computer analysis teams is an operator who checks them for technical correctness and sorts them out for processing. Another ofcer judges them from specialist point of view checking for discrepancies. The fourth point is responsible for registering and storing information received. The fth workplace specialises in assessing reports on nuclear attacks, the sixth evaluates reports containing rened measurements and the seventh draws incidents into the map.
NATO exercise Brave Beduin validated the operation of the Czech computer analytical centre evaluating radiologic, chemical and biologic picture
In a new role
Skive is a sleepy town with barely twenty thousand inhabitants in central west Denmark. Earlier in May this year, the city was woken up by somewhat unusual teeming of uniforms of twelve NATO nations armed forces. The Engineer Academy compound at the town outskirts hosted the largest computer analysis groups evaluating Chemical, Biologic Radiologic and Nuclear situation in the history of the NATO Alliance.
distorted and inaccurate. That is a thing that cannot be easily simulated in a single-echelon exercise. Our mission includes identifying such mistakes early and redress them, check the reports for correctness and sort out duplicate reports. It is a great school for us. We store our observations, including detected mistakes and use them later on in training back home in the Czech Republic, LTC Vohralk underscores. The individual working these errors most intensively is MSG Ladislav Kojzar. If there is an incoming message with obvious mistake, it gets to my table. I print it out and go to see the author at the respective brigade. I try to gure out where is the problem there. The corrected information then comes back to us. Preparing plays for various exercises in the Czech Republic, we seek for them to be as real-world as possible. And delity here is truly high. There are various nations represented here, with different quality of language skills, and having different procedures. Communicating through protective masks is also demanding. All of that may distort speech. To that effect, I create a database of faults that I will use later in training in the Czech Republic.
In the course exercise Brave Beduin, Czech CBRN specialists keep rotating at various posts. A new team of individuals that have not worked together so far starts to work. The thing is that people practised as many activities as possible. This exercise is not about for people to demonstrate what all they are able to do. It is primarily for us an excellent opportunity to improve ourselves. That was the objective we came here to pursue. This is an environment we can do mistakes in. We are able to cope with them; we learn to correct them. And that is our key goal, the point is not to depart from here as big stars, LTC Vohralk says. Other exercise participants have such understanding too. They improvise frequently. For instance they have a colleague with strong German accent reporting instead of them on the phone, or the brieng is performed by a Belgian Colonel the audience have never seen before. All of that enriches the exercise and generates considerable lessons.
Allied exercises on annual basis and Brave Beduin in Denmark is one of them.
whole territory and off the coast of Denmark, explains Lieutenant-Colonel Petr Vohralk, Chief of Staff CBRN Brigade assigned to ARRC. The only Czech graduate from the prestigious U.S. Military Academy in West Point so far joined the CBRN service in 2002. His colleagues value him for working hard and efforts he exerted to get in to the new specialty. I do realise I will not probably be able to absorb CBRN specialty as much as people pursuing it throughout their careers. But I do my best to stand up to requirements placed on me and reveal secrets of NBC warfare, says the Chief of Czech group in Exercise Brave Beduin. Experience from USMA can be used in vocation. Since I gained some familiarity with computers at West Point, I am perhaps somewhat better prepared to formulate requirements regarding my vision of us automating as many our operations as we possibly can. The present military environment is also close to me thanks to the school. I understand how all the structures should look like. English is also an asset in this
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got to know each other better, not be shy and work together better later on in the operation room. There are several national representations around the table at any given moment. It is not that there would not be enough room. The point is that individual delegations gain familiarity among themselves and see how business is done in other countries. There is an after action review every night for us to learn what people did and what mistakes were made. The objective nevertheless is not to point nger at somebody, but to provide explanation and generalize lessons. We then have time till the next day to redress the shortfalls. Nations send here individuals from various units. Despite relatively unied standard operating procedures, there are substantial differences. Therefore, a manual has been developed for this exercise to bring them to a single standard, MSG Ladislav Kojzar explains. Fortunately the CBRN defence community is not that large. You keep meeting familiar faces at exercises. You perform a lot better if you can address people you know have a good knowledge of the subject and are able to give you advice. We have this phone-a-friend option. Anytime there are problems we can give a call and solve them together. And that does not apply only to specialist matters.
