Cyprus troops to take part in Swiss commando games

IT’S BEEN announced that elite military personal from Cyprus have been invited to take part in the largest commando games in Europe.

The gruelling four-day event, organised by the Swiss Army, involves twenty countries and will be held on the eastern tip of Lake Geneva next month.

The Swiss Raid Commando has a reputation as being one of the most enduring and important military competitions worldwide.

Four members of the Cyprus Special Forces will face demanding assault courses, speed marching and physical endurance tests.

The exercise is primarily aimed at experienced armed force personnel, who compete in a “commando” type exercise under realistic conditions.

“This really is a course for military professionals,” Major Pierre-Yves Franzetti told the Cyprus Mail, “the skills and stamina needed are immense.”

“They will be trained to free hostages, make an ambush or sabotage and other such skills,” he added.

The Cypriot soldiers, normally based at Mount Olympus, will compete in teams which require excellent physical condition as well possessing analytical and above-average judgment skills.

A Member of the Cyprus Special Forces told the Cyprus Mail the exercise was important for team-building, and working in a different environment.

“We get to meet other teams and we see how they work, we often get ideas which we can adapt in the way we work,” he said.

More than 600 participants will compete in exercises, which also help the promotion of inter army exchanges and offers soldiers a possibility to measure themselves with teams from other nations.

Other countries sending troops include Germany, Belgium, Austria, United Kingdom, Greece, Spain, Italy, Estonia, Norway, United States, Netherlands, Finland, Sweden, France and Switzerland.

The first commando exercise was held in 1986 and the events motto is “Vouloir, Croire et Oser” (“Want, Believe and Dare”).

The Cyprus Mail is the only English-language daily newspaper published in Cyprus. It was established in 1945 and today, with its popular and widely-read website, the Cyprus Mail is among the most trusted news sites in Cyprus. The newspaper is not affiliated with any political parties and has always striven to maintain its independence. Over the past 70-plus years, the Cyprus Mail, with a small dedicated team, has covered momentous events in Cyprus’ modern history, chronicling the last gasps of British colonial rule, Cyprus’ truncated independence, the coup and Turkish invasion, and the decades of negotiations to stitch the divided island back together, plus a myriad of scandals, murders, and human interests stories that capture the island and its -people. Observers describe it as politically conservative.