The transfer of authority between ROFND XVII and ROFND XVIII Detachments occurred in Camp Villaggio Base, Kosovo at the end of the week, with the participation of the representatives of the nations participating in the Multinational Brigade West.
Brigade General Giovanni Armentani, commander of the Multinational Brigade West, in his address, thanked to ROFND XVII Detachment for the activity and appreciated the qualities of the Romanian Marines and wished them a safety trip home and as for the ROFND XVIII Detachment, he wished them good luck in their mission.
During the ceremony they awarded medals to the Romanian militaries with special merits in their missions and to some Italian militaries that especially supported our Detachment. The ceremony ended with the participants' parade.
The ROFND XVIII Detachment consisting of militaries from the 307th Marines and commanded by Major Remus Melinte will end their mandate within KFOR. The Detachment performed the peace support missions within Task Force Aquila, subordinated to the Multinational Brigade West. In the six months in Kosovo the Marines performed more than 3,000 missions of patrol, observation, and traffic control, logistic and medical assistance for the locals. They run more than 50,000 km by their mechanized equipment.
The ROFND XVIII consists of militaries from the 60th Paratroopers Baneasa-Otopeni and is commanded by Major Ionut Gheorghe. During the authority handing over ceremony the Detachment was subordinated to Colonel Benedetto Speranza, the Task Force Aquila commander. In the six month mandate, the militaries will perform the peace support missions.
The Detachment will be endowed, for the first time in this theater of operations, with the multi role URO-VAMTAC vehicles.

MoND Press Office