On the 12th of June COM EUFOR, Major General Johann Luif, alongside COM NATO, attended a briefing and demonstration during Exercise Dynamic Response. EUFOR has provided 18 personnel to assist and advise during the exercise, which simulates Disaster Relief.
Building on experience
Exercise Dynamic response is designed around the theme of ‘Helping civilian structures in the event of flooding’, and the scenario is closely based on the devastating flooding experienced last year. Designed and executed by the 6th Brigade Armed Forces of Bosnia and Herzegovina (AFBiH), it is running from the 8th of June until the 15th of June.
Civil and Military Cooperation
The first part of the exercise enabled the command teams to practice their response to a humanitarian disaster. For the first time, this exercise was attended not only by military forces but by members of the Civil Defense of the Republic of Srpska and Federal Civil Protection Administration of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina.
In an interview at the event Major General Mirko Tepšić, AFBiH Deputy Chief of Joint Staff spoke of this combined approach;
‘This was the good way to improve our cooperation and coordination to execute tasks we had given ourselves after the lessons learnt in the floods last year, and this is the way cooperation with civilian organizations can be improved’
Impressive Demonstrations
Major General Luif began the visit by meeting Major General Mirko Tepšić, and Brigadier General Radovan Ilic, 6th Brigade Commander. He received a briefing on the planning and execution of the exercise, before observing a live demonstration of Flood Rescue techniques.
These involved not only AFBiH soldiers, but members of local Mountaineering and Rafting clubs. The visit concluded with an exhibition of the AFBiH Combat Simulation Centre, a facility used extensively during the planning of Exercise Dynamic Response.
Observing and advising
For this exercise EUFOR provided 18 staff officers in Embedded Advisory Teams, subject matter experts in areas ranging from Air Operations to Logistics. These EUFOR personnel passed on their knowledge and experience to the AfBiH involved during the exercise, supporting them as they progress in their ability to manage incidents like the simulated flood.
Watching the demonstrations Major General Luif commented, ‘What we saw today was very impressive. It is very important to have such exercises to be prepared for real missions ‘I am very proud as Commander of EUFOR that we were closely connected with this exercise, to give them the advice to develop this very challenging situation’