PSY OPS elements have thrown into combat all the arsenal which is specific to psychologycal warfare
Romanian Military's Operation "Vis de toamna" (Autumn Dream) ended this week, after a full month of non-stop wargames. Vis de toamna started only as an idea in the minds of the commanders in january 2000, when at the command of the General Chief of Staff was still general Constantin Degeratu.
In the same time while the largest military training exercise held in Romania since the last 15 years was going on, various other NATO and PfP applications were also on-going throughout the Romanian teritorry, fact which proved that the Romanian Armed Forces are ready to participate in several combat operations in all war theaters, while at the same time fight a major war to free up half of the national teritorry which was suposedly invaded by a major foreign power.
It appears that the Americans and the huge number of other NATO and PfP observers present at these separate exercises did not only gave the maximum qualifications for the Romanian Armed Forces after they were all over, but they were also extremely impressed by the promptidude, quality and professionalism of the Romanian wargames and also with the speed with which all the operations had been executed.
From january 2000 and until now, there have been radical changes within the military structures, general Chelaru and the defense ministers have been changed with a new general in command of the General Chief of Staff, general Chelaru and the new Defence minister is Mr. Sorin Frunzaverde.
Those changes have not affected in any way the planning and the conduct of Forta 2000, for which the preparations were still on schedule.
However, general Chelaru added some modifications to the original planning, by introducing "military operations other than war" in all the geographical threaters. Despite some financial lackings, the ideas on the paper started to materialize... Vis de toamna (Autumn dream) was beginning...
Testing the C&C system by shortcutting the intermediary command chains
All the men that have participated to this exercise are a part of the active force structures of the Romanian Armed Forces.
During this whole year (2000), the soldiers have not participated in any major training exercises, saving their money for the Autumn Dream...
...because in the autumn, you count the rookies, as an old Romanian saying goes.
And so it begins... All the participant units have been put under the highest state of alert ever since the end of june. The alert has been issued with the new NATO standards, using colors and specific combinations of numbers and letters. This was a change, letting back the old communist state of alerts which were coded with states ranging from minus one (-1), zero (0) and plus one (+1), and also -2 and +2, while at the same time using an encoded message ("Mihai Viteazul", "Stefan cel Mare" being transmitted down thru the command chain).
At Harsova, Cincu, the Dambovicoara Keys, the Rasnov Keys and at the SAM firing range at Capul Midia, the Armed Forces have started firing with live ammunition.
Also, during all this time, various chains of commands have been cut by the exercise's coordinators to test if the forces can still act as a whole while at the same time take independent decision if, at various levels, they could lose their commanding officers or lose communications. Although the actual facts of these testings as well as exactly what lines of communications were cut are classified information, the results are not and they are extremely good as well.
PSYOPS using national private TV stations
A special role during "Vis de toamna" was attributed to the PSYOPS force, or namely the "Psychologycal Actions Department" as it was named at the time. Together with the Technical Center for Psychologycal Operations of the General Chief of Staff, the PSYOPS have used new equipment to convince the enemy to surrender, while at the same time encouraging the Blue Forces of the importance of their mission to free the motherland.
At the Ground Forces most important testing and firing range, Cincu, situated in the district of Sibiu (where the Chief of Staff of the Ground Forces is also located), the PSYOPS have used the new GELA-type grenade as well as new models of tears gas, smell-gas and smokescreens. In Cincu, but also in Cheile Rasnoavei, the Puma helicopters acted as a psychologycal detearence force with the help of "The Voice in the Sky", a method which has long been used to influence the course of conflicts or stand-offs.
The Special Forces
Perhaps the strongest and most convincing action of the PSYOPS was to "manufacture" fake news buletins of the national top-ranking private TV stations Antena 1 and PRO TV, in which nationally-known news presentors were broadcasting news about the invasion of Romania, and how a large part of the country has been conquered by the invading force. The PRO TV news buletin was presented by Cristian Tabara, a well-known national figure.
Cristi Tabara talked in his broadcast about the loses suffered by the Blue Forces while fighting the Red Forces which have invaded Romania and captured a part of it, and about the imminent counter-offensive of the Blue Forces to free the country.
A first for Romania, at the Cincu firing range, firing live ammunition in the presence of the President happened for the first time. Before 1989, such a thing would have never been accepted. Also at Cincu, a Puma transport and attack helicoptered fired the new X-5 air-to-ground super-missile, which raised problems about the security of the head of the state, which was supposed to stay in a bunker and view that demonstration. In the end, Emil Constantinescu stayed outside in the official tribune, while the missile went in front of the tribune and headed straight to its target.
But it was the Special Forces who really impressed everybody.
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Over 10,000 soldiers participated to this exercise
Scheduled between September 2nd and September 29th, Program "Vis de toamna" ended with Operation Forta 2000. The total cost of the operations raised up to around 320 billion lei, meaning aprox. 16 million dollars. At that time that was almoust as much as the Romanian Armed Forces would spend for training in half a year.
| Note The funding for training in the Romanian Armed Forces have increased more than ten-fold since September 2000. Added to those 10-15 times increase in the funding for training, the size of the military reduced itself to half. Added November 2002 |
Commanding officer of the General Chief of Staff, general Mircea Chelaru stated: "Forta 2000 is a very severe maturity test for the officers. It's easy to be named "commander", but it's difficult to command."
Locations of the Operations
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Cincu |
Cheile Rasnoavei
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Harsova |
Waking up from "The Dream"
Right now, the soldiers are back in the barracks, the commanders are in their offices and the foreign military attaches are at home. The final report is being prepared at the Ministry of Defense.
Hopefully, the Scouts will soon receive their 100 Hamster fighting vehicles (Romanian version of the HUMVIE), which were promised to them by -at that time- prime-minister Mugur Isarescu, and also hopefully, the Special Forces will completely be equipped with the "Future Fighter" ultramodern military equipment for special operations. That is also the desire of General Popescu.
The PSYOPS would also like more IAR-330H and IAR-330L helicopters with digital broadcasting equipment, so that "The Voice in the Sky" would be more efficient and dispose of more... "voices" :).
In the real end...
Vis de toamna and Forta 2000, together with all the other applications, Cooperative Partner 2000, Cooperative Key 2000, Cooperative Best Effort 2000, Carpathian Express, Joint Efforts Blue Danube, Linked Seas 2000, Eastern Climb 2000 and Team Dacia 2000 are but a few examples of applications, operations and exercises performed by the Romanian Armed Forces together with reggular and Special Operations forces from NATO and also PfP countries this year (2000). They ensure the full compatibility of the Romanian Armed Forces with their allied partners and the potential of Romania to export not only security, but also military forces to ensure world peace by actively participating at peace-keeping missions, all over the world.
Added 2002:
The Gulf War (1991), Angola, Albania, Somalia, Bosnia-Hertegovina, Kosovo, Macedonia, Afganistan, Congo, Ethiopia, Eritrea, The Gulf War (2003)...all those operations in which Romania has been involved are a living proof of the capabilities that will project Romania and its Armed Forces into this century's Global geo-strategic status-quo.
©2000 by Sorin
A Crasmarelu
October 2000
updated November 2002
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