CZECH MATES

摘要

WHILE the British Army's renewed focus on defence engagement has led to a number of new initiatives, one outfit has been quietly going about the business of creating enduring relationships with foreign armed forces for nearly two decades. The British Military Advisory and Training Team (BMATT) in the Czech Republic was set up back in 2000, when the central European nation had just joined Nato and wanted to raise its standards and procedures to bring them into line with other member states. The MoD took up the baton to help and a jointly-run organisation, based at the Czech Armed Forces' Vojenska Akademie in Vyskov, was created. Since then UK personnel, together with a growing number of Czech staff, have been providing a range of highly regarded train-the-trainer packages (page 36) in the town and through teams who deploy to participating countries.