Over 100 guests, including NATO Joint Force Training Centre’s key staff members, partners and friends, met to inaugurate another year of NATO training at JFTC. Responding to Major General Bogdan Rycerski’s invitation, on 9 January, they participated in the JFTC’s annual New Year’s Reception.
New Year’s Receptions at JFTC create an opportunity to summarise the preceding year, present highlights of the upcoming twelve months and to thank all JFTC partners and friends for their continuous support. This year was no different.
“2024 was a very important and demanding year for us. Although we could probably say the same about all the previous years, the past twelve months were exceptional”, said General Rycerski, highlighting the 20th anniversary JFTC celebrated in 2024 and 25 years of JFTC’s Host Nation, Poland in NATO. “I would like to thank the Bydgoszcz City Council, that decided to proclaim 2024 the year of NATO and JFTC”, the Commander added.
General Rycerski also summed up efforts of the JFTC team in 2024 in the area of training and exercises, to include execution of Exercise LOYAL LEDA 2024, NATO Mission Iraq Pre-Deployment Training series, Coalition Warrior Interoperability Exercise, Exercises STEADFAST PYRAMID and PINNACLE, as well as the Change of Command ceremony.
Introducing 2025, the Commander emphasised two big warfighting exercises planned for the upcoming months – LOYAL LEDA 2025 to be executed in first quarter of the year and LOYAL DOLOS 2025 planned for autumn. He also highlighted the Exercise NATO-Georgia 2025, an event conducted in the spirit of the Partnership for Peace Programme, planned for spring.
Over the year, NATO Joint Force Training Centre will also continue conducting pre-deployment training for the advisory NATO Mission Iraq, supporting Allied Command Transformation in NATO’s largest interoperability testing exercise CWIX, and supporting Allied Command Operations in providing training for NATO key leaders (Exercise STEADFAST PYRAMID/PINNACLE).
Addressing JFTC partners, General Rycerski, expressed deep gratitude for their continuous friendship, good cooperation and support that allowed the Centre to fulfil its mission smoothly.
“I would like to thank all who contributed to our important work – to my personnel at JFTC, our military counterparts, and also to our civilian partners and friends. Without you we would not have been able to execute our exercises the way we did it. Thank you very much” – said General Rycerski.
Representatives of the highest regional and local authorities attended the New Year’s Reception, to include the Kujawsko-Pomorskie Voivode, Mr Michał Sztybel, the Deputy Marshal of Kujawsko-Pomorskie Region, Mr Zbigniew Ostrowski, the Deputy Mayor of Bydgoszcz, Mr Mirosław Kozłowicz, and Bishop Krzysztof Włodarczyk.
