On July 7 seven soldiers of the Deployable Communication and Information Systems Module (DCISM) of the Lithuanian Armed Forces Communication and Information Systems Battalion were deployed for a half-year rotation to Iraq in composition of the NATO Signal Battalion, currently on standby for the NATO Response Force (NRF).
The DCISM soldiers will be completing tasks with the NATO Mission Iraq (NMI) forces on the basis of the NATO NRF mandate. The non-combat operation which was greenlighted at the request of the Iraqi Government by the NATO Summit in Brussels in 2018 is designed for training and advising the national security forces and mentoring.
The Seimas of the Republic of Lithuania adopted a resolution allowing Lithuanian servicemembers assigned to multinational NATO headquarters to be deployed to multinational military NATO operations. DCISMs of similar compositions have been sent to the multinational operation in Afghanistan five times over the past several years, four rotations of DCISM soldiers have been deployed to NATO airspace defence operation Active Fence, and one - to the NATO-led peacekeeping mission Kosovo Force (KFOR) in Kosovo.
The DCISM is the only company-sized unit of the Lithuanian Armed Forces assigned to one of the NATO Signal Battalions on a standing basis. It has the status of a NATO multinational military headquarters. The key DCISM mission is to ensure mobile command and control support to temporary or deployable NATO headquarters.
Lithuanian military personnel joined the multinational NATO Mission Iraq in January 2019 - two soldiers of the Lithuanian Armed Forces were deployed to serve at the operational headquarters in Bagdad.
Another six Lithuanian soldiers deployed to the military base in Al-Asad are serving in one more the U.S.-led Operation Inherent Resolve in Iraq. Lithuanian military instructors are delivering a basic infantry skills course for infantry-sized units of the Iraqi Armed Forces. The Lithuanian instructors group is assigned to the Danish Army Contingent together with analogous groups of Latvia and Estonia of the same size.
Currently Lithuania has over 140 soldiers in 11 multinational operations in three continents - in Ukraine in Europe, in Afghanistan, Iraq and Turkey in Asia, and in Mali and the Central African Republic in Africa.
Deployments to multinational operations are a significant expression of Lithuania's international commitments to security, it is also a measure of strengthening the EU Common Security and Defence Policy, NATO collective defence and military cooperation.
According to a public opinion poll carried out by request of the Ministry of National Defence in December 2018, the majority of Lithuania's population support participation of Lithuanian soldiers in multinational operations contributing to the efforts of the international community to sustain peace and stability in the world, prevent inter-state and ethnic conflicts, and fight international terrorism. According to the poll results, 72% of the respondents thought Lithuanian soldiers should be deployed to multinational operations if such was the request of NATO allies. Also, 68% of the respondents agreed that Lithuania should step up its contribution to the fight against international terrorism.
Lithuania has been taking part in multinational operations for 25 years as its share of responsibility for international security. We joined multinational operations only several years into the independence we had regained in 1990.
Related photo by Laura Jokšaitė
