International Ex Slovak Shield rescheduled
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- Date: 09.10.2020
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Exercise Slovak Shield – an annual international exercise held at the Training Centre Lešť and other training areas across Slovakia will not take place in 2020, because service members are expected to be deployed in support of local communities in the fight against COVID-19.
After consulting with Armed Forces senior leaders on the worsening epidemiological situation and the swelling number of requests for assistance to deploy soldiers in the national response to coronavirus, Chief of Defence Gen Daniel Zmeko has reconsidered holding the field phase of Ex Slovak Shield. With the training audience from the USA, the Czech Republic, Poland and Hungary, the exercise was intended to validate our readiness to defend the territorial integrity of the Slovak Republic. “However, our readiness to help our population comes first at the moment,” said CHOD Gen Zmeko in his statement, adding that “With this decision we will save considerable personnel and material resources that the Armed Forces can immediately commit to the fight against the COVID-19 infection.”
One of the highest priorities of the SVK Armed Forces is to protect the interests of the Slovak Republic. This priority now includes protecting the health of SVK citizens from the effects of the dangerous virus. The rescheduling of the epidemiologically most critical phase of the exercise will not affect the armed forces’ capacity to deliver its core task – to defend our country. Yet, the training phase for Ex Slovak Shield is to continue with commanders and staffs engaging in staff rehearsals and testing the alert and standby procedures and the combat readiness of troops whilst observing strict hygienic and epidemiological measures. By putting the command structure to the test, we will meet a key part of the training goals in 2020, which has been greatly affected by the armed forces undertaking emergency tasks and adopting a range of measures to protect the forces against the virus.
After consulting with Armed Forces senior leaders on the worsening epidemiological situation and the swelling number of requests for assistance to deploy soldiers in the national response to coronavirus, Chief of Defence Gen Daniel Zmeko has reconsidered holding the field phase of Ex Slovak Shield. With the training audience from the USA, the Czech Republic, Poland and Hungary, the exercise was intended to validate our readiness to defend the territorial integrity of the Slovak Republic. “However, our readiness to help our population comes first at the moment,” said CHOD Gen Zmeko in his statement, adding that “With this decision we will save considerable personnel and material resources that the Armed Forces can immediately commit to the fight against the COVID-19 infection.”
One of the highest priorities of the SVK Armed Forces is to protect the interests of the Slovak Republic. This priority now includes protecting the health of SVK citizens from the effects of the dangerous virus. The rescheduling of the epidemiologically most critical phase of the exercise will not affect the armed forces’ capacity to deliver its core task – to defend our country. Yet, the training phase for Ex Slovak Shield is to continue with commanders and staffs engaging in staff rehearsals and testing the alert and standby procedures and the combat readiness of troops whilst observing strict hygienic and epidemiological measures. By putting the command structure to the test, we will meet a key part of the training goals in 2020, which has been greatly affected by the armed forces undertaking emergency tasks and adopting a range of measures to protect the forces against the virus.
