Romania, the Eastern Flank
A team of the Joint Analysis and Lessons Learned Centre (JALLC) based in Portugal delivered a course for the Romanian Army officers convened at the Military Circle in Bucharest
Agenția Media a Armatei, 02.04.2025, 11:32
The course has offered the participants a deep understanding of the lessons learnt during the military missions on the ground as well as in their planning and implementation process.
During the course, participants had the opportunity of learning from earlier experiences through concrete examples, while the application of the lessons learnt was facilitated through interactive sessions and case studies adjusted to the present context of global security.
In the final conference, Colonel Arturo Sabando, the JALLC’s Lessons Learned Management Division Head, said, quote:
“We have a working programme through which we are offering learning and training activities in the field of lessons learned for approximately 25 various organisations per year, and cooperation with Romania has always been very good.
The objective of this course is to train the personnel of the Defence Chief of Staff and those of the categories of forces in the field of lessons learned. The second aspect of our visit was the involvement of key-leaders. In this way we had the occasion of meeting 16 brigadier generals, brigade commanders and we also had the occasion of interacting with many top-brass of the Romanian armed forces.
The objective of conveying the message of these top-brass was a successful one, because in the world of lessons learned, the involvement of these high-ranking officers is essential. For me it was impressing to see the Palace of Parliament as it was an objective I wanted to visit for a long time. And being for the first time in Romania, that proved to be a very pleasant experience.”
Another major aspect of this course was the officers’ direct interaction with the JALLC instructors and experts. Not only did they get the opportunity of asking questions and tackle major themes related to this aspect of lessons learned but they were also able to share their own experiences from previous missions.
This exchange of information and prospects was considered very important as it allowed for a practical approach of the theoretical issues, easing the immediate implementation of the topics discussed in the future missions.
Lieutenant-Colonel Antonio Antunes, JALLC team leader told us more about the cooperation with the Romanian officers.
“Cooperation with the Romanians, my counterparts here, was very profitable. We were offered everything we needed to create a good environment for teaching, training and learning. In these times so difficult we must try to learn from other people’s errors so that we may avoid making the same mistakes ourselves and paying in human or material resources. Here I had the chance of training a very young generation and I believe that can make a difference in Romania as these people may come with a new approach, a new way of thinking, they can create procedures and of course they can adjust these procedures, because you already have them, you have things that are already functional and can be put into practice.”
The participants in the aforementioned lessons learned course understood that every mission entails unique challenges and the ability to adjust to them and the continuous learning are essential for success. Through the careful assessment of errors and successes in the past missions, officers learnt how to apply the lessons learnt with a view to minimizing risks and maximizing the success of military operations. This type of exchange was beneficial not only for deepening the participants knowledge but also for creating bonds between various types of armed forces which are crucial in building successful joint operations in the future.
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