Each year in July the cadets of the Croatian Defence Academy “Dr. Franjo Tuđman” take summer camps, applying the skills and knowledge acquired during the academic year. This year they were particularly motivated, because due to the COVID-19 epidemic they were prevented from taking any field training since the winter camps.

The cadets of the 17^th generation of the first-year students of the military study programmes Military Management and Military Engineering honed their skills in the barracks “123. Brigada HV” in Požega and at the nearby training range “Glavica”, and took the Summer Camp along with the previous generation of the second-year students. The Summer Camp 2 was conducted at the military training ground “Gašinci”. The trainees of the Summer Camp 2 (the study programmes Military Maritime Studies” took the training in the Barracks “Admiral flote Sveto Letica-Barba” and in the Kaštela Bay aquatory , while the summer camps 1 and 2 of the Aeronautics studies programme were held in the Barracks “Pukovnik Mirko Vukušić” at Zemunik). The Summer Camp 3 with cadets of the 15^th generation was conducted in the training range “Gakovo”, where the “Hrvatski vojnik” magazine team visited them during the closing exercise.

“This is the first time that the camp has lasted for three weeks, because it comprised the training that was impossible previously because of the epidemic. The cadets are highly motivated, also because they have not trained in the field since their Winter Camps. The first week featured combat drills, and the training was growing more intensive towards the end, with evident tiredness in the third week, but the motivation did not weaken. As Commander I praise both the cadets and their instructors”, said the commander of the 3rd Cadet Company of the 15^th generation of cadets and the Commander of the Summer Camp 3, 1^st Lieutenant Zoran Golubović.

Hands-on training 

The objective of the Camp was to provide cadets with basic knowledge and skills to perform the duties of infantry platoon commanders. It comprised brief presentations and intensive hands-on practice.  As many as 83 cadets of the 3^rd Cadet Company and eight cadets of the 4^th Cadet Company assigned as OPFOR (Opposing Force) and as instructors. They were trained by eight members of the Cadet Battalion and four of the NCO School “Damir Tomljanović Gavran”. “Our priority is that the cadets undergo evaluation as platoon commanders. The Camp features the issuing of OPORD to the cadets in the afternoon for the next day’s operation, nominally featuring two platoons assigned with attack and one platoon assigned with defence. Each operation is followed by a post-action analysis to check the status. After that the cadets take combat drills in the base to rectify the faults in the attack or defence procedures”, said 1^st Lt. Golubović. Talking to the cadets we realised that they missed field training, which is why they successfully completed the extended Camp programme. 

“The Camp features the performance of tactical tasks of infantry platoon, which is basically our first assignment. We dedicated significant effort to the planning, which is demanding because everything has to be defined to the last detail. Each soldier has to know his task and the platoon commander has to be able to present the task to the soldiers. I liked the ambush planning part the most. During the final exercise we executed an attack on a facility with three squads, we stuck to our plan and it was realised fully”, said Cadet Ivana Sivrić, a third-year cadet in the Military Management studies.

Closing exercise

Cadet Andro Dumanić also praised the closing exercise: “It is a great experience to train in the field again. Even with the extended duration of the Camp, the cadets are investing maximum efforts. Over the past three weeks we practiced exercising the role of platoon commander (the platoon in attack and in defence respectively, recce and combat patrols). We appreciated the ambush setting and the procedures taken following the ambush. We also practiced the formal procedures – the planning of attacks – and we realised the importance of planning for the task performance”. The cadets’ motivation and the learning dynamics were commended by 1^st Sergeant Zoran Kušinić, a senior instructor in the Department of Advanced NCO Training of the NCO School “Damir Tomljanović Gavran”.

“Cadets have solved all tasks and acquired skills. Even with an evident lack of tactical training, they have quickly acquired new knowledge. They noticed their mistakes themselves and corrected them quickly. In the final exercise they performed their task as planned and in accordance with the steps learned during the training.  They also showed exemplary commitment and motivation defying unfavourable weather”, said 1^st Sergeant Kušinić. The participants marked the completion of the Summer Camp 3 by providing humanitarian assistance, donating food they collected during the Camp to the Community Kitchen and the Red Cross in Virovitica. “Cadets are always eager to help, just like the entire Croatian Armed Forces,” concluded the Camp Commander, 1^st Lieutenant Golubović.