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First Mountain Warfare Congress
LTC Reinhold Ramesberger ( DEU ), LTC Ales Centa ( SVN ) & Mrs . NataĊĦa Pogorevc ( SVN ) of NATO MW COE .
The first NATO Mountain Warfare ( MW ) Congress was held 12-15 June theme Science meets Real-life-Experience ." This format was not based on opinions but on scientific knowledge and / or experience from actual MW missions such as " Operation Anaconda " or " Operation Dinner Out ." The goal was to give impulses to the participants in order to " learn from knowledge ."
Like all Centers of Excellence , the NATO Mountain Warfare Center ( NATO MW COE ) is mandated to offer validated and generally accepted expertise and experience for the benefit of the Alliance in the assigned domain . For the first MW Congress , the topic " Mountain Warfare and Leadership " was chosen .
In order to meet the requirements of depth and correctness of the statements , the selection of the speakers was predicated on " Excellence ." This ensured that the lectures conveyed indeed verified knowledge and experience , not subjective personal opinions . All lecturers had a scientific background , most of them holding a PhD and / or experience as actual combatants in previous MW operations .
The invitation to the first MW Congress included a total of 71 participants from 14 nations , whose rank extended from Sergeant Major to General .
The Congress framework was set by the Allied Command Transformation ( ACT ) spokesman and CSEL , CSM Jack Johnson , Jr . ( USA ), who explored the complexities of today ' s world and identified the difficulty
Exhibitors inform the participants about new developments of predicting future challenges and crises of all kinds in NATO ' s area of responsibility and interests . With reference to the mountain struggle , he pointed out that this is a challenge by natural factors per se , which requires an in-depth knowledge and experience . All the more so when still unclear and threatening situations intensify the mental , physical and emotional factors .
The next speaker , Peter Lieb , PhD ( DEU ), from the Center for Military History and Social Sciences of the Bundeswehr , took the congress audience on a mental journey through the evolution of Mountain Warfare . He opened his lecture with the Battle of the Thermopylae ( 480 B . C . E .) and then continued his historic journey with insightful intermediate events , such as Hannibal ' s march across the Alps or examples from the Napoleonic wars , before arriving at today ' s International Security Assistance Force ( ISAF ) mission . In particular , he was interested in repeatedly drawing references to the current mountain warfare and thus giving his contribution to " Lessons Learned " from a historical perspective .
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