Slovak soldiers active in international missions have proven in the past seven years that they're extraordinarily reliable, trustworthy, and professional; thus the investment into Slovakia has paid off, NATO Ground Forces Command head and US Lieutenant General Frederick Ben Hodges said during his visit to Slovakia on Thursday.
The Slovak army, however, needs more financial resources, pointed out Lt Gen Hodges. The civilian community needs to come up with an adequate amount of money for the effective operation of the Slovak Armed Forces in order to have soldiers properly trained, equipped and capable of deployment alongside their fellow NATO coalition armies, said Hodges. He added that NATO tasks can be carried out only through a joint coalition effort. “Slovakia has excellent soldiers, who need to be properly prepared, trained and equipped in order to be effective in a coalition environment. It's possible that there might be an American unit, German unit and French unit and all under brigade command of a Slovak brigade. That is a great responsibility resting essentially on the shoulders of your Government: to ensure that your ground forces commander enjoys enough resources to secure such a task,” said Hodges. The Lieutenant General also pointed out that NATO member states made a commitment to invest 2 percent of GDP into defence, however, Slovakia allocates only 1.03 percent to that end. “I hope that the Slovak Government will ensure the two percent. The Government is responsible for the ground forces to have all the resources they need.” Hodges is the first commander of the Allied Land Command (LANDCOM) – created in line with the planned restructuring of the ground forces command in Izmir, Turkey, at the end of 2012. He's responsible for the efficiency of and co-operation between NATO member states. During his visit, he met with Slovak Armed Forces' General Chief of Staff Peter Vojtek, Slovak Armed Forces' Ground Forces commander Ondrej Novosad and inspected the military training facility at Lest.
