On Tuesday, August 2, a farewell ceremony was held at the HDF Lt. Ittebei Kiss József Helicopter Base in Szolnok for the troops of the fifth rotation of the HDF KFOR Contingent (KFOR-5 HUNCON) that deploy to Pristina. MoD Deputy State Secretary for Defence Economy Dr. Gábor Márki and Deputy Chief of MoD Defence Staff Lt. Gen. Zoltán Orosz graced the event with their presence.

We were told at the ceremony that the mission rehearsal training (MRT) of the service members whose tour of duty starts in August was conducted by the HDF 25/88 Airmobile Battalion, and the majority of the personnel of the KFOR-5 HUNCON were drawn from the same battalion. The commander of the contingent is Lt. Col. Miklós Tajti.

The more than 200-strong contingent is to take over duties in the KFOR’s area of operations (AO) until August 31. Following that they will serve with the Portuguese-led operational battalion. Their duty will be to participate in peacekeeping operations: among others, in doing presence patrol, in crowd and riot control (CRC), in seizure of weapons, in the protection of important public facilities, and VIP escort tasks.

”Your mission has a very serious actuality!” Lt. Gen. Zoltán Orosz reminded the troops in his farewell speech, referring to the upheavals in recent days in Kosovo. The Deputy Chief of Defence warned that close to our national borders, there are ’glowing embers under the ashes’, and peace process is still far from complete. The acute hostilities dividing nations and ethnic groups call for a continuing peacekeeping presence.

After the General’s address, Brig. Gen. Dr. Pál Lachner, Protestant Army Bishop blessed the personnel of the 5th rotation of the HDF KFOR Contingent, and at the standing reception following the event, Gábor Márki, Deputy State Secretary for Defence Economy, Ministry of Defence proposed a toast.

(Ministry of Defence, Zrínyi Média)