MNC NE Danish CE and EE personnel train basic soldiering skills. Last week, from 5 to 7 May, just over 50 Danish officers, NCOs and other ranks were assembled in Vordingborg, Denmark to train Basic Soldiering Skills, and to be briefed on the latest developments at Multinational Corps Northeast (MNC NE).
PE personnel are Permanent Establishment personnel residing in Szczecin (when not on mission in Afghanistan or elsewhere). Similarly CE and EE are Crisis Establishment and Emergency Establishment personnel who normally reside in their homelands, but boost MNC NE staff during major exercises and deployments.
In Denmark we have a long tradition of using reserve personnel, as well as designating regular personnel to positions in national as well as international staff positions. We are often designated to the same job function for many years, thus being able to add continuity to an ever changing environment. We are, however, not as up to date as to what goes on in MNC NE as PE personnel.
In order to address this matter, the Danish Element of the Corps has assembled 50 of us in Vordingborg, Denmark to hone our basic soldiering skills.
During the three days, we carried out the compulsory annual fitness test, trained the use of our gas masks and went through a comprehensive shooting program with small arms like rifles and pistols. Many of us were (re-)awarded various signs of marksmanship. On top of this, the local Danish Home Guard unit had set up an extremely realistic first aid exercise at a number of stations, successfully training us in treatment of mass casualties, as well as bringing us up to date on the newest developments within military and civilian First Aid.
The chaplains of the MNC NE as well as the G2 Division meteorological staff seem to be well connected, as we were blessed with unusually good weather with lots of sunshine during the outdoor sessions of our training.As one of the core tasks of the Corps is supplying staff elements for Headquarters ISAF in Afghanistan, a very important element of the training session was briefings directly related to the latest developments in that country. These briefings were carried out by MNC NE and Danish officers and NCO’s. Lieutenant Colonel Lennie Fredskov, commander of the latest Danish Contingent to ISAF in Helmand, gave us valuable insights into developments on the ground from August 2010 to February 2011. Comments by members of MNC NE staff related these insights directly to MNC NE staff members’ tasks in Kabul. The latest developments in Taleban’s use of Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs) as well as NATO’s use of Non-lethal weapons were covered extensively.
Finally we were brought up to date on MNC NE’s training and exercise cycle.We now all look forward to supplementing the Corps during exercises in Szczecin and Denmark in 2011 and 2012. We are also better prepared to supplement MNC NE during future missions in Afghanistan.
