Defence Minister Jaroslav Naď visits military units in Trenčín for clearer understanding of Service conditions as they really are

During their away day, Defence Minister Jaroslav Naď along with State Secretary Marian Majer today visited several military units based in Trenčín. They did so to see for themselves what the Service conditions for soldiers really are and learn what they can do to improve them.

Defence Minister Jaroslav Naď said: "Already before assuming office, I was in active contact with our soldiers. They wrote to me about their problems and I was sincerely interested in them, not just professionally but also humanely. Because the people who look after the security and defence of the State deserve to have adequate working condition. That is why during my visits to military units I was particularly interested in the real state of affairs and the possibilities how to help soldiers."

As the Minister noted, information gathered directly from soldiers on the ground is very important for the MOD leadership. "We know that the economic situation in Slovakia is becoming complicated due to the ongoing pandemic, which will have an impact on the budget. Nevertheless, our aim is to invest every euro with maximum efficiency and exactly where it is most needed so as to purposefully support the most critical areas," he emphasised, pointing to the significance of individual domestic crisis management elements, which is also evidenced by military deployments in response to COVID-19.

During today's away day to Trenčín, the Defence Minister visited the Military Police Headquarters (MP HQ), Army Headquarters (Army HQ), Special Operations Forces Command (SOCOM), and Explosive Ordnance Disposal Centre of Excellence (EOD COE). As well as being updated on the Service conditions, he was informed of the tasks underway in the field of Slovakia's security and defence and the SVK military's support to Police in response to COVID-19. He was also interested to learn about the future goals of developing the capabilities of individual Services and about the deployments of soldiers on international crisis management missions and operations.

As part of his away day to Trenčín, Minister Naď also met with Chairman of the Trenčín Self-Government Region Jaroslav Baška and Mayor of Trenčín Richard Rybníček. Apart from ways to forge cooperation, they also addressed the ongoing refurbishment of the former Army House. Head of the MOD then inspected in person the refurbishment works on the building. "Given the processes of design documentation and implementation preparation, refurbishment works did not begin until earlier this February. Currently, we are almost in the final phase, the building handover process is scheduled for the beginning of June. I am pleased that after a long time the building premises will be available to the SVK Armed Forces as well as members of the public who used them for cultural purposes in the past," he said.

While still in Trenčín today, the Minister spoke of advancing cooperation with representatives of Aircraft Repair Company Trenčín (LOTN), a state-owned joint stock company, and Virtual Reality Media, a joint stock company, specialised in designing simulators for different types of aviation and military assets.