Headlines and Highlights
SOCEUR Commander MG Repass: We Are One Team with Slovaks
June 6, 2012
Generál Repass: So Slovákmi sme jeden tím (MOD SR).
On 6 June, the Commander of the US Special Operations Command Europe (SOCEUR) Major General Michael Repass visited the General Staff of the Slovak Armed Forces in Bratislava and met with the Chief of the General Staff Lieutenant General Peter Vojtek. MG Repass highly appreciated the professional work of Slovak Special Forces in the ISAF operation in Afghanistan, who are deployed there with their US colleagues. “Our joint work in ISAF is not only a cooperation between two countries, it is much more – we are one team,” said the SOCEUR commander at the meeting. He also pointed out the qualities of the joint US-Slovak pre-deployment SOF training at the Slovak training area Lest. LTG Vojtek informed the US guest about the ambition of Slovakia to increase quality of contribution to ISAF. “Our SOF unit is well trained and it has already proven in Afghanistan, that it can deal with extremely difficult tasks,” said LTG Vojtek. “I believe that we will succeed in extending the scope of its work and increase the number of our SOF soldiers in ISAF to further enhance the quality of training of the Afghan special police units,” he added. “We are ready to help Slovak Armed Forces in preparation for deployment of bigger component for special operations in the maximum possible extend,” promised MG Repass.
The aim of the visit was to discuss continuation of partnership between the Slovak Armed Forces and Combined Special Operations Task Force – 10, within which there are currently 20 soldiers from the 5th SOF Regiment, Zilina, deployed to ISAF. The SOCEUR commander’s program continued by discussion about the future of Slovak SOF development, with stress to our future contribution to ISAF. Present at the discussions were the Chief of the Operations Staff Brigadier General Jindrich Joch, Chief of the Strategic Planning and Capabilities Development Staff Brigadier General Lubomir Svoboda and the 5th SOF Regiment Commander Colonel Lubomir Sebo.