SVK military personnel traditionally celebrate Slovak Armed Forces Day in Brezová pod Bradlom

The beginning of Slovak Armed Forces Day celebrations was marked with a traditional wreath-laying ceremony at the Memorial dedicated to the 1848 battles fought for Slovakia's independence in the Habsburg Monarchy by Slovak volunteers-turned-soldiers on Prietržská Road close to Brezová pod Bradlom.

Then in a Slovak Armed Forces Day ceremony in Brezová pod Bradlom's General M. R. Štefánik Square, SVK servicemen and women gathered to reconnect with their history and roots going back to the 1848 Slovak Revolt and to remember the basic value pillars on which the new Slovak Armed Forces have been built for almost the past 30 years. The ceremony saw the best military personnel, war veterans and representatives of the organisations cooperating with the MOD awarded with medals and decorations for their service and contributions.

In his address, Chief of Defence Gen Daniel Zmeko said: “Our determination to overcome obstacles in line with the model of Francisciʼs volunteers distinguishes us from other ordinary citizens. Our personal and moral integrity in performing military duties and civic obligations makes us a model worth following by the ordinary public.”

Recalling the commitment with which soldiers undertake their duties, Defence Minister Jaroslav Naď said: “I want to give my sincere thanks to all Slovak Armed Forces service members, those awarded today and all the others, for their dedicated service to their homeland and for the fantastic work they are doing – sometimes invisibly in demanding crisis situations under the watchful eyes of commanders or media, while at other times, there is still a whole raft of work going on unnoticed and in silence as business as usual. My thankfulness is not just about words of gratitude. I hope a lot of soldiers can very palpably feel the many measures we have put into place over the past two and half years in terms of investments in the modernisation of military vehicles, weaponry and clothing.”

As part of forces-themed events in the afternoon, Slovak Armed Forces and Military Police units staged live-action demonstrations for the public, including an air assault insertion of Special Operations Forces (SOF) operatives by Black Hawk UH-60M helicopters. In the static display area, members of the public could get a close-up look at the military equipment operated by the Slovak Armed Forces and that of our allies from the NATO Multinational Battlegroup, which had successfully completed a certification exercises just a few days earlier.

There was also a cultural element to the Slovak Armed Forces Day programme to round up the celebrations. Slovak popular bands and folk dance groups put on a real show, as did the SVK Armed Forces Band with its programme of music and the SVK Armed Forces Guard of Honour (GOH) with its show.