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Weeks 41-42: UN mission starts
The four missile torpedo boats and a support ship will be starting their UN-led operations outside Lebanon on 27 October, after finishing the exercise Brilliant Midas.
| | START SOON: The five vessels will soon start their UN mission. (Photo by Torgeir Haugaard) |
The five vessels are now based around the French city Toulon, where they are in the process of finishing their participation in the NATO exercise Brilliant Midas.
If all goes to plan, the boats will be at the UN base in Limmasol on Cyprus on 23 October. Two days later they will be handed over to the UN maritime force, led by the German Navy. After a couple of days of training with the other members of the force, the four missile torpedo boats will start patrolling Lebanese waters on 27 October.
| | EDUCATION: Major Marianne Mjelde Knutsen thinks the course is important to increase the level of competence among the pilots. She is a pilot herself. (Photo by Atle Mo) |
Europe’s Top Gun school
The elite of European fighter pilots gathered at Ørland main air station in week 42 to participate in the FWIT course.
The FWIT (Fighter Weapons Instructor Traning) is run yearly and focuses on tactics and weapons systems. It lasts for nine months.
Most of the course takes part in Holland, but the time has now come for Norway.
Marianne Mjelde Knutsen, who is a fighter pilot herself, is coordinator for the part of the course that takes place at Ørland.
“The participants will practice night flying and live firing here in Norway,” says Mjelde Knutsen.
American ambassador visits Haakonsvern
The American ambassador to Norway, Ben Whitney, visited the Norwegian naval base Haakonsvern in week 42.
| | IMPRESSED: Ambassador Ben Whitney saw many of the Norwegian Navy’s capacities during his visit to Haakonsvern, among others the submarine “Uredd”. (Photo by Andreas Bjerknes) |
He and the American defence attaché to Norway, James G. Stevens, were given a guided tour around on the base, and they also met with the Norwegian fleet commander, Commodore Håkon Tronstad.
Bilateral arrangement in Afghanistan
Norway and Afghanistan have agreed on a bilateral deal on prisoner treatment. This is important to maintaining human rights in Afghanistan.
The Norwegian Minister of Defence Anne-Grete Strøm-Erichsen signed a deal with her Afghan counterpart Abdul Wardak in week 41.
| | MORE GIRLS: To get the best and most qualified girls to the Armed Forces, it is best to pick from the entire population and not just from a small selection. (Photo by Kim Bjorheim) |
Calling in the girls
Over 60 000 girls and boys born in 1989 got a letter from the Armed Forces in week 42. For the first time in history, both boys and girls will be called in.
It is voluntary for the girls, and the purpose of the letter is to map out how many girls are interested in meeting up.
Meeting up at the tests do not mean that you have to continue in the Armed Forces either.
“The goal is to increase the number of girls in the Armed Forces. Big parts of society are represented in the Forces, and we need to recruit more girls so that the composition mirrors the rest of our society,” says Per Ivar Norman, chief of staff in the conscription service.
Finally in Norway
The brand new coast guard ship “Nornen” docked in Haakonsvern in week 41, about two and a half months delayed from the shipbuilding yard in Stezin in Poland.
| | ENTRANCE: The Norwegian Coast Guard is glad that the “Nornen” finally is in Norway. (Photo by Svein Soleng) |
The ship is equipped with two separate speed boats, one of which is suitable for housing passengers overnight.
“It is loaded with modern equipment, especially concerning our readiness to tackle oil spills,” says captain Terje Rødahl.
The children of war
All the students at the Children of War School in Kabul have lost their parents. After hearing about the conditions at the school, the Nordic officers in Kabul decided to help. Last weekend they received the first donation.
| | HAND SHAKE: Principal Azizi were given the collected funds by Icelandic Gardar Larusson from the ISAF headquarters in Kabul. |
The principal at the school, Abdul Raouf Azizi, works hard to make the ends meet for his hundred or so students. Now he is helped by Nordic officers from a delegation in the ISAF HQ. The first donation from the officers was money as well as books.
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