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The real story begins in the 1990s, when after the fall of the communist regime, some commanders in the armed forces pushed forward the idea of creating a new, integrated special operations unit, which would become the country's most elite unit and comprise of the best men in the military. At the same time, others wanted to keep the existing order of battle. At that time, the Mountain, Airborne, Marine and Diving structures each had several SOF capable units, ranging from detachment to battalion size. |
Two major events would bring the old ideas back to life. One was the certain NATO membership which at that time was expected to become a reality within the next 2 years. The other was September 11th. |
Thus, the airborne special operations battalions were all re-named "paratrooper battalions", and three of them were disbanded. Those were the 56th Para bn in Caracal-Deveselu, 64th Para bn from Titu-Boteni and the battalion from Campia Turzii. From the scouting formations, the 404th Scouting center, the best in the country, was enveloped in a shadow of secrecy and, unknown to the public for roughly 5 years, became today's HumInt battalion. At least three other scouting battalions were disbanded, including the famous 119th from Oradea, who's men have participated at a large number of international exercises. The commander of the 119th Scouting battalion was col. Constantin Stiop. |
359x380, 29kb JPEG Battalion commander during the ceremony |
The Special Operations Command |
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There is little information available regarding the weapons employed by the battalion. |
General major Sorin Ioan, at that time chief of staff of Ground Forces (right), showing some of the weapons of the 1st bn Eagles to Corneliu Dobritoiu, state secretary for planning and defense policy (left) |
Afghanistan |
Sgt-major Costinel Valerica Slaniceanu and sgt-major Laurentiu Serban Photo from Evenimentul Zilei newspaper |
Iraq |
Iraq |
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