Looking back at the pre-deployment training…

Instead of writing the usual news after training completion, we decided to interview Tomas Rozehnal, the head of the instructor’s team, about his perception of this year’s 10th pre-deployment training.

What motivates you to organize safety and security pre-deployment training?
There are many things, the biggest is the opportunity to pursue personal growth of participants. Each of them carries off experiences that they cannot get anywhere else. I do not mean theoretical and practical skills that students learn, but the awareness of how much they are able to bear, their ability to work under stress and to cooperate with others.

How was the 10th year of the training for you?
Excellent – it was an average temperature of 8°C, raining and, most importantly, all the participants completed the training. To be honest, I feel that today’s young generation tends to solve problems by talking themselves out of it – but this approach does not always work. Sometimes it is important to bite the bullet and do what you have to do. I was pleasantly surprised by this year group’s physical stamina and the team cohesion. They understood quite soon the meaning of the training – let me quote one participant’s message that we received: “I understood that sweat saves blood and a lot more of sweat saves even more blood” – here I tend to agree.

What have students learnt, what has been the greatest benefit for them?
Simple question but difficult to answer. For sure the students gained a lot of theoretical and practical knowledge. Acquiring these so called survival or primitive skills and ability to use them when needed will give them confidence in case something goes wrong. However, the biggest benefit is the acquired ability to perceive and evaluate risk and most importantly to get to know oneself and understand one’s limits… and to realize that many of these limits can still be pushed forward.

What was unique about this training?
Each and every training is unique and it is up to each and every participant what he/she takes away from it. There is a direct correlation; the more participants give, the more they get. The instructor’s team puts a lot of energy into the training organization and each of them influences it in his/her own special way. Nowadays it is popular to say that we put our hearts in it, I prefer to say we provide energy and experience. Who has taken part in the training, understands the above meaning…