Testing battle skills

In the mountainous terrain between Zvolen and Banská Bystrica, the Command, Control and Reconnaissance Brigade from Zvolen, operating under the SVK Air Force, organized the 1st 24-hour Basic Battle Skills Competition. The Brigade’s units are positioned throughout Slovakia. According to its commander Col Milan Mosný, GS, in comparison with last year’s “zero” edition, the competition’s requirements this year were even more demanding. Its goal was to test selected individual and small group combat skills.

Composed of a commander and four soldiers, the teams performed the tasks of firing and tactical drills, topography, CBR protection, and signal and sapper preparation. Among other things, they had to perform a complete assembly and disassembly of the CZ-58 sub-machine gun with their eyes tied-up, to provide first aid and evacuate a wounded soldier from the battlefield during a redeployment phase, and finally, a part of the track was assigned for night marching. Each competition participant had to carry at least a 10-kilo backpack. The team from the Command Support Company, Air Force HQ Zvolen, under the leadership of SSgt Marián Kučera, presented itself as the best prepared of all. The importance of this competition testing the professional soldiers’ battle skills was also stressed by the Senior Non-Commissioned Officer of the SVK Armed Forces, Command Sgt Maj Vladimír Beluš.