The Effect of Specific Environmental Features on the Activities of the Hungarian Defence Forces in Afghanistan

The environment ― primarily the weather and the terrain ― always has considerable impact on the success of military operations. We have numerous examples in military history when the extreme environment and the hostile weather rendered the implementation of the military leader’s plans difficult or even prevented them. These days when the consequences of climate change play an increasing role in our everyday lives we have to pay special attention to the utilization of the experience gained in our missions. The soldiers of the Hungarian Defence Forces are among the first to meet climatic extremities, considerable temperature fluctuations and diseases unknown so far. This attention is made even more important by the fact that our presence extends from Africa to Asia, thus facing extreme circumstances is inevitable. Concurrently we also have to prepare ourselves for the extremely warm or cold weather in our own country. Both the preparation of our soldiers, their clothing and assets, and our operational procedures have to be thought over. This is the only way to enable our soldiers to concentrate solely on their duties thereby increasing their efficiency and safety. We will review below the practical experience gained by our soldiers in the operations in Afghanistan.