Today, on the occasion of the fiftieth anniversary of the establishment of the NATO Joint Force Command (JFC) in Brunssum, the staff of the base and the local community joined together to celebrate the event together.
At the ceremony attended by the king of the Netherlands, his majesty Willem-Alexander, were attended by other high authorities, including the deputy secretary general, Mrs Rose Gottemoeller, the Dutch Minister of Defense, Ms. Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert, the supreme allied commander Europe, General Curtis M. Scaparrotti, the governor of Limburg, Theo Bovens, the mayor of Brunssum, Luc Winants and the commander JFC Brunssum, General Salvatore Farina.
The anniversary was celebrated with some important activities that took place throughout the day. From the most "formal", such as the inauguration of the new wing of the NATO command and a monument dedicated to the Fiftieth, in addition to a military parade, we have moved to the less "formal", but equally significant, from the concerts of the bands, at the meeting between family members, at exhibitions.
In the various interventions that followed, the speakers wanted to underline, as a common factor, the perfect integration between the NATO command and the local community. Defense Minister of the Netherlands, Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert, underlined "how the interests of an evolved nation like Holland, which benefits from a climate of stability and order, fit perfectly with the Alliance's mission which, in addition to protecting from possible aggressions, promotes and preserves peace in the world ".
The deputy secretary general, Rose Gottemoeller, focused on "how important is the role of the JFC of Brunssum that, with its commitments, including the Nato Response Force (NRF), the mission in Afghanistan" Resolute Support "(RS) and the enhanced Forward Presence (eFP) has shown that it knows how to adapt perfectly to the new challenges of the Alliance ".
The supreme allied commander Europe, General Curtis M. Scaparrotti highlighted "how this event does not represent only an event happened 50 years ago, but a celebration of 50 years of friendship, support and community, a shared story to be proud of".
Both the general Salvatore Farina - who since March of 2016 is the first Italian in command of the JFC - and the mayor of Brunssum, Luc Winants, have wanted to remember how important is the genuine, robust collaboration that has established between the staff of the Base, the population and its institutions during this half century of permanence.
The presence of a group of Dutch veterans during the day's events, culminating with the military parade that saw them parading, has made evident the continuity between past and present as a key element for the success of future challenges.
The commander also wanted to underline how his motto, coined on a previous occasion - "more toghether" - is easily adaptable not only to the approach to the NATO mission, but also to relations with the citizens, hoping for a lasting and ever stronger cohesive "more and together".
From the Brunssum Command depend on:
RESOLUTE SUPPORT (RS) mission "RS", active in Afghanistan, to which the Italian armed forces contribute significantly. The purpose of the mission is to guarantee the stability of the country by providing advice and assistance to the Afghan security forces and local institutions.
NATO RESPONSE FORCE (NRF) The Brunssum Command is responsible for planning, preparing and managing the deployment of the NATO NRF Rapid Response Force in annual alternation with the JFC Command of Naples. The NRF is the force capable of reacting, if activated by the Atlantic Council, very quickly in response to various types of crises around the world. In 2016, the NRF saw its consistency increase to 40.000 men and women, and was able to count for the first time on the new high-readiness component, the VJTF (Very High Readiness Joint Task Force): these measures were decided in the as part of the "Readiness Action Plan" (RAP) conceived in 2014.
ENHANCED FORWARD PRESENCE (eFP) The eFP provides for the strengthening of the military presence in the eastern part of the Alliance territory, through the deployment of multinational 4 battle groups, three of which are already deployed: a German leader in Lithuania, a US leader in Poland , a British leader in Estonia and, by the end of June, the last Canadian-led battle group will be relocated to Latvia. With this last department, the eFP device will be completed, as established by the NATO member states at the 2016 Warsaw Summit, to meet the growing need for security in the region.
In addition to the battle groups, the network of eight NATO Force Integration Units (NFIU) active along the eastern side of the Alliance as part of the collective defense measures provided for in the "Readiness Action Plan "(RAP).
