Brunssum, The Netherlands – On 12 June 2024, some 40 international students from the Baltic Defence College (BALTDEFCOL) from Tartu in Estonia paid a visit to Headquarters Allied Joint Force Command Brunssum.
Deputy Chief of Staff for Support, Major General Stefan Fix, German Army, warmly welcomed the students in the rank of Majors and Lieutenant Colonels from Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia, who attend the BALTDEFCOL Joint Command & General Staff Course (JCGSC), at the HQ in Brunssum. They were led by the BALTDEFCOL Commandant, Brigadier General Alvydas Šiuparis of the Lithuanian Army.
After 2021 and 2023, this is the third visit of the BALTDEFCOL Joint Command & General Staff Course to JFC Brunssum as part of a larger International Study Trip to Belgium, Germany and the Netherlands. This trip is an essential educational module of the 11-month course. The objective is to introduce the students of the College to the role of staff members in a Joint multi-national working environment at EU and NATO Commands.
During different encounters with HQ staff, the students were familiarised with the organisation, function, responsibilities and tasks of JFC Brunssum, and they discussed current challenges, structural changes and future strategies of an operational NATO Headquarters in the light of a fast developing security environment.
In his closing address to the students, Deputy Commander JFCBS, Lieutenant General Luis Lanchares, Spanish Army, underlined that for HQ JFC Brunssum visits like this are a perfect opportunity to demonstrate the Headquarters’ support to international military educational institutions. “But our Headquarters may also benefit from your visit”, Gen Lanchares encouraged the students, “as some of you may return to Brunssum in an official working capacity”.
