02.10.2014.
Exercise "Neighbours 2014"
At the “Airport” barracks in Kovin, the bilateral international exercise “Neighbours 2014”, performed by members of the Armed Forces of Serbia and the Armed Forces of Hungary, has ended. During the previous days, members of the First Army Brigade and the Fifth Brigade of the Armed Forces of Hungary practiced steps and procedures in territory control during a company’s deployment in a multinational operation.The exercise was attended by Head of Staff of the First Army Brigade Colonel Nenad Sretenovic and Colonel Lazslo Garas, Head of the Department for operational business and command training of the Armed Forces of Hungary, and they agreed that the exercise was conducted successfully, and that the operational capabilities that have been upgraded in this exercise can be of great use for both militaries in UN missions.
- Although this exercise is by now organized traditionally, each year, the scenario is different. This year’s suppositions are realistic, exactly like the ones that can occur in a multinational operation, and they are a product of our practices from peacekeeping operations in Cyprus and Lebanon – Colonel Sretenovic said, adding that participants of the exercise had not been previously familiar with the given suppositions, and that the situation was therefore more realistic.- As one of previous planners of this exercise, I am happy to see today that the soldiers have reached the level of skills and training for multinational operations. I believe that maintaining good neighbourly connections is very important, and so I wish for such exercises to be realized in the future as well – Colonel Garas said, stressing the importance of such exercises, not only for practicing steps and procedures, but also for developing the friendship between Serbian and Hungarian soldiers.
According to the exercise’s scenario, the multinational company composed of one Serbian and one Hungarian rifle platoon and support platoon was deployed under the auspices of the UN in a fictional country involved in a civil war. The theme was “Multinational company in territory control”, so the members of the armed forces of the two countries demonstrated field search, territory control, attempt at a military point breakthrough, attack at patrol units and medical evaluation. Main goal of today’s exercise was to train staff tactically and technically for realization of the company’s tasks during field search, steps and procedures of soldiers in field and object search and the procedure with persons and items found during the search.The organizer and host of the exercise was the First Army Brigade. This was the fifth joint exercise of the two countries since 2010, and it included 76 senior staff members and soldiers of the Armed Forces of Serbia and 31 members of the Armed Forces of Hungary.
