Reorganization of Polish special forces

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Edited by: boletus Jul 7, 11, 20:57 #1

some excerpts translated from http://www.altair.com.pl/start-6034
2011-03-28

On June 30, a new special military unit - Jednostka Wojskowa Agat, JW Agat - a subordinate to Krakow's Special Forces Command was created on the basis of the Military Police Special Branch Gliwice (Oddział Specjalny Żandarmerii Wojskowej Gliwice - OSŻWG, established just in 2005), while the OSŻWG unit was formally dissolved. The first candidates for the future special soldiers will be selected from about 600 former gendarmes. The first stage of forming of the unit will last till the end of 2011. The first combat ready subunits should be operative by the end of 2014, the entire JW Agat - by the year 2016. The commander of the unit is Col. Sławomir Berdychowski, former Grom operator. The year 2014 is not accidental here, because this is the year when Poland becomes part of high command of NATO's special operations.

The name "Agat" comes from a WWII code-name of a combat subversion unit "Agat" (short for Anti-Gestapo) of Destruction and Sabotage Command (Kedyw), subordinated to Headquarters of Home Army in Poland. "Agat" will be an airborne and air assault military unit, tasked with safeguarding and supporting role during actions of the other special units commanded by Special Forces Command (DWS) - such as JW Grom, JW Komandosów, JW Formoza and JW Nil.

So far only some detached military units of regular land forces have been used in this role, but - as our own and other countries' experience shows - the dedicated kinetic support units are preferable for such tasks. The closest example of similar existing units are the British Special Forces Support Group (SFSG) (battalion size, formed in 2006) and the American 75th Ranger Regiment. It is thought that in the future the new Agat unit will be the most intensively exploited formation of special forces; it will be present in all operations and it will be equipped with heavy machine guns and antitank weapons.

Future soldiers of all Polish Special Forces will be receiving their first basic training in JW Agat, in Gliwice. The unit will be well saturated with privates and noncommissioned officers - providing drills and other training. After the basic training, volunteers will be subjected to more specialized selection and then passed on other special units.

At the same time, as of 1 July 1st, 2011 the existing special units have had their names simplified: JW GROM, JW Komandosów (former: the 1st Special Commando Regiment, Pułk Specjalny Komandosów), JW Formosa (former: the Naval Special Operations Unit Formoza, Morska Jednostka Działań Specjalnych Formoza) and JW Nil (*) (former: the Support Unit of Command and Security of Special Forces "Nil", Jednostka Wsparcia Dowodzenia i Zabezpieczenia Wojsk Specjalnych "Nila").

(*) In anticipation of possible silly jokes I hurry to report that the unit name "Nil" (English "Nile" not "nil") was a nome de guerre of Brig. Gen. August Emil Fieldorf, war time commander of KEDYW (sabotage and destruction).

donteskThreads: 1 Posts: 2 Joined: Jul 8, 11 ♂	Jul 8, 11, 02:10 #2
Nobody cares. They have been the laughing stock of many elite forces throughout the decades.

skysoulmateThreads: 41 Posts: 3,039 Joined: Jan 10, 10 ♂	Jul 8, 11, 03:18 #3
dontesk: Nobody cares. They have been the laughing stock of many elite forces throughout the decades. That's a bunch of hogwash. I've personally talked with our (US) special ops guys in Afghanistan and they had a very high opinion of the Polish special ops forces.

wildroverThreads: 180 Posts: 8,188 Joined: Jun 7, 07 ♂	Jul 8, 11, 03:21 #4
dontesk: Nobody cares. You cared enough to make a comment on the matter.... Try not to do it again....

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Jul 8, 11, 04:48 #5

dontesk:

Nobody cares. They have been the laughing stock of many elite forces throughout the decades.

Can someone get rid of this troll?

First when i saw his thread about some Polish guy that got beaten to death i just thought he wanted to discuss the matter. But now i realize that he is just a troll that want to trash talk Poland on the internet.

Maybe the admin can check if he is an sub acc to another member on this forum?

♂

Edited by: MediaWatch Jul 8, 11, 08:47 #6

dontesk:

Nobody cares. They have been the laughing stock of many elite forces throughout the decades.

That's a bunch of baloney. I've seen American generals on TV speak highly of the Polish GROM special forces.

skysoulmate:

That's a bunch of hogwash. I've personally talked with our (US) special ops guys in Afghanistan and they had a very high opinion of the Polish special ops forces.

This is true.

Not only that, American military and American special forces have spoken highly of the Polish GROM special forces in securing Iraqi ports in the beginning of the 2003 Iraq operation. They also did well in securing other Iraqi positions they were assigned to. As far as special forces go, they are a world class organization.

skysoulmateThreads: 41 Posts: 3,039 Joined: Jan 10, 10 ♂	Jul 8, 11, 14:17 #7
David_18: Can someone get rid of this troll? Maybe his real screen name is Donetsk? Either the Ukrainian or the Russian version?

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Edited by: boletus Jul 8, 11, 14:47 #8

Far from being overly enthusiastic about the role and the contribution of Poles to ISAF effort in Afghanistan I think credit needs to be given where credit is due. The current, 9th, rotation of Polish Military Contingent (PKW) seems to be quite busy on many fronts.

Bases are empty most of the time; anything on wheels rolls out daily. Intelligence (SWW) and counterespionage (SKW) services are effective again (after dissolution of WSI in 2006 several first PKW rotations were left completely blind) and provide very useful information to the troops, especially to special operation forces JW Grom and JW Komandosów. Rumors of favoritism and of unhealthy ambitions seem to be thing of the past, and both formations are simply too busy doing what they suppose to do. Equipment is much better and surveillance "eye on the sky" quite effective. The core of the troops, 17th Wielkopolska Brigade, is a well trained modern unit. And last but not least - their commander, Brig. Gen. Sławomir Wojciechowski deserves good credit too.

Early this spring a commander of TF-50, made up of the soldiers from JW Komandosów and JW Formoza (I think), was awarded the American Meritorious Service Medal. They do not give medals for nothing. TF-50 participated in numerous combat operations during their deployment, including several catches from the Joint Prioritized Effects List.

Just an old random note I found somewhere:

A couple of your operations over the past couple of weeks were complimented directly by COM ISAF, Gen Petraeus.

Yesterday morning when we reported your vehicle check point of 2 days ago (10 Jan) that resulted in detention of a jackpot and weapons recovery, he asked me to pass on to you he thought that was a great Op for your PRC.

Second, I reported your partnered operation from last week where you recovered several prepared IEDs as weil as other IED components in my weekly personal report to COMISAF. He again replied back to that report that it was an excellent operation and undoubtedly saved lives by preventing those IEDs from being emplaced.
(...)

Thanks again. Please pass this on to your Polish Chain of Command.

COL XXXXXXXXX
DCOM ISAF SOF

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