Croatian Land Forces Commander Visits Landcom

IZMIR-Turkey Lieutenant General (Lt. Gen.) Mate Ostović, Croatian Land Forces Commander, visited Allied Land Command (LANDCOM) on March 14, 2016. LT. Gen. Ostović was greeted by the LANDCOM Acting Commander, Lt. Gen. Paolo Ruggiero, LANDCOM Chief of Staff Major General Salih Sevil and Sergeant Major James Combs.

After an office call with the LANDCOM command group, Lt. Gen. Ostović briefings by several members of the LANDCOM staff. The presentations addressed a variety of topics including an operational overview, the LANDCOM mission and its planning process, training and exercise support, the Readiness Action Plan (RAP), the NATO Response Force (NRF), Very High Readiness Joint Task Force (VJTF) and the humanitarian crisis and the possible implications on LANDCOM. Lt. Gen Ostovic expressed his gratitude to the LANDCOM staff for their presentations saying, "I am sure this visit will help me, especially in the area of training and exercises.”

Allied Land Command was activated in Izmir, Turkey in November 2012 as a result of a unanimous Alliance decision from the Chicago Summit of 2012 to reduce the number of major headquarters. As part of that transition, LANDCOM replaced the Forces Command Heidelberg and the Forces Command Madrid, both of which had staffs of 500 people. LANDCOM attained full operational capability in December 2014, and it operates with a staff strength of 350 people.