Martin-based soldiers negotiate challenges across Sučany Training Range
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- Date: 28.02.2019
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In the last days of February, Martin Garrison’s Sučany Training Range hosted training for drivers of tracked infantry fighting vehicles (IFVs) from the Mechanised Battalion Martin.
On Theme 4: Driving of Vehicles under Harsh Terrain Conditions, Capt Peter Lukáč, the Officer commanding the training and Commander of the Combat Support Company, made clear that one of the goals was to elevate the driversʼ skillset in driving IFVs, as they navigated their way through harsh terrain by day and at night.
Commenting on the driver training, Capt Peter Lukáč said: “Under winter conditions, we put our drivers to the test in order to sustain their level of combat readiness. At the same time, we want to test them whether they are able to perform specific tasks under difficult climatic and terrain conditions. Because there are still patches of snow along the drenched driving course. Such conditions provide an ultimate test of individual mastery of driving skills.”
Patches of snow and slippery and soaked grounds at specific obstacles, on what is a nearly 4km cross-country trail, made passage more complicated for drivers, particularly when they negotiated a bridge deck, a road blocks course, or even a series of narrow sections where drivers, due to limited manoeuvrability, were unable to veer off the driving course. And as they approached a fording, they were filled with a twinge of humbleness. Right in front of the fording, they had to shift into the second gear, steer the vehicle correctly into the water, and traverse it without stopping.
Deputy Commander of the Mechanised Battalion Martin Maj Vladimír Moško noted with satisfaction that the soldiers who had successfully performed their tasks and represented the Slovak Armed Forces and Slovakia their NATO eFP deployment in Latvia in the second half of 2018 in an excellent manner during achieved very good results. Among the three best drivers were Cpl Teodor Petrík, Cpl Martin Priedhorský and Cpl Jozef Halas.
On Theme 4: Driving of Vehicles under Harsh Terrain Conditions, Capt Peter Lukáč, the Officer commanding the training and Commander of the Combat Support Company, made clear that one of the goals was to elevate the driversʼ skillset in driving IFVs, as they navigated their way through harsh terrain by day and at night.
Commenting on the driver training, Capt Peter Lukáč said: “Under winter conditions, we put our drivers to the test in order to sustain their level of combat readiness. At the same time, we want to test them whether they are able to perform specific tasks under difficult climatic and terrain conditions. Because there are still patches of snow along the drenched driving course. Such conditions provide an ultimate test of individual mastery of driving skills.”
Patches of snow and slippery and soaked grounds at specific obstacles, on what is a nearly 4km cross-country trail, made passage more complicated for drivers, particularly when they negotiated a bridge deck, a road blocks course, or even a series of narrow sections where drivers, due to limited manoeuvrability, were unable to veer off the driving course. And as they approached a fording, they were filled with a twinge of humbleness. Right in front of the fording, they had to shift into the second gear, steer the vehicle correctly into the water, and traverse it without stopping.
Deputy Commander of the Mechanised Battalion Martin Maj Vladimír Moško noted with satisfaction that the soldiers who had successfully performed their tasks and represented the Slovak Armed Forces and Slovakia their NATO eFP deployment in Latvia in the second half of 2018 in an excellent manner during achieved very good results. Among the three best drivers were Cpl Teodor Petrík, Cpl Martin Priedhorský and Cpl Jozef Halas.
Summarising the results with satisfaction, Capt Peter Lukáč said: “Driving at night with the use of night vision devices was very challenging for drivers. There occurred distortions of distances. Under the circumstances and with the increasing level of difficulty, some obstacles were tough to negotiate. Consider, for example, bridge decks. Crossing a bridge deck with a BVP-2 required a high degree of precision. Lt Ján Moravčík, who has extensive experience from previous training exercises, did very well at Obstacle 1 of the driving range.”
