In accordance with the rule that the best conversations are held when the table is full, Commander of the Multinational Corps Northeast (MNC NE) Lieutenant General Rainer Korff invited regional media representatives for common lunch, which took place on 21 January 2010.
"It is a pleasure to welcome you here, in Baltic Barracks", said MNC NE Commander Lieutenant General Rainer Korff to a group of German and Polish media, all in all representing nine different radio and print agencies. This extraordinary media event started with common lunch held at the Allied Officers’ Club during which first small talks took place. Afterwards, General Korff took the floor and delivered a statement to all the gathered journalists and photo reporters. He admitted that the event was an excellent chance to meet and get to know each other. As a matter of fact, General Korff took over command of the Corps just a few weeks ago and there have not been other opportunities of this kind, except the December ceremony of change of command.
The MNC NE Commander’s intention was not only to introduce himself to the world of regional media, but, even more importantly, to present major tasks and challenges the Multinational Corps Northeast is going to face in the upcoming future. As the personnel of the Multinational Corps Northeast are just about to deploy to Afghanistan, the next mission within the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) has been the main topic. Referring to the current changes within the ISAF structure, General Korff said that the Corps’ personnel are going to complete their task at both, tactical, "three-star" ISAF Joint Command and operational, "four-star" ISAF Headquarters. But "the ISAF Joint Command is the keyword for us" he said explaining that about 110 out of 120 MNC NE personnel are manning their posts at the tactical headquarters. General Korff also referred to some current developments in ISAF, including the new Commander ISAF General McChrystal’s new strategy.
After ISAF mission
However, the MNC NE Commander also talked about two other tasks to be faced by the Corps in 2010. One of them will be the structure review. "The aim is to prepare this Headquarters for future challenges", General Korff said, explaining it is not that much about posts or personnel but being compatible to other NATO headquarters. "The main focus is our capability", he emphasized.
MNC NE Commander underlined the fact that months coming after the deployment to Afghanistan would be devoted to sharing mission experiences. "Our task will be supporting the ISAF mission", he said and added that the Headquarters personnel would be Subject Matter Experts for future deployees.
Question-and-answer phase
As soon as General Korff concluded with his statement, the journalist could ask their questions. In most cases, they referred to Afghanistan and ongoing NATO operation over there. The journalists were curious e.g. about the security situation in Afghanistan or the current strategy announced by General McChrystal of closer cooperation between ISAF and the Afghan National Security Forces and simply being closer to the Afghan people, doing the job right "in the streets". Talking about the MNC NE overall involvement in the operation, General Korff said: "They will work very hard (…) but I think they’ll do a good job fulfilling the ISAF mission".
Awarding ceremony for Polish servicemen
A highlight of the whole event was when Commander of the Multinational Corps Northeast General Korff, on behalf of the Minister of Defence of the Federal Republic of Germany, awarded special German decorations to three Polish servicemen. In recognition of their contribution to German-Polish military cooperation and developing excellent relations, Captain Zbigniew Brzęczek was awarded the Cross of Honour in Bronze, Lieutenant Colonel Maciej Gałązka – the Cross of Honour in Silver, whereas Warrant Officer Jacek Kuchlewski – the Medal of Honour.