Germany, two years later. In 2002, ARRC was certied as a multinational high-readiness force with expeditionary capabilities. In 2003, the Allied Rapid Reaction Corps was joined by the NATO Response Force (NRF). But in this case, those were units assigned on the principle of rotation only for six months, whereas the Allied Rapid Reaction Corps are permanent standing forces. HQ ARRC was in command of Operation Firm Endeavour in Bosnia and Herzegovina in 11995 and 1996. At the turn of 1999/2000, HQ ARRC led Operation Joint Guardian in Kosovo and Operation ISAF in Afghanistan in 2006. It became the lead for NRF in 2009. ARRC comprises of forces assigned by fteen nations. Besides the Czech Republic, they are Denmark, France, Italy, Canada, Germany, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Greece, Spain, Turkey, the United Kingdom and the U.S.
The ARRC mission is to be ready at the order of the Supreme Allied Commander Europe to deploy in an area of responsibility and perform military operations with four to ve divisions a corps component, or alternatively support crisis management operations anywhere on the globe within twenty days from the activation order. The United Kingdom decided to withdraw its forces from Germany in 2010 back to home territory. HQ ARRC was therefore moved to Innsworth, UK. At the same time, HQ ARRC took over the lead of Operation ISAF in Afghanistan. Lieutenant-Colonel Vohralk is not of the opinion that it would somehow complicate the situation of the Czech-British Chemical, Biologic, Radiological and Nuclear Defence Brigade Headquarters. The problem is only that we do not have the opportunity to train directly with HQ ARRC. The experience ensuing from direct interaction does not develop that much. We are
waiting for ARRC to come back after they complete their mission in Afghanistan. We suppose we should again be attending an ARRC exercise at full strength in 2013 at latest. Now there is a lack in immediate communication. We cannot harmonise operation procedures. Moreover, we are restricted to using exercise scenarios we develop ourselves. The more things get demanding. When ARRC trains in a standard way every year, they create a full play we prep ourselves to perform. The play is develop based on their manoeuvre, LTC Vohralk elaborates. In spite of that, we have proven for ourselves in all past exercises that we making considerable steps forward. We gain familiarity with new procedures, and more intensively realise our new role. Our understanding at the beginning was that we would only provide forces to perform missions
in individual divisions areas of responsibility. Following lessons we gained in previous exercises we now know that we may be assigned own area of operations to perform mission autonomously possibly with additional assigned assets. Likewise, command posts were built with secure networks earmarked for their operations. Staff has improved its operations. Operation procedures were largely reviewed too. We formulated them precisely for us to best and most effectively manage contingencies.
by Vladimr Marek
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This years largest exercise for CBRN specialists from Liberec, the Peaceful Dragon, was designed to certify NATO Response Force NRF 17 and 18 rotations
interoperability. Pursuant to a new concept, the forces are on standby readiness over the period of twelve months. NRF-17 will have JFC Naples for its operation headquarters, while JFC Brunssum will be OHQ for NRF-18. The Liberec-based 31st CBRN Brigade has already gained some experience with the NATO Response Force. As early as in the rst rotation back in 2003, the Czech CBRN Brigade had the lead for chemical, biologic, radiological and nuclear defence. The brigade played its role again in 2008. Our certication for NRF comprises three training exercises, rst of which we performed in Turkey at the beginning of April to prove our CBRN battalions interoperability with the Land Component forces. Exercise Peaceful Dragon is designed to verify the staffs ability to exercise command and control over subordinate forces. The nal exercise will again take place in Turkey and will verify the capability to perform specialist tasks in conjunction with Land, Naval and Air Forces, explains Lieutenant-Colonel Karel Dvon, Commander of the 311th Chemical, Biologic, Radiological and Nuclear Defence Battalion and the commander of the battalion assigned to NRF-17 and 18. I am condent the Czech Armed Forces continue to have CBRN defence as a high priority. Indeed it is attested by the fact that we have been selected again as the lead nation for this mission. That is denitely not something you would get for free. It is up to us now to maintain our position. We have
twelve months to do that, specically from July 1st, 2011, till June 30th, 2012. The notice-tomove limit is from ten to thirty days, which will naturally entail various restrictions including in leaves for unit members.
A development project to produce a reconnaissance armoured vehicle has been underway with the rst prototype scheduled for roll-out next year. We will see what the future holds, Colonel Knopp concludes.
