The five-day exercise “Immediate Response 23” at the main military training ground “Manjača” has officially ended today, June 1, 2023. The exercise was implemented according to the Concept of Operational Capabilities (OCC E&F), which builds, achieves and verifies the interoperability and operational capability of declared units for participation in NATO-led operations.
During the exercise, the practical part of the national courses for evaluators and managers of the evaluation database at the national level under the OCC E&F program was implemented.
The courses were implemented by the Command for Training and Doctrine (KOiD), as well as individual professional-specialist training that was recognized by NATO.
The NATO representative presented the NATO OCC E&F certificates on the completion of the mentioned courses. Thus, the Armed Forces of Bosnia and Herzegovina strengthened their capabilities qualitatively and expanded the evaluation pool of forces at the national and NATO level of evaluation of commands and units.
The evaluation team, composed of evaluators of OCC E&F OS BiH instructors and candidate-participants of the courses, evaluated the operational capabilities of the Battalion Group of Light Infantry (BGLP) with the aim of conditioning and maintaining the achieved level of combat readiness.
Consequently, units on the ground handled various tactical tasks according to the given scenario, which included, among others, checkpoint protection, convoy protection, base attack defense, neutralization of insurgent forces, crowd control, medical evacuation, airlift, disposal of improvised explosive devices and similarly, which demonstrated the achieved level of declared operational capabilities.
The exercise was managed by the exercise directorate led by Brigadier Slaven Blavicki, and the evaluation apparatus consisted of 22 candidate evaluators.
During the implementation of the exercise, the members of the Armed Forces of Bosnia and Herzegovina showed an exceptional level of training, professionalism, dedication and commitment, and ultimately demonstrated their ability to participate in international peace support operations and NATO-led exercises, which is confirmed by the final report of the evaluation team, which states that is the Battalion Group of Light Infantry of the Armed Forces of Bosnia and Herzegovina, combat ready according to the declared category of combat readiness.