“This is an incredibly important job,” says Mikael Mickels, responsible for the evaluation.
Photographer: Anders Karlsson/Försvarsmakten
Mikael Mickels is head of J7, the department at the NBG Headquarters (F) HQ in charge of training, education and evaluation. He and his colleagues have had a few hectic weeks:
“This is a huge amount of work,” he says.
On the same day the period of readiness ends, the NBG (F) HQ report must be completed and sent to all six countries included in the NBG. Units in the NBG are now completing their experience processing and the Armed Forces Headquarters are also responsible for feedback to the EU after the readiness period.
– “We report what has been achieved, how we worked, what has been good and what can be improved,” says Seppo Määttä from Finland, who also works at J7.
In order to gather as much experience as possible, (F) HQ is organizing seminars with units in the Nordic Battle Group:
“It is very important that we obtain well-analyzed viewpoints on a broad front. The approach that has possibly worked well for our larger units has been more difficult for smaller, specialized units such as the map cell, which consists of only four people,” says Seppo Määttä.
NBG unique
Mikael Mickels thinks that everyone who worked in the NBG should feel proud of what the battle group has achieved:
“What we did in the NBG is in many ways unique. We have had several years to develop and practice different concepts. By taking advantage of good methods and ensuring the transfer of knowledge to our successors, we hope we have contributed to the positive development of the Armed Forces' capabilities,” concludes Mikael Mickels.