High school students in Fagaras learn French with the support of NATO military
Joint military exercises on Romanian territory in February.
Agenția Media a Armatei, 21.02.2024, 13:55
The NATO military from France, on a mission to Cincu, central Romania, have forged a partnership with Doamna Stanca National College in Fagaras, with the purpose of helping high school students learn French. For three months now, the French classes at the college in Fagaras are held in the presence and support of the French soldiers. This activity will continue and the French soldiers hope that such classes will also be introduced in other education units in Fagaras and Cincu. “We have initiated this activity in order to boost partnership ties among military in Cincu and Fagaras, especially to get in touch with the students. We are here not only to enhance military forces but also to renew the relations among us “, Francois Xaviar, representing the French troops, said.
This is not the first such event. At the beginning of the month, Brigade General Loic Girard, Deputy Commander of the Southeast Multinational Division Command and French National Representative in Romania, discussed about the military career with students of the French High School in Bucharest. The first French General on duty in Romania after General Berthelot in WW1, Loic Girard is a graduate of the prestigious military school in Saint Cyr. France currently has around 1,000-1,200 soldiers in Romania who train jointly with Romanian and allied soldiers from the NATO Battle Group in rotations lasting 4-6 months. At the same time, in the event of a degradation of the security situation and the increase in the threat level in the region, France has committed to increase the military participation from the current regiment level to brigade level, which is to a force of 4000-5000 soldiers, obviously French and allied troops.
Craiova (southern Romania) hosted at the headquarters of the “Neagoe Basarab”, 26th Infantry Battalion, the authority transfer ceremony of the military contingents from Poland, the 13th and 14th rotations. The Polish military contingent within the South-East Multinational Brigade is part of the joint initiative, with the mission of contributing to ensuring the advanced presence adapted on the Eastern Flank of the Alliance, in accordance with the measures adopted at the NATO Summit in Warsaw in 2016.
At Cincu training base, Belgian and French soldiers with the NATO Battle Group, along with Romanian, Portuguese and North Macedonian detachments from the South-East Multinational Brigade, participated in the allied exercise Eagle Thunder, simulating a battle between armored vehicles. During the exercise, more than 680 NATO soldiers with over 100 armored vehicles trained together for trench and urban warfare and fired with the weapons from the equipment of the armored vehicles. The purpose of this exercise was to strengthen military cooperation among different allied nations, engaging in the field most of the NATO allies present in Romania.
The French soldiers with the NATO Battle Group in Romania, fired real shots from Capu Midia range (south-east), at offshore targets, as part of the Royal Eagle 24.1 exercise. The M270 LRU multiple rocket launchers, 155mm Caesar self-propelled howitzers and 20mm guns mounted on armored vehicles were used. (Bogdan Dinu)