Interesting comparison
There are several sites deployed in Litomice on a meadow close to the Elbe river to provide equipment and personnel decontamination. Besides Czech service personnel, French and Belgians soldiers were present. This is a light decontamination of vehicle crews, mostly drivers. Other troops pass through large decontamination tent shelters. There is the EDS mixing system that cleans vehicle interior. Drivers undergo similar procedure in individual showers. Then they get issued clean clothes and depart with their decontaminated vehicles, team leader Sergeant Marek Mokr explains in one of smaller sites. We have had a chance to try all ways of chemical defence support during
the exercise: reconnaissance, sampling and identication. It is interesting to compare our equipment and procedures with how other armed forces do the business. It is a valuable lesson. As to vehicle decontamination, our line is missing here. All Armed Forces present here use manual pressure washers, which is far less effective. But that does not mean that there would any problems with compatibility among individual national units. Harmonising these things is not a problem. Though every unit has different equipment, the procedures are very similar. We have an opportunity here to various types of systems, different approaches. I would hate to say some way is better than the other. The key thing is that the outcome remains the same. As a matter of fact, the capacity of our line decontamination method remains several times higher, LTC Dvon concludes.
by Vladimr Marek
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Thanks to its cooperation with French military schools, the Czech University of Defence had an opportunity to send two cadets into the French Guiana As students of reconnaissance program of the Czech University of Defence, SGT Petr Homola and SGT Ji Sedlk, were landing at a Paris airport at the beginning of March earlier this year, they knew they were at the beginning of long journey. In Paris they took a train to Saint-Cyr, to join colleagues from their partner school, the cole Spciale Militaire, and then they departed on a military plane to French Guiana to the base of the 3rd Regiment the Foreign Legion in Kourou. From Kourou, they moved to a forward camp directly in the jungle.
Deadly
Jungle
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only took machetes from them and a cot with mosquito net. We were issued one more, such a small just for a head. But we did not use it, one could not sleep in it at all, elaborates Petr Homola. We were glad then that a soak came in. At least it washed the dirt off us. You get used to water. The worst is the transition, when you have to immerse and ford a stream for instance. We found out it is better to soak boots right in the morning before the movement, one gets used to being wet and it does not trouble that much. It is essential to maintain some sort of hygiene even in these difcult conditions. They knew from the guys who were at Guiana before, that they needed to look after their feet most. Every night we treated them with Indulona (hydrating protective skin cream) and treated soles with powder. And they did not have any problems thanks to that. If the there is no sunshine, it is rather gloomy in the jungle. Everything is very murky. With good visibility, you are able to see objects hundred and fty feet ahead. The more difcult orienting is. You climb a hill and what you can see is only thick vegetation. There is no landmark anywhere for you to start from. Moreover, everything is complicated by aggravated mobility. Moving over a ve-kilometre distance often required more than ve hours. Movements with satellite navigation were therefore substantially faster.
Right after getting off the airplane, we were struck by immense heat. We did not feel air humidity that much at that moment. Three days passed before we got settled to high temperatures, Sergeant Petr Homola describes. Two selected students of the University of Defence take part in a jungle survival course each year. This year was somewhat slightly different though. Czech servicemembers were assigned into the group of students coming from the cole spciale militaire, who were selected from among the best NCOs. They were mostly older but highly experienced warghters. Contrarily to regular students of the school, they did not that much competitiveness, but the more they did teamwork. They distributed all assignments fairly. As opposed to previous runs, it did not happen that we would be required to carry radios or heavy soaked ropes all the time, SGT Sedlk says.
