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15th anniversary of Slovenian Armed Forces’ participation in multinational operations and missions
This year, in addition to the 21st anniversary of armed forces’ operation in the independent Republic of Slovenia, the Slovenian Armed Forces (SAF) also celebrates the 15th anniversary of active participation in multinational operations and missions. The first international deployment took place on 14 May 1997, when 21 SAF members were deployed to the OSCE-led operation ALBA in Albania, namely members of the SAF Medical Unit and 4 liaison officers.
Ever since then, the number of deployed SAF members has been gradually increasing. In February 2007, it was the first time for the Slovenian Armed Forces to deploy a battalion-sized unit to a multinational operation. In addition to its own area of responsibility, the unit was for the first time in command of other allied armed forces members.
In 15 years, the Slovenian Armed Forces have acquired international experiences in twenty operations and missions on three continents, whereby, in 1997, some 57 servicemembers on the average were deployed and in 2011, with an average of 452 servicemembers. In 15 years, 7,700 SAF members participated in multinational operations and missions, which means that, on the average, almost all Slovenian servicemembers have been deployed abroad, some even more than once.
Currently, the Slovenian Armed Forces actively participates in 6 different multinational NATO-, EU- and UN-led operations and missions with a total of 423 servicemembers (on 3 May 2012):
- Afghanistan (ISAF): 86 servicemembers
- Bosnia and Herzegovina (Joint Enterprise, Althea):18 servicemembers
- Kosovo (KFOR): 298 servicemembers
- Lebanon (UNIFIL): 14 servicemembers
- Macedonia (Joint Enterprise): 1 servicemember
- Syria (UNTSO): 3 servicemembers
- Somalia (Atalanta): 1 servicemember
- Serbia (Joint Enterprise): 2 servicemembers.
