Returning Home from Mission – Going on Mission

September 6, 2011 9:39 AM

On August 31 a combined “Welcome Home” and farewell ceremony was held in the banquet hall of the HDF Joint Force Command (HDF JFC). Lt.-Gen. József Kovács,the Commander of the HDF JFC handed over tokens of appreciation and medals to the troops returning home from missions and wished the departing ones soldiers’ luck.

Lt.-Gen Kovács was the first to say thanks for the high standards of their work to the staff officers who have returned from Potsdam, Rome and the Western Sahara. It was revealed that Lt.-Col. (Med.) Dr. Tamás Bognár served at the medical directorate in the operational headquarters (OHQ) of Operation EUFOR LIBYA in Rome. Since the launch of the operation in April, he has been involved in the medical planning process, so among other things he compiled the Handbook of Public Health and Epidemiology for Libya and a so-called Risk Management Matrix, which has a key role in the successful conduct of operations.

During the last 12 months Maj. Renáta Szerencse has been serving in Potsdam on the staff of the Bundeswehr Operations Command J3/J5/J7 (Operations and Planning, Mission Support) Division. Lt.-Gen. József Kovács said that Maj. Szerencse’s position was “of strategic importance” for the success of the ISAF mission in Afghanistan. Capt. Zsuzsanna Fekete, Capt. Zsuzsanna Erzsébet Gerebenics and Capt. Attila Midáner were posted as military observers to serve with the United Nations Mission for the Referendum in Western Sahara (MINURSO).

Lt.-Gen. Kovács pointed out that through their work done during the last months, our troops who have just returned home “have contributed to the strengthening of their own positive international image and that of Hungary too; furthermore, they earned recognition both from the Hungarian and the international public.”

It was said that starting from September, Lt.-Col. György Kostyák, Lt.-Col. Róbert Lukács and Lt.-Col. Ernő Pellek are going to serve with the European Union Monitoring Mission (EUMM) in Georgia. Made up of soldiers and policemen, the 33rd rotation of the 42-strong Hungarian contingent to deploy with the Multinational Force and Observers (MFO) mission in the Sinai Peninsula was also bidden farewell to at the event. The commander of the Hungarian contingent is Lt.-Col. Attila Selmeczi.