LTC Tomaž Pavlič SVN (A): MW COE

The NATO MW COE organized the 5^th Mountain Warfare (MW) Congress, dedicated to Vertical Manoeuvre in Mountain Warfare, from 2-6 October 2023, in Brdo, Slovenia.

The 5^th MW Congress was part of a series of annual events organized under the auspices of the MW COE on topics related to mountain warfare. Encouraged by the success of the previous MW Congresses and positive feedback from the Community of Interest, the MW COE continued with these activities in 2023.

At this MW Congress more than 130 participants heard an ensemble of speakers ranging from mountain unit experts in vertical manoeuvre in mountain warfare to military and civilian scientists. Real life cases presented different nations’ experiences of their preparation processes for mountain warfare. To open the Congress, COL Leon Holc, the Director of the MW COE, and LT GEN Ignazio Gamba, the Commander of the Alpine Troops Command, set its general frame and context; then speakers and experts from different nations and specified domains demonstrated both the military and civilian points of view, thus enabling the participants to reach their own conclusions on their responsibility in real military work as decision-makers.

The basic ambition of the Congress was to provide the Community of Interest with recognized deeper knowledge and real-life expertise in vertical manoeuvre. In addition, a short field exercise demonstrated the specific requirements of vertical manoeuvre in mountain warfare, such as different movement techniques in mountainous terrain and logistical support in such environment.

Participants

A total of 133 representatives from 2 non-NATO (Austria, Georgia) and 19 NATO countries (Albania, Belgium, Canada, Croatia, Czechia, Denmark, France, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Montenegro, the Netherlands, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, the United Kingdom and the United States of America) participated in the Congress, representing different commands and units, MW training and civilian educational institutions, Centres of Excellence and mountaineering organizations. During the Congress the activities were conducted by 22 speakers, a moderator and more than 60 representatives from 28 companies as part of the Industry Day.

5th MW Congress speakers and presenters

Once again we had the excellent opportunity to listen to speakers who are top experts in their fields of work. We would like to express our great gratitude for their response and participation in the Congress. The knowledge and experience the speakers shared with the participants was of great value.

We introduce the speakers with great enthusiasm:

1. LTC Dennis Jahn, DEU (A)
2. LTC Miha Kuhar, SVN (A)
3. Stefan Kurz, AUT
4. COL Riccardo Peretto, ITA (A)
5. 1^st SGT Markus Geist, DEU (A)
6. LTC Loic Desilles, FRA (A)
7. LTC Davide Pascoli, ITA (A)
8. MSG Tim Roggatz, DEU (A)
9. MAJ David Würtz (DEU (A)
10. Viktor Bikovs
11. LTC Alessio Alfonso Iozzino, ITA (A)
12. LTC Bernhard Adden, DEU (A)
13. LTC Klaus Rosenkranz, AUT (A)
14. LTC Holger POEPPE, DEU (A)
15. MAJ Ágnes Györfy, PhD, HUN
16. LTC Josef Hager, AUT (A)
17. MAJ Mathias Sporer, AUT (A)
18. COL Tomislav Pušnik, HRV (Air)
19. Sebastian Maygruendter, ITA
20. Mario Schuler, AUT
21. LTC Igor BRINAR – SVN (A)
22. LTC Petr Križ – CZE (A)

The participants came from 21 different countries: 19 NATO + 2 non-NATO