Soldiers to be deployed in Afghanistan and Kosovo have had a two-week CIMIC and PSYOPS course at the HDF Civil-Military Cooperation and Psychological Operations Centre.

Soldiers to set off for Afghanistan and Kosovo will have to face new challenges and tasks in a few months’ time. They will be deployed in countries with different cultures situated several hundred kilometres far from home to help the locals improve their life and reconstruct their country. As a matter of fact the success of a mission depends on how prepared the soldiers are and how the acquired knowledge is used on mission.

The aim of the two-week course has been to provide students a thorough, up-to-date, mission-oriented training in CIMIC and PSYOPS. According to Maj. Mihály Molnár the course organizer the most important part of the training was to harmonize theory and practice. Credibility and competence were of primary importance when selecting the lecturers.

The course content included a variety of topics. For instance Péter Wagner, security policy expert talked about the past, present and future of Afghanistan in details, approaching the topic from different perspectives. Zsuzsa Koppányi Dávid, the anthropologist of the HDF CMCPOC gave a lecture on culture, religion and common law. Andrea Szak, an assistant lecturer of ZMDU taught negotiation skills and conflict handling techniques. Negotiation techniques seemed to be the most complicated and exciting tasks during the course. Participants had to perform real life situations e.g. a discussion with the Afghan superior considering the main protocol rules like reception, greeting and showing respect. The negotiations were recorded and evaluated accordingly.

Although the course has been completed the real work is yet to be done in the theatre of operation.

(Ministry of Defence)