Four-day survival
As a matter of tradition the training culminated in a four-day exercise when soldiers were dropped in the middle of jungle and it was only up to them to survive. They got a machete, compass, lighter, whistle, repellent, salt and a watertreatment pill. They had one shotgun in the platoon for animal hunting. They drank water from the muddy river. The platoon containing Ji Sedlk caught several apes and a ray on a line. Monkeys may not be eaten in Guiana, so they got it exchanged for rice. Boiled in river water with a piece of ray meat, it was truly delicious for starving stomachs. We had a chance to refresh that way on the last day and were able thanks to that to cope with the demanding nal movement involving water crossing using rafts they built themselves. The group containing Petr Homola did a little bit worse. Their hunters ended up empty handed. We picked muku muku, which tasted like roast potatoes when cooked, or rather like chestnuts. We also found a palm tree called vasay, which could be eaten. It was something like our kohlrabi. We caught small two-inch river crabs and cooked a pretty good soup out of them, SGT Homola adds. As to tactics, the Czech soldiers only practised shotgun shooting, overcoming water, abseiling and a helicopter drop at the end. And that belonged to the most exciting experiences. We got onboard a Puma helicopter at camp Regina and did a couple of low-level passes over the jungle. It was like these American movies on the Vietnam War. Eight of us jumped in a tight sequence with kits from the height of eight metres into the river. We had a life vest under arm, for contingency. It was perfect, Petr Homola recalls. Back in the port at the camp, we put all of our staff into order. We had to clean the pink mud off our uniforms. It was a nice sight: ninety people were drying their battledresses. There were many Russians and Germans among the Foreign Legion instructors, but
Verbal solitude
The course participants were divided into four platoons. Czech soldiers were intentionally assigned to different platoons. That later showed to be one of the greatest mental challenges. Most of the French troops did not speak English, and so the Czech soldiers were like fullling the badge of silence over lengthy movements. We saw each other say once in ve days. The verbal solitude was digging in ones brain. It is much worse than physical load. When you have to do thirty push-ups, you do it without problems you have something to do. One of the days we spent in the jungle was truly academic, comprising lessons. We stood long hours in a single spot and the rain poured down. And that was an episode that belonged to mentally most demanding moments. At that time, I though why was I there, whether I really wanted that. Those moments either make you stronger or you go crazy, SGT Homola explains. The Czech personnel brought with them two sets of summer battledresses. One wet all the time for days and the other one for nights. The design and materials used were ideal for the local environment. The French had much more trouble with their uniforms. But their boots were even worse. The French Mod. 60 boots were far from the qualities of our jungle boots. Basically we did not need anything from them, we did with eld uniforms, the modular harness system and a medium kit for reconnaissance troops. We
Brazilians were no exception either. Our chief instructor was a Byelorussian, his deputy was a Russian. They sought to teach us as much as they could, they had patience with us. When instructors saw we were steaming, they did not torment us physically that much. When some did not pay attention or disturbed during explanation, then of course he got it, SGT Homola describes. Two students from the Defence University in Brno are already back in the Czech Republic. Apart from a gamut of experiences, they made an important observation. People have much more power, than they would initially think. Nevertheless, nature should not underestimated. Jungle is very dangerous, and even deadly in some instances. But you can survive in a team...
by Vladimr Marek Photos by course participants
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Sinai Peninsula witnessed several war conicts in the previous century. Situation started to consolidate in the region as late as 1979, when a Treaty of Peace of signed between the State of Israel and the Arab Republic of Egypt, which normalised their relations after the end of the fth Arab-Israeli war.
(ACOS). He is responsible for a wide variety of missions, namely in the sphere of organisation, security, nancial and project management. I apply the lessons I learnt in operations in Kosovo and Iraq as well as my staff tours in NATO structures, where I was posted from 2006 till 2009 at the strategic command HQ in Mons, LTC Sekan elaborates. He describes his typical working day as a dynamic stereotype: Every day is basically the same, but it differs in activities performed. But that is indeed typical for military environments.
Multinational environment
Major Nedoma is assigned to the post of security ofcer. He is responsible for facility and personnel security of both camps and all observation posts. He inspects both observance of standard procedures and modernisation of existing equipment and infrastructures. He says there are days he devotes his time solely to paperwork, and conversely, he is travelling to inspect checkpoints and observations posts. Captain Augustin works in the staff as a member of the technical branch. My job is to develop the preventive maintenance program for key camp facilities and its implementation. It is not a stereotype work, as it could seem at the rst sight. Days spent in ofce take turns regularly with activities associated with gathering necessary data in the eld, CPT Augustin adds. All three perform their duties in a highly multinational and multicultural environment. MFO personnel, both military and civilians, recruit from most various parts of the world. The Armed Forces of Australian, Canada, Columbia, France, Fiji, Hungary, Italy, New Zealand,
Norway, Uruguay, U.S. and naturally the Czech Armed Forces are represented in here. As for civilians, Americans, Brits and Egyptians are most numerous. MFO command provides a centralised logistic support. Ofcers mess is run by local chefs in collaboration with personnel provided by a civilian contractor responsible for additional logistic support. Transportation is provided solely by MFO vehicles; the Czech Armed Forces does not have any cars deployed there. Czech soldiers are in a desert environment here, which reects in that they wear Model 95 desert uniforms they have been issued. Standard desert helmet covers are replaced by yellow ones for MFO personnels easy identication. All forces at camps wear terracotta beret caps with MFO crest, and commissioned ofcers are recognised by metal MFO badge on the cap. In addition, the Czechs have means of ballistic protection, personal weapons and other materiel, much the same as do the Czech Armed Forces service personnel deploying for Operation ISAF in Afghanistan.
