Greek Military Engineering

History

Τhe Engineering of the Hellenic (Greek) Army was first established on the 28th of July 1829. The first Governor Ioannis