Kosovars Receive Expert Advice from UK Colleagues
Three senior military officers from KSF and three from the Macedonian MAF visit the UK Armed Forces
Three senior military officers from Kosovo Security Force (KSF) personnel department and three colleagues from the Macedonia Armed Forces (MAF), travelled to the UK for five days, from 3-7 March, to learn how the United Kingdom Armed Forces manage and support their people.
The human resource management visit was designed in three clear phases and covered travelling to Scotland and southern England as an opportunity and period for professional development.
The first phase was split into two visits. Firstly, a visit to 3 Rifles, a British Army Infantry Regiment, based in Edinburgh to learn how the Unit supports individuals leaving the Army and supporting soldiers with welfare issues, especially posts Afghanistan tours. The following day was a full day visit to the Army Personnel Centre (APC), Glasgow that saw participants receive various inputs on topics they had requested prior to the visit. This included appraisal & boarding systems; professional development models; cap-badge specific trade management processes and career management in general.
The second phase saw a visit to HMS Excellent in Portsmouth, to see how the Royal Marines (RM) manage their people within a much smaller organisation that related well to the size of the KSF. On the same day, a visit was arranged to the Admiralty Interview Board (AIB), HMS Sultan in Gosport, which is an assessment centre used by the Naval service as part of the Officer selection process for the Royal Navy (RN) and RM. During the stay participants were able to see how the process operates.
The final phase was a visit to the world famous Royal Military Academy Sandhurst (RMAS) in Camberley that saw a full introduction to the training site. Participants even trialled the indoor shooting range. The visit was even made more special when everyone was able to meet up for lunch with the current RMAS KSF Officer Cadet and also two female Officer Cadets from Albania.
Colonel Skender, Head of Personnel Ministry KSF said:
It was a great and extremely worthwhile visit and experience with an ideal opportunity to bring back many good ideas and practices that we will want to implement at a local level.
Lieutenant Colonel David Jones, Adviser to Commander KSF, who organised and co-ordinated the visit said:
It was a very in-depth week, excellent input from all the various units and I believe we definitely received value for money.