attractive otherwise. We are both in the very proximity to the cradle of civilisation, but also to the most sacred place of several global monotheist religions, LTC Sekan expands. I have spent whole my professional life military in air defence service. The more impressive for me was naval training for MFO vessel crews that I attended in the Red Sea. Major Nedoma was conversely intrigued by his very rst trip outside the camp: During that movement, I could observe endless desert with wonderful mountain sceneries. One increases familiarity every day with the culture of local population, and the region becomes ever more interesting. Captain Augustin also has a plethora of unusual experiences. But one subconsciously seeks to displace many of them. For guys coming from central Europe, sandstorms are denitely highly impressive, as they sometimes rage here whole week long. Sand in the air considerably limits visibility; we have in the eyes, ears and in the mouth. Everything is covered with dust, even inside buildings. Sandstorms signicantly restrict mobility, the Czech Captain explains. Separation from families also very much affect our emotions. The deployment in Sinai is my third operational tour, out of four longterm foreign assignments over the seven past years. I could say nothing can surprise me. But every mission is different nevertheless. This time at least in the respect that I am stationed here for whole twelve months and that besides my wife, I left a six-month old daughter back at home.
by Vladimr Marek photos by Ladislav Sekan
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The secret of the rescue operation unparalleled in modern history has nally been revealed. The reenactments presented in the movie Nickys Family by Matej Min and Patrik Pa help relive newly discovered stories of rescued Czech children and Sir Nicholas Winton. For an hour and a half, we can watch how an example set by a single man can inspire people and change todays world even after seventy years.
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in good health. I did not suffer any major injury while ying. The war ended and members of the Bomber Squadron returned home in July 1945, landing on the Ruzyn Airport. Shortly after the war, Ji Kafka learnt that his mother had survived Auschwitz. She lived together with Jis father with their relatives in Bertramka. Ji immediately left the airport to nd the address he had been given. But he found no one there. I thus sat on the stairs and waited. After some time, my parents returned from the cinema. It was dark in the corridor and they saw me only when they opened the elevator door. I only said: Hi mom. I scared them terribly. We hadnt seen each other for six years. But then we fell into each others arms. Ji Kafka parted company with the army shortly thereafter. His squadron was billeted in the Ruzyn barracks, previously occupied by German soldiers. There were crushed lice smeared all over the walls. He didnt even unpack and left immediately. He arranged his release papers later. In 1947, the political situation started deteriorating, so he decided to return to the United Kingdom. He was given a warm reception there. He married and with one of his friends founded a company importing Czech articial jewellery. The rm prospered, but started boring him after some time. He thus switched to real estate business. In 1960, he and his wife and children moved to Israel, where they spent eight years. His wife loved the place which was, in her eyes, adventurous and exotic. Shortly after November 1989 he returned to Czechoslovakia for good. He found a lot of friends here, even after all those years. He regularly meets with one of them, Major Pavel Vransk, in a favorite restaurant every week. They are joined by their past. Ji Kafkas colleague, who is three years older, was ghting in Tobruk and was also ying anti-submarine patrols later during the war. They discuss animatedly. But not the war. Everything was clearly dened and unambiguous at that time. They discuss politics .
