and four others were injured when they were attempting to disarm a World War II bomb Polish Defense Minister Mariusz Blaszczak reports The bomb was found last week by individuals in a forest outside the city of Kuznia Raciborska, in the southern parts of the country Undetected bombs are regularly discovered in Poland and several other European countries involved in World War II were evacuated while a bomb from World War II was disarmed in the city Air Ministry Second World War Official Collection Click here for CTIF Hours of Operation: Click here to Contact Communications & Website Maintenance © 2017 International Association of Fire and Rescue Services
 Tweets by ctif_org who six years ago was the Buzdygany Winner in online voting of polska-zbrojna.pl readers He was awarded for activating veterans within the Project Warrior he did not intend to put the statuette on the shelf to please his eyes the statuette was auctioned off to help raise money for the activities of the Association of Families of Fallen Soldiers ‘Memory and Future’ (Stowarzyszenie Rodzin Poległych Żołnierzy „Pamięć i Przyszłość”) by the soldiers of the 12th Wielkopolska Territorial Defense Brigade (12th WBOT) they decided to return it,” recalls Col Szczepan Głuszczak the Buzdygany statuette has been auctioned off seven more times The mechanism was the same every time: the auction winner would return the statuette to the former owner and he would send it out to the world again we collected tens of thousands of Polish zlotys the families of soldiers who died on the mission of the sappers who died while disarming the unexploded bomb in Kuźnia Raciborska or the Warsaw Uprising insurgent who needed rehabilitation,” lists Col Szczepan Głuszczak The Buzdygany statuette is now on exhibition in the Hall of Tradition in the Veteran Center for Activities Outside National Borders (Centrum Weterana) The then commander of the 19th Mechanized Brigade in Lublin was appreciated for “introducing a new type of leader into the army.” On his way to the gala in Warsaw he remembered the history of Col (Res) Szczepan Głuszczak’s statuette was handed the award from the owner after the first auction he announced that his statuette would also be put up for auction “We organized an event and auctioned 38,000 zlotys for the renovation of the flood-damaged kindergarten in Stronie Śląskie,” says BrigGen Rafał Miernik The new statuette owners also did not intend to keep it it is exhibited in the Hall of Tradition in the Lublin brigade “This is the most appropriate place for it is the effect of the work of all my soldiers,” the officer explains Even if the good done by the Buzdygany Awards does not take such impressive forms regularly The statuettes awarded by Polska Zbrojna help to bring exceptional people out of the shadows People who dare to implement innovative ideas and change the face of the army we are talking about an institution that is strictly hierarchical and firmly embedded in the framework of regulations and procedures it might seem that there is little room for individuality in it though – exceptional personalities are also valued in the army which gives them much room for implementing projects that go beyond the scheme and the bearing of a gentleman officer” during a round-the-world cruise aboard the ORP Iskra ship which covered 38,000 miles during a ten-month expedition It helped build the prestige of the Polish Navy and the Buzdygany Awards which added publicity I remember interviews that accompanied the Buzdygany Gala I still feel that way,” he recalls years later the award is spoken about by WO (Res) Łukasz ‘Sikor’ Sikora a former operator of the Commando Military Unit (JWK) in Lubliniec In the photos from the 2017 Buzdygany Gala because ‘Sikor’ was still in active military service in the combat team the fact he had to stay anonymous was not a problem for him “It’s important that people had heard how important what I was doing was,” he emphasizes ‘Sikor’ has been specializing in battlefield medicine for years He is one of the Poles who have completed an advanced course for the US special forces paramedics He also co-created a medical training program at the NATO Special Forces International Training Center in Germany he conducts courses and shares his knowledge on how to save human lives Winning this award just inspired me even more to go on with my work,” he assures this award was the culmination of a certain stage of their careers it coincided with the beginning of their march upwards and a day later I visited Warsaw to participate in the gala,” he recalls with a smile Wojtusik was honored for creating an elite military leadership course called Leader He came up with the idea when he was an assistant to the commander of the ground forces for non-commissioned officers He gained the approval of his superiors and began to visit units scattered throughout Poland we put into practice a whole array of ideas related to it,” he says a quarter completed the training,” he explains Today SSWO (Res) Andrzej Wojtusik is a lecturer at several universities “The award gave me an impulse not to abandon what I had always been keenly interested in I’d say it allowed me to maintain my educational drive,” he jokes SSWO Andrzej Woltmann’s career was different and a participant in the Battle of Karbala was the Buzdygany Winner for 2015 he served as deputy commander of the Land Forces Non-Commissioned Officer School (SPWL) in Poznań and he was awarded for introducing new quality in the education of soldiers of the corps where he served He drew upon the solutions used in the West was the leader of the team that implemented a special scoring system in the evaluation of soldiers and the establishment of a council that would recommend promotions and courses for the highest-ranking non-commissioned officers to superiors I assumed that hardly anyone noticed non-commissioned officers let alone all the heavy work I did each and every day,” he admits today The statuette was a powerful boost of energy to him The following years were a constant climb in his career Woltmann was already a senior staff warrant officer in the Armed Forces Operational Command and the General Staff of the Polish Armed Forces He will probably soon take up a position in the newly formed Transformation Command “My task there will be to work on a new concept of training non-commissioned officers,” he announces It is just a tiny snippet out of a whole bunch of diverse and inspiring stories Over 30 years of the Buzdygany Awards’ existence The majority were selected by the winners of the previous year’s edition and the editorial management of the Polska Zbrojna monthly there were also unusual characters selected in online voting by the readers of the polska-zbrojna.pl military website The Buzdygany Awards went mainly to soldiers of all ranks and representing all branches of the armed forces – from privates to generals were also civilians who contributed to building a positive image of the army Bogusław Wołoszański and Marcin Ogdowski (who has recently become our editorial colleague); a basketball player Marcin Gortat; or Jerzy Owsiak a founder of the Great Orchestra of Christmas Charity Foundation The judges also appreciated candidates from abroad twice The statuettes were awarded to Edgar Buckley commander of the 1st Armored Division of the US Army – for the allied support provided to Polish soldiers There were also collective awards – for the ORP Kaszub corvette’s crew for paving the way for the Polish Navy in NATO or the soldiers of Polish Military Contingent in Iraq – for their contribution to the stabilization of this country and taking up the challenge of the first such serious mission of the Polish Armed Forces after World War II I have been observing the history of the Buzdygany Awards for almost two decades,” admits Magdalena Kowalska-Sendek acting Editor-in-Chief of the Polska Zbrojna monthly the Polish Armed Forces have changed a lot The awards are continuously respected and widely recognized in the army,” she adds She admits that while working on articles about the winners of subsequent editions she not only got to know the winners better but also caught a professional bug in very different fields today Deputy Commander of the Military Medical Education Center (WCKM) in Łódź and former medical operators Łukasz Sikora and Krzysztof Pluta from the Commando Military Unit (JWK) that I became interested in battlefield medicine Thanks to Generals Mariusz Chmielewski and Karol Molenda I’m curious to read about artificial intelligence and cybersecurity and while Wojciech ‘Zachar’ Zacharków told me the secrets of selection for the special forces but the punchline is short: the Buzdygany statuette has power,” concludes Magdalena Kowalska-Sendek.____________Translated by Anita Kwaterowska Two Polish soldiers were killed and four others injured on Tuesday when munitions exploded as they attempted to defuse them The explosion occurred in a forest near the town of Kuznia Raciborska Two of the injured were flown to hospital in serious condition The troops were part of a parachute regiment stationed in the region.  they were tasked with dealing with old artillery shells discovered a few days earlier by people walking in the forest World War II shells and bombs are still often found in Poland which was invaded by Nazi Germany please register for free or log in to your account.