Minister Bozinovic visits “Croatian Pride 2011” exercise

“Croatian Pride 11/1”, organized and implemented by the Army and Armoured Mechanized Guard Brigade (GOMBR), is the final exercise of the 17^th contingent preparing for the ISAF. Objective of the exercise, whose director has been the GOMBR Commander Mladen Mikolcevic, was the final training and readiness assessment of contingent components according to CREVAL elements – NATO combat readiness evaluation system. The exercise, which began on January 24 and lasts until February 4, was completely planned and structured in accordance with NATO instructions for the exercises. “Croatian Pride” is an exercise that is held twice a year with components of the two annual Croatian rotations in ISAF.
During the demonstration, guests toured five working points. At four points they were presented with the simulated incidents and response procedures to these. These include: military police patrol and response to an ambush, VIP escort, search of the village, patrol around the base and procedures regarding improvised explosive devices. The fifth point was touring the Tactical Operations Centre and Exercise Command.
After a tour of the working points, Minister Bozinovic addressed the guests and the aligned members of the 17^th Croatian contingent, led by Commander Colonel Blaz Beretin. “The Ministry of Defence and Armed Forces pay great attention to the preparation of our forces declared for deployment to the international operations. Regarding the training cycle of forces for the deployment in the ISAF operation in Afghanistan, we have developed specially designed scenarios that correspond to specific tasks of each element of our contingent. It is important to prepare well our troops and equipment to perform demanding tasks with which they will encounter in the field. This is achieved through a carefully developed program of basic training and specialized courses, as well as through the support of our defence industry “, Minister Bozinovic concluded. During his address, the minister used the opportunity to highlight the recent decision of Croatia to take a leading role in establishing a school of military police in Afghanistan, which will also contribute to the gradual takeover of greater responsibilities of ANA for the safety of their country.

In a media statement Minister Bozinovic said he was impressed by what he saw today. Our soldiers, NCOs and officers were ready to takeover complex different tasks in ISAF and were able to defend which was the most important, said the Minister. Commenting the recording of Croatian soldiers in ISAF, published yesterday in the Croatian media, the Minister said that what was seen yesterday on television could be see at today’s demonstration. “Something like that is not a surprise for our armed forces and our soldiers. They are prepared for all possible challenges”, said the Minister, who believes that no one was hiding that Afghanistan is unsafe and unstable country. “On what we insist is that for our troops to be equipped, trained, to learn lessons from previous missions. I think that in this part we can be satisfied”, Minister Bozinovic said, adding that, as far as for the equipment in ISAF, our soldiers have been at the level of the most elite armed forces in the world. When asked about a possible investigation of how the recording ended up in the media, the minister replied that “the Croatian Armed Forces is the system that does everything according to pre-established procedures, which includes this situation as well”.