Good morning,
I am Captain Marjan Sirk of the Slovenian Armed Forces. My current assignment is Executive Officer and Deputy Commander of 17th Military Police Battalion. It’s an honor for me to present a short briefing on my unit and our collaboration and experience in MSU. The scope of this briefing is to introduce of 17th MP Battalion of Slovenian Armed Forces and its current organization and to emphasize training for PSO (Peace Support Operation) in Bosnia and Herzegovina and our experience from this mission. I will proceed through the following steps: - historical overview; - 17th MP BN tasks; - unit structure C2 and composition; - peace time deployment of MP units in Slovenia; - education and training; - international cooperation, training for PSO and deployment in Bosnia and Herzegovina; - PSO Joint Forge in Bosnia and Herzegovina and some experience. On 9th June 1991 the first military police platoon was formed.
In May 1992 this platoon was transformed into the 107th Military police Company and we had other 7 MP platoons on other locations but under a different chain of command - that means not in the same unit. In January 1998 the 107th MP Coy was expanded into 17th MP Battalion. In February 1999, we deployed 1st MP Platoon in PSO Joint Forge in Bosnia and Herzegovina - in MSU. In May 2001, the new organizational structure of the 17th MP BN obtained that all MP units in SAF are in the same chain of command. Since February 2002, 17th MP BN has been part of 1.BR. According to its mission the battalion performs military law and order operations, and traffic control. It performs selective tasks associated with the investigation of criminal acts in Slovenian Armed Forces and provides the security of key defense installations. MP protects the Supreme Commander of SAF, the President of the Republic of Slovenia, in warfare, military facilities and facilities of special importance for defense purposes. MP performs other specific tasks in peacetime and war. There is current unit structure: HQ-Logistic Platoon, Three Coys (2nd and 3rd are different, because they are dislocated), Special Purpose platoon, training unit and Security Coy (on General Staff ).
The Headquarters and a part of the battalion are located in Ljubljana. Other units can be found in eight different locations across Slovenia. Two dislocated Coys in Postojna and Celje have two dislocated platoons each. All members of our unit are trained during these three steps. And after those steps they could be candidates for peace support operations. After the basic training program we have advanced training programs, too. The 17th Military Police Battalion is also active in the international arena. We participated in international military exercises. And we train and prepare military police units that take part in the NATO-led peace support operation JOINT FORGE in Bosnia and Herzegovina. We have performed training for PSO during 2 phases in Slovenia and 1 phase in the theater. 70 The question of experience and lessons learned from PSO are of vital importance for us. Not only for SAF but also for other institutions. Defence Studies Centre of the Social Sciences Institute at the Faculty of Social Sciences is conducting a survey entitled The Role of the SAF in Peace Support Operations, financed by RS Ministry of Defense and RS Ministry of Education, Science and Sport. The survey comprises those SAF units, which take part in international PSO. Thank you very much for your attention.
(*) - Captain of the Slovenian Armed Forces.