- My regular job in Croatia,
I'm head of G5 Department in Support Command.
Here I'm having role of Commanding Officer for
Multi-National Support Battalion.
Unfortunately, I have never participated
in Exercise Saber Strike before.
I must raise that Croatia logistic unit
participated in Exercise Anakonda 2016
in Poland, and as a result of a job well done,
we were invited by the U.S. EUCOM planners to
participate with our logistic capabilities
in the Exercise Saber Strike 2017.
Croatian Armed Forces decision makers
have decided to accept this opportunity and gave
the task to Support Command to prepare logistic units
with the commands and the control staff, transportation,
cargo handling, real life support, fuel supply,
communication information system, and medical capabilities.
Knowledge and experience of Croatian,
Croatian soldiers gained here during this exercise
will make all the difference in both
their morale and proficiency.
A special goal of Armed Forces of Republic of Croatia
participation in the Exercise Saber Strike 2017
is to confirm sworn partnership with the U.S. Armed Forces.
To achieve that, I'm placing the focus
on interpretability by conducting a series
of combined training events with U.S. personnel.
There is no doubt that those training events
really prove our logisticians skill in many areas
and increase the confidence in ability to work
in multi-national environment.
So for me personal, working in multi-national environment
is always stimulating and exciting since it's forcing
you to move out of your routine, out of your comfort zone.
As an active member, we all have a common understanding
of using the doctrine and the procedures,
but there are always some knowledge and experience
that we can share with each other and implement that
into our own national military system.
This exercise gives Croatian Armed Forces,
for the first time, the role of lead nation
that multi-national battlion unit together with the
U.S. and region personnel.
Although we are at the beginning of the exercise
as a commander of support battalion,
I can say that we already work as a team.
We have really good cooperation and relations
among us during and after working hours.
I personally have participated in many different
NATO missions and exercises abroad,
and I always try to learn from the experience.
This exercise is specific because of its size
and the high importance it has
for the Croatian Armed Forces.
This is the first year we have participated
in this exercise.
Taking the command of a multi-national support battalion
is a big challenge for me and my staff,
and we have already learned a lot.
Lessons that we have here with our U.S. partners
will be implemented in our procedures and preparations
for the further participation in such big exercises.
Any contribution to the collective efforts which might
increase the ability to deter and defend the NATO allies
is my honorable duty.
First of all, I must say that Croatian soldiers
are able to participate side-by-side with allies
and partners in military exercises,
as well as operations and missions around the world.
They have proved that many times,
and they always will.
We are known world-wide for our slogan "Proud to be Croat",
and it is so of the victorious soldiers
of which we are very proud.
This makes me exceptionally happy as a commanding officer.
The motivation rests of mutual trust and excellent
cooperation with the partners,
and in general, the thoughts are very, very positive.
All this can be analyzed on many layers.
From the increased personnel abilities to
the realistic analyzings of our capabilities
to sustain the troops in the field,
or to work as a part of the larger forces.
I don't have the expectations that
one exercise this size will make all the difference,
but it's important that we continue to train this way
because it will help us to operate together
more objectively if and when necessary.
So, the fact that strategic environment has been
changing on daily basis, each NATO member state
should adapt and better file and prepare to respond
to potential race.
Having that in mind by conducting and exercising
the NATO Enhanced Forward Presence Battalion groups
shows Croatians the strategic intentions.
By doing that, we are promoting interpretability
with allies and regional partners,
and what is most important is that we are building
our trust and belief that we can rely on each other.
I really enjoy too much working with all
contributing partners here
in this exercise.
That's such huge experience.
I mean, even the Croatians because with some of them,
I never worked in Croatia and while doing that here,
I'm really, you know, enjoying in having more time
to spend with them.
Not just during the working hours, but you know,
after working hours.
It's, you know,
it's such good feeling
in getting some informations, even private informations
by some staff that you are commanding with.
You know, that's the huge privilege I got here.