Military reps of 20 countries attend "Shield 04" exercise

BUJANOVAC - Military representatives from 20 countries visited "South" (Jug) military base near Bujanovac in southern Serbia on Thursday, where about 270 members of the Serbian Armed Forces (VS) are taking part in an exercise titled "Shield 04" as part of preparations for participation in UN and EU peacekeeping missions.

The exercise is taking place on September 9-12, and participating are a motorized infantry company, a military police platoon and a CBRN platoon of the VS.

The aim of the exercise is to evaluate the achieved level of combat readiness, by NATO's Operational Capabilities Concept, of units chosen to participate in multinational operations.

The soldiers who took part in the exercise have been preparing for international peacekeeping operations for three years now, and some of them have already taken part in UN peacekeeping missions in Lebanon and Cyprus.

"Shield 04" involved simulated attacks on an international mission's base and civil disturbance control near the base. The exercise is being evaluated by officers from Austria, Armenia, Sweden, Montenegro, Bosnia-Herzegovina and Macedonia.

If the units participating in "Shield 04" meet the NATO Level 2 Evaluation criteria, "they will be awarded a certificate showing that they have successfully delivered on military capability expectations as based on the ‘Operational Capabilities Concept'," VS Col. Milan Radovanovic told Tanjug. He added that it would be the first such certificate to be given a VS unit.

The foreign military evaluators, who have been evaluating exercises and following VS units' activities over the past four years, say that they are satisfied with what the Serbian soldiers have showed them.

Armenian Lt. Col....