The Army of the Republic of Macedonia conducted an exercise which is part of the activities marking the 25th anniversary of the army as well as the upcoming reassessment of the Middle Battalion Battle Group (MBBG). It took place at the command post of MBBG organized by the First Mechanized Infantry Brigade (1MIBDE).
The President of the Republic of Macedonia and the Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces, HE PhD Gjorge Ivanov, accompanied by the Chief of the General Staff of ARM, Lieutenant General Metodija Velichkovski, visited the exercise at the command post as well as the activities conducted at the military barracks “Strasho Pinjur” in Petrovec.
The Commander of the 1MIBDE, Brigadier General Mirche Gjorgoski and the participants familiarized President Ivanov and General Velichkovski with the way of conducting the activities at the operations centers, carried out by the 1MIBDE and the Air Brigade followed by the activities at the command post of MBBG stationed in the vicinity of Katlanovo.
The actions and procedures demonstrated by the servicemen of ARM while conducting the exercise at the command post were rated as highly professional by the highest military authorities, stressing that these capabilities will give good results at the upcoming reassessment.
The exercise is a demonstration of good preparation of the servicemen who have been training, individually and collectively, for a few months. The training and preparations were realized in order to get MBBG recertified in accordance with operational NATO capabilities Level 2 which will happen within the exercise “Macedonian Flash 13” at the end of September and the beginning of October.
MBBG is the biggest declared unit in the Army of Republic of Macedonia which will be assessed at the training area “Krivolak” through dealing with incidents and other activities according to the given list of actions and incidents.
The previous assessment of MBBG was in 2012, performed by 15 NATO assessors and national representatives. They were given the highest assessment for all five areas: planning, operations, logistics, communications and administration.
Besides President Ivanov and General Velichkovski the activities were visited by the Commander of the Joint Operations Command Brigadier General Zoran Mileski and other generals and unit commanders of ARM.