Probably the biggest distance to meet with the European Air Transport Command (EATC) made last Friday a group of fifteen senior officers and national representatives, coming from mainly South East Asian countries and being originally part of an EUMS seminar at Brussels.
Welcomed by the Deputy Commander of the EATC, German Brigadier General Jörg Lebert, the visitor group got first a briefing by the Head of Policy Support, Dutch Lieutenant-Colonel Angelique Appels, describing the EATCs operational and functional fields of expertise.
After lunch the visitors used the opportunity to be introduced into an EATC assigned transport aircraft right from the spot: namely the Dutch C-130H Hercules belonging to the 336th squadron at Eindhoven Air Base.
Under the seminar-lead by Polish Lieutenant Colonel Daniel Postek/EUMS the guests therewith got a practical view of what they have noticed so far in theoretical lessons while at Brussels.
The Crisis Management and Planning Directorate (CMPD) and the EU Military Staff (EUMS) had organized this CSDP Orientation Seminar in the framework of the European Security and Defence College (ESDC).
This training activity under the umbrella of the European Security and Defence College aims at familiarising participants with main principles and guidelines of the EU's operational engagement, thereby contributing to a better understanding of EU's Common and Security and Defence Policy - within the context of EU external action.
The visitors in this course came - among others - from Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam, Slovenia, Cyprus and Romania.
Text and picture by Norbert Thomas