Recognition of Hungarian Military Effort in Afghanistan

December 1, 2009

Colonel Robert Duggleby presents the awards.

On December 1, the Embassy’s Defense Attaché Colonel Robert Duggleby, on behalf of Major General Wayt of the Ohio National Guard, recognized several outstanding members of Hungary’s military at an award ceremony in Szolnok. Colonel Duggleby presented Captain Sándor Mozolai, Lieutenant First Class Miklós Oláh and Sergeant First Class Imre Székely with plaques of appreciation for their exceptional contributions during the Hungarian Operations Mentoring Liaison Team (OMLT) rotation 1.1 to Afghanistan. The plaques were in conjunction with a nomination for the Army Commendation Medals which will be presented by the Ohio National Guard in the near future.

The Ohio National Guard is the United States’ partnership unit with the Hungarian military. They have a highly proactive partnership program and because of this in-depth relationship between allies they were selected to train and deploy simultaneously on OMLT rotations. OMLT rotation 1.2 is currently in Afghanistan and will return to Hungary in February. This deployment arrangement is to create unit cohesion and become a more effective training force that will build and train the new Afghan Army. In the words of Colonel Duggleby, “the Hungarian military has been very supportive in Afghanistan, as well as of other U.S. and NATO endeavors. I am happy to be able to recognize them for their efforts.”