“Peace Shield - 2013 ” Completed at Bulboaca Training Ground

Chisinau, July 4, 2013 — Over 150 servicemembers of the National Army and Romanian Army participated at the peacekeeping exercise “Peace Shield — 2013”, that ended today at Bulboaca Military Training Ground.

Minister of Defense, Vitalie Marinuta, appreciated the importance of the exercise for Moldovan servicemembers’ training, in compliance with the international standards. “We are at the stage when the National Army Staff grows professionally through training and professional development, in compliance with the Operational Capabilities Concept (OCC). By taking part in ‘Peace Shield — 2013’ exercise, we make one more step in the National Army reform implementation process”, Vitalie Marinuta specified.

The Minister of Defense mentioned that the evaluated servicemembers from the 22^nd Peacekeeping Battalion showed good results in all the missions. “For us it is important to be evaluated at the highest level, to get the right to participate at UN-led peacekeeping operations. I am proud of our servicemembers’ achievements, who trained hard to pass successfully to the next evaluation stage”, Marinuta noted.

The commander of the Romanian contingent of the “Peace Shield −2013” exercise, LTC Claudiu Lupuleasa, has highly appreciated the cooperation between the servicemembers of the 15^th Brigade from Iasi and the 22^nd Peacekeeping Battalion. Our mission was to support the evaluation of the Mortar Battery of the Moldovan army. During the exercise, the servicemembers carried out peacekeeping missions, by applying joint tactical operating procedures, in compliance with the NATO-based standards. This fact facilitated the cooperation between the two armies", LTC Lupuleasa said.

The servicemembers were evaluated by 12 national observers, two OCC experts from Ukraine and Italy, that assisted and observed the National Army’s units, by counseling and using the best practices from theaters of operations.

The “Peace-Shield −2013” exercise brought together 150 servicemembers, including 24 soldiers from the Romanian Army. The infantry units executed about 25 peacekeeping tactical missions at different training sites, including patrol, medical evacuation, convoy escort, guard of strategic sites and resistance in case of attack, as well as control at checkpoints.

In 2012, the infantry company of the 22^nd Peacekeeping Battalion and the EOD group of Codru Engineering Battalion were certified to take part in international peacekeeping operations.

The National Army joined OCC in 2007. This concept is a cooperation tool within the Partnership for Peace Program designed to implement NATO-based standards in the training and evaluation process of declared units and readiness of Republic of Moldova for taking part in multinational peacekeeping operations.