by Vladimr Marek photos by Vladimr Marek and Ji Kafka
appreciate even more what Sir Nicholas Winton did for us. He was a young man and his energetic and decisive behaviour was admirable. Ji Kafka was fteen at that time. His brother, who travelled with him, was a year younger. When they arrived at a London stations after many tiresome hours spent on the train, an unpleasant and disenchanting surprise had been waiting for them. None of the families had selected them. They stayed at the station, not knowing what would happen to them. Most of the families wanted little children, and little girls were most in demand. Taking a child into ones family carried a relatively high fee, and not everyone had that kind of money. Poorer
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The hundredth anniversary of the birthday of Frantiek Peina, one of our most successful World War II pilots
school, he trained to become a lathe operator in Brno. Actually, it was an air show in the Moravian capital, which he visited by accident, that determined his fate. It was there that he decided to become a military pilot. Between 1929 and 1931, he was attending the Young Pilots School in Prostjov. However, he had to le the application without his mother knowing. For four years she did not have a clue her son was ying. Frantiek turned out to be a natural from the very beginning. With just six years of service with ghter squadrons at his belt, he ranked among the very best. It thus wasnt much of a surprise that he was one of the sixteen best pilots selected for an international air competition held in Zurich in 1937. The Czechoslovak team won the aerobatics contest and nished second overall, losing only to Germany. Peina and his Avia B-534 participated in three disciplines, competing mainly with substantially more modern Messerschmit Bf 109 prototypes, and nished second, third and fourth. people closest to me, including my wife, back home. I didnt know anything about them throughout the war and I rather thought they had been imprisoned. I set myself a target to shoot down ten German airplanes for every close person killed by Germans. I downed ve in the rst few days. I made an ace pilot and I foolishly thought it would go on like this forever. As it was, I had fourteen kills when the war ended, he recalled later. But Frantiek Peina also had his stroke of bad luck in France. On June 3, 1940, he was seriously wounded during a dogght off Paris. I ew alone into a group of 60 German Me-110s, I wanted to draw away their attention. It was a foolish thing to do; I had a hunch it could not turn out well. But I had to draw them away from the bombers they were escorting and protecting, because our pilots were about to attack the bombers. When attacked, the Germans usually formed a circle in which they protected each other. However, the surprise was just about perfect. The Germans became jittery and formed a tactical defensive furball, while precious minutes were slipping away. In the meantime, boys from our squadron managed to shot down eight German bombers and lost just airplane, he recollected after many years. However, I was hit in the right elbow. I also had fragments of 20mm cannon rounds embedded in my leg. Surprisingly, I was not feeling anything. If a round does not hit a bone and you have a clean esh shot, you usually do not realize you have been hit in the heat of combat. I believed everything was all right, so instead of landing in Saint Dizier, I chose Paris, which was farther away. But I soon realized it was not a good choice. The leg started hurting and I felt I could not move it. There was no other option but to attempt a crashlanding. The landing gear could not be deployed, so I had to belly-land. I do not remember much else afterwards; as soon as the airplane came to a stop, I fainted.
Accards Number
With Czechoslovakia occupied by Germany, Frantiek Peina did not hesitate too long. As early as on June 27, 1939, just a day after his wedding with Anika Klimeov, he crossed the border to Poland and from there he sailed on the Chrobry to France. In the end of 1939, he was one of the rst twenty Czechoslovak pilots dispatched to the western front. He was assigned to the legendary squadron Les Cigognes (Storks). He was ying as the number of Captain Accard, whom he had met during the international air competition in Zurich. I liked war. It reminded me of the hunt. I furiously wanted to ght, because I had a reason. My country was occupied and I had left eight
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In the Gala Night presenting the Football player of the year 2010 awards marked by the birthday of Josef Masopust, the famous football player received personal congratulations by the best Portuguese player of the past century, Eusebio. In conclusion, the legendary player of Dukla Praha was decorated with the highest Czech MoD decoration, the Golden Linden of the Minister of Defence, by Defence Minister Alexandr Vondra.
