60 military and civilian workers from the Joint Warfare Centre (JWC) in Stavanger, Norway, visited the Headquarters Multinational Corps Northeast (HQ MNC NE) on 16 and 17 August 2010.
The visit was a part of the OTX-10 exercise, which was mainly aimed at familiarizing the distinguished participants with the history of democratic transformations in the Central- Eastern Europe countries and their influence on the world safety. The delegation was headed by Lieutenant General Wolfgang Korte, the Commander of JWC.
The first day of the visit was focused on presenting the information about the Multinational Corps Northeast. The MNC NE Commander Lieutenant General Rainer Korff welcomed the whole delegation, assembled in an auditorium, with a short speech concerning the successfully accomplished mission in Afghanistan. The Commander emphasized the contribution of JWC personnel during the phase of the mission preparation process. The next speech, which presented the history, structure, tasks of the Corps was delivered by a representative of the HQ MNC NE Policy Branch. In the afternoon there was a briefing on some aspects of Garrison Headquarters activated for the mission time, and a presentation delivered by Chief of HQ MNC NE G3 Division about the Headquarters Training and Exercise cycle. That part resulted in a discussion among the audience.
On the other day two generations of Poles have met at the podium, the legend of the Solidarity Movement Czesław Bielecki and Mr Konrad Paduszek who represented the community of young scientists from the Military Office of Historical Survey. They allowed the visitors to get onto two aspects of transformation that have been taking place in the Polish society and the Polish Armed Forces for the last decades. The first aspect focused on the role of the Trade Union of Solidarity in regaining full independence of Poland and its role in the fall of the Berlin Wall. The main topic of second one was “The outline of Polish history after the Cold War”.
"The briefings are very useful for me," – said Sergeant Howard from the US Army, who works at JWC in a logistic branch – "because they allow me to understand Polish people in better way - your history, your mentality. It is vital because I work with Polish soldiers and there are Polish inhabitants in our city".
At the end of the meeting in the auditorium General Korte and General Korff exchanged small gifts. Moreover, General Korte handed diplomas to LtCmdr Radek Ocieczek and Tamara Cukiermann for their outstanding support of the visit.
The visit finished with a guided trip around the city of Szczecin. The next stage began on 18 August in Seelow, a small city located near the Polish-German border, known for the last big battle of the World War II. Afterwards, the guests from JWC next they were to visit the German Parliament in Berlin.
