On 7 October this year, young people completed further stages of the gathering at the Training Area Centre in Żagań. After drill training and the morning assembly, during which instructors and students were briefed on the training day's schedule, the aspiring soldiers went to designated points in the area, where the competition began. This time, those who had taken part in the cross-country march the previous day had a rest day and moved on to a thematic module devoted to the history and present-day aspects of Polish arms.
The training groups attended a lecture on the traditions of the 11th DKPanc, soldiers' mission experiences and military equipment used by units of the Black Division.
One of the teaching stations during the sporting competition featured a demonstration by a combat engineer patrol. The prepared engineering route was full of hidden dummy mines and unexploded ordnance. Using mine detectors and sappers' probes, the students had to clear the section of terrain and create a passage for a subunit. Alongside sappers from the 23rd Artillery Regiment, soldiers of the Military Gendarmerie from Żagań presented specialist equipment, while paramedics taught the students how to provide first aid.
Having already familiarized themselves with the equipment, the students competed at the shooting range that day. Under the supervision of instructors from the Commando Association and the 23rd Artillery Regiment, they fired air guns, ASG replicas and paintball markers, and also learned shooting stances and grenade throwing.
That day, young people from Ukraine learned about the sights of Lower Silesia. Students of the Military High School in Kyiv visited, among other places, Kliczków Castle and learned about the process of producing ceramics at the Bolesławiec Manufactory.
In the evening, after the schools' presentations and marching-song performances, vocal performances and a disco for the gathering participants helped them recharge before the next challenges.
Capt. Remigiusz Kwieciński