fakta
Greatest football achievements and awards of Josef Masopust: 1952 Winner of the Czechoslovak Cup (ATK Praha) 1953 Champion of Czechoslovakia (DA Praha) 1956, 1958, 1962, 1963,1964, 1966 Champion of Czechoslovakia (Dukla Praha) 1960 3rd place in the European Nations Cup (European Champion) 1961 Champion of Czechoslovakia (Dukla Praha) 1962 World Championship in Chile, 2nd rank 1962 Awarded the Golden Ball as the best football player of the year 19651966 Winner of the Czechoslovak Cup (Dukla Praha) 1966 Czechoslovak football player of the year 1961, 1962, 1963, 1964 Winner of the American Cup (Dukla) 1999 Holder of the Grand Prize of the Czech Fair Play Club 2000 Winner of the Czech prestigious Footballer of the Century Award 2001 Awarded the Defence Cross of Merit, 1st Class 2004 Pel named him one of the worlds best 125 football players alive 2005 Holder of the FIFA Golden Order of Merit 2006 Decorated with the Medal of Merit, 1st class 2006 Best Czech football player of the century 2008 Awarded the ASC DUKLA memorial medal 2011 Decorated with Golden Linden of the Minister of Defence of the Czech Republic
Held in Hotel Ambassador Golden Goose was the venue on February 4th, 2011, for the birthday congratulation night with about 400 guests including many prominent athletes headed by Olympic contestants Vra slavsk and Dana Ztopkov. The gala night featured a video salute by the most famous player of the football history Pel, congratulations by legendary Spanish player Alfredo di Stfano, his friend Uwe Seeler, teammate Jn Popluhr and the second Czech holder of the Golden Ball, Pavel Nedvd. A number of congratulators appeared on the stage the chairman of the Czech-Moravian Football Association, teammates from Dukla and the national team including functionaries, representatives of the Foundation of International Football Players, representatives of the Czech Olympians Club, Director Army Sports Centre Dukla and Chairman of the Dukla Praha Physical Training Club. The night came to a head as the statue of Josef Masopust Which team and individual awards do you value most? That is hard to say. I always won them in connection with my team-mates, because I would not achieve individual success without them. Therefore, I take these festivities as a tribute to our football generation. I take the Footballer of Century Award as an appreciation of my whole career (the poll took place in 2000). The Golden Ball was an accolade for performance primarily in Chile, and the credit for that goes to the whole Czechoslovak national team. You spent your most beautiful years playing football in Dukla and I enjoyed many successes with the Club. Dukla Praha currently leads the second league. Do you believe DUKLA will make it back to the rst league some day? Dukla is the club of my heart. I live close to Juliska, and when I am home, I hardly miss any match. I would like to see Dukla come back too
was unveiled, which was created in the studio of Josef Nlepa. Presentation of the Football player of the year 2010 award, which took place on February 8, 2011, in the Estates Theatre in Prague, particularly honoured the Czech football legend. Josef Masopust also received personal congratulations by one of the most famous football players in the history of Europe, Eusebio da Silva Ferreira, the holder of the Golden Ball for the best European footballer in 1965 and the holder of bronze medal from 1966 world championship, where he was the top goalscorer. National Museum will open an exhibition called Josef Masopust and his football era. The book titled Fotbal jmnem Masopust (Football named Masopust) is going to be reedited, as well as audio book directed by Jana Jir and a TV documentary. There will also be a football tournament in June 2011 named Legends 2011 and the bronze statue of Josef Masopust will be placed in front of the Juliska stadium.
by Ivana Rohkov
the rst league and follow on the success our generation and following generations achieved. As a matter of fact, it used to spread the fame of our football all around the world. It would be useful for the whole Czech football. So I hope to see it go to the highest league. You played sixteen years for Dukla. Where would you transfer, had any other famous club canvassed you? If Slavia wanted me, I would have gone straightaway, but no offer came up. And I stayed with Dukla, because I felt good there, there were excellent conditions for football and a great bunch of people. Do you recall when you rst made money playing football? When I played shortly after the war in the A Team of the city of Most and we defeated st nad Labem 3:1 in regional league and I scored two goals, I was returning home on a train.
A bloke with a hat full of banknotes and coins approached me and poured them into my lap. I was the eldest of six children and I put the money on the table for my mommy: Mom, this is from football, for you not to swear at me anymore because of the ball. How do you like the celebration of your eightieth birthday? In my view, it is even exa exaggerated. I am still l one of thousands of football otball players who represenesented Czechoslovakia, akia, and I believe such uch honours may be too much for one man.
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History
Ministry of Defence assisted on bringing to life another movie with a telling name: Lidice
A Fateful STORY
A man nervously holds cold steel under his coat. He shufes his feet several times and here it comes. An open-top Mercedes car comes down the road carrying the most feared men in the Protectorate, Reich Protector Reinhard Heydrich. Josef Gabk hurls away his coat, makes several quick steps for the road, pulls the trigger and gets dumbfounded by endless silence. The other man of the inseparable couple enters the scene already. Jan Kubi, exactly as he rehearsed in a training center in Scotland, throws the explosive following an arch onto the car. He is too close to get away without any injury. The strong explosion stuns him for a second. He feels the shockwave slapping him in the face.
It is unusual, but this particular scene of assassination of the Reich Protector Reinhard Heydrich was only shot a month before premiere show of the new Czech-Polish movie Lidice. The reason was simple. Originally the scene was omitted in the shooting schedule for a lack of funding. But sponsors were additionally found to contribute funds for it to come into being. Following consultations with our U.S. distributor, we decided to take this unconventional step. We want the movie to be comprehensible to the global audience who may not have familiarity with European historical events, and Lidice movie will get an extra action-like and grander dimension, Adam Dvok, the movie producer, explained somewhat unusual approach. Because the original bend where the assassination took place in Kobylisy on May 27, 1942, no longer exists, the lmmakers sought best-matching exterior based on contemporary photographs. In the end, they selected Hoffmanova Street in Prague Podol. The movie is based on a novel by Zdenk Mahler, the Nokturno, which won the 2007 best unrealised script award. It took nearly a decade to nish the script. There were several directors planned for the lm, for example Milo Forman or Alice Nellis, but she fell ill and so Petr Nikolajev eventually took up the challenge. It is historical drama building on cruel personal destinies of common people, inhabitants of the central bohemian community of Lidice. Key characters are played by Karel Roden, Zuzana Fialov, Zuzana Bydovsk, Roman Luknr, Veronika Kubaov, Norbert Lich and Milan Kako. The theme song Slunce bylo krsn is performed by Lucie Bl. Filmgoers may look forward to a grand historical movie full of emotions, love and betrayal. But it is not a mass movie, it is primarily a human story. It covers in-depth the destinies of individuals who caused the events or were somehow tossed about by the history, Adam Dvok explains. The movie is rather dedicated to a younger audience. The older audience in my view is rather familiar with history, but younger people nd it harder to get close to these matters. In history classes, these events were presented as a canon. Nevertheless, we should forget there are concrete people behind every story. I am condent that all watchers will nd their bit. Those older ones will see what they might have imagined differently. Before reading the script, I understood these matters differently myself. The movie also came into being thanks to sponsorship by the Ministry of Defence of the Czech Republic. But it was not the only contribution the MoD has made as military history specialists provided useful advice. Ministry of Defence has been with the movie from its inception. It was not just the case of nancial support; the MoD also provided an extensive know-how. I had the rst footage of Lidice from MoD archives. I had a chance to see raw archive documents Germans shot about the annihilation of Lidice. Eduard Stehlk of the Institute of Military History Prague helped us both through advice and consultations. He likes to coin it he is a friend on the phone. Anytime we are at our wits end about something, it just takes dialling his number and we have instant expert help available. I am glad that he has an eye for those disputable matters; in my view he is the greatest expert for Lidice, Adam Dvok expands. A peculiar movie character is sentenced murdered ma (in reality Frantiek Saidl) impersonated by Karel Roden. Ironically this criminal who had killed his own son was one of the few to survive Lidice slaughter. During the assassination of Heydrich he was in jail and returned into his home community after being released in December 1942. And he did not have a slightest clue that the community had not existed for half a year. This tragic story revived thanks to the lm is very likely to be continued. As a matter of fact, Saidls granddaughter contacted us during the shooting, whose memories have never been published before.
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We observed historical events whenever possible. We shot in the Spanish Hall at the Prague Castle, where it was thoroughly authentic. But not everything is possible, Lidice does not exist anymore. We will never be a documentary. We at least sought not to provoke in historical terms. I believe we succeeded in that respect, Adam Dvok concludes.
Authors say lmgoers may look forward to a movie full of emotions. But emotions do not necessarily need to be just laughter, as is the case with comedies. Movies differ from TV production in the fact that the audience may experience
emotions and sentiment right in the movie hall. During which sort of expurgation occurs...
by Vladimr Marek Photos by author and the production team