more about
· Desert Warrior
online exclusive. Austrian soldiers killed in Chad rebels
· "Are willing to take higher risk"
Interview. Armed Forces Commander Guenter Hoefler over lack of political leadership and rugged hunting fighters
· Chad rebels plan new offensive
EUFOR soldiers will probably remain longer
Shrouded in mystery, elite, battle-tested: For 50 years, hunting commando soldiers serving in the armed forces - sometimes in a legal gray area.
By Gernot Bauer
Last Friday hijacked a ship Austrian soldiers in the Adriatic. Some had to rappel from helicopters, which had climbed from other rafts on deck. They were supported by combat divers. The of piracy took place on Croatian territory, but sparked a diplomatic crisis. It was not an enemy, but an act of friendship: Fighter Command of the Armed Forces soldiers practiced with Croatian comrades the arrest of a target person. Defence Minister Gerald Klug was flown in from Vienna and watched the spectacle on the island of Losinj live.
Of the qualities of the special forces of the Armed Forces had been able to convince himself Klug. One of his first visits troops led the new defense minister to the headquarters of Fighter Command in the Maximilian barracks in Wiener Neustadt, where this day is celebrated an anniversary. Exactly 50 years ago, the unit was established. Jagdkommando members are the only soldiers in the history of the Armed Forces with combat experience. Sometimes, however, the stakes were held in a legal gray area.
Ironically, it was the softest defense of the Second Republic, the abkommandierte Jagdkommando the most dangerous mission to date. In 2008 moved Darabos - quite courageously - against heavy fire from opposition Boulevard and the participation of an army contingent to the EU mission in Chad. Nearly two years were about 150 soldiers of the Armed Forces on behalf of the EU in Central Africa. The goal: to protect hundreds of thousands of refugees from rebels and marauding gangs. The core of the red-white-red 40 soldiers of the troops were raiding that should clear up the area and show a deterrent presence.
During a night patrol on 18 August 2008 came a troop of soldiers under fire command hunting and decided to counterattack. In the battle, the opposite profile as a "massive fire fight" referred to an insider, several bandits to be killed - which was always denied by the Army leadership course.
Delicate mission in Afghanistan
On the spot it was found absolutely satisfied with the performance of the Austrians. The commander of the Austrian contingent, Colonel Heinz Assmann, even got command of all special operations forces, including elite troops from France, Ireland, Sweden and Finland.
When in February 2011 escalated the civil war in Libya, the Foreign Ministry decided to evacuate the Austrian Embassy in Tripoli. In addition, approximately 30 other Austrians should be rescued from Libya. Defense Minister Norbert Darabos told the ORF, "Crisis Support Team" had been sent to Libya to "have accompanied our citizens by land." The "crisis supporters" it was - under international law not quite correct - covert soldiers of raiding in civil, which defended the transport of the embassy staff and the other Austrians heavily armed.
Tricky was the use of raiding in Afghanistan as part of ISAF. From February to December 2002, the Special Forces soldiers conducted jointly with the Carinthian Battalion 25 500 military operations - such as patrols and guard duties - in and around Kabul. In April were two rocket attacks on the ISAF camp where the army soldiers were housed.
Robust missions took place over the course of the KFOR mission of the Armed Forces in Kosovo. The border with Macedonia Jagdkommando soldiers brought repeatedly arms dealer gangs. In July 2001 there was a two-hour gun battle with smugglers and members of the Kosovo Liberation Army, KLA. No one was injured. The army soldiers deliberately shot over the heads of weapons smugglers who eventually surrendered. According to reports, the hunt command in Kosovo should also have been used actively to the search for war criminals.
Currently serving Paramedics and a doctor of raiding - eight men - in the context of the EU mission in Mali.
"Total agreement" and "total rejection"
As the Jagdkommando was founded 50 years ago, the plans only to use in the course were domestic. The army leadership had individual officers sent to the United States to study the basics of special forces in training courses at the U.S. Army Rangers. The Americans liked the oath neutral comrades from Europe foreign aid. Finally, the Austrian commandos in the application should perform a guerrilla war against advancing border troops of the Warsaw Pact.
That the elitist character of the Special Forces (motto: "Numquam retro - never back") equally triggers "total agreement" and "total rejection", is the current commander, Colonel Horst Hofer, consciously. In order to find suitable soldiers, the association must provide an elite course, as Hofer in an article for the Army newspaper "Truppendienst" writes, which "elite" is not limited to "military skills" but also to "mental agility, prudence and intercultural competence 'refers.
Sensitive to the Command when hunting commando soldiers are portrayed as daredevil Rambo types. Members of the special forces would be through "high performance and endurance excel," said Lieutenant-General Christian Segur-Cabanac, Head of Section at Ministry of Defence use. But you need "no soldiers with unpredictable adventure." On the contrary: "A soldier of the raiding needs intelligence but also some phlegm to keep a cool head in an emergency."
Sometimes suggests the phlegm into frustration when there is too little to do. Who constantly practicing for the real thing and is ready, it also wants to relive. In June 2010, the then armed forces commander Guenter Hoefler said in a profile interview: "Our hunting commando soldiers are willing to accept a higher risk. You do not just train, but can also use their enormous. Otherwise, they say goodbye sooner or later from active duty in the Armed Forces. "
That adopt the raiding soldiers of the French Foreign Legion, was only occasionally happened in the past few decades, says the Ministry of Defence. Ex-soldiers sometimes use their military training and hiring of private, international security services to. Caused a stir five years ago, the fate of the Upper Austrian Bert Nussbaumer. The command-hunting soldier had acknowledged in the spring of 2006 and his service in the army hired at a U.S. security company in Iraq. In November 2006, Nussbaumer was kidnapped four American colleagues and later murdered.
The founding myths of the now 50-year-old raiding counts the legend that its members had eaten the survival training in the Donau-Auen snakes. The times are changing. Modern commandos wear nowadays called MRE packages (Meals-Ready-to-Eat) with it, which will hardly surpass in terms of wholesomeness reptiles.?
Knowledge
Currently, there is Jagdkomanndo of around 400 soldiers, including paratroopers, combat divers and specialist commando actions such as hostage rescues. Is practiced in jungle areas in the desert and the arctic circle. So far, only a woman graduated from the 24-week basic training course, including combat and survival training. Of 100 applicants are taken about 35 in the course, stand by the 15 soldiers in the cut. An obligation to provide after service with Fighter Command, does not exist. Many graduates return to the course back to their original units back.
No comments:
Post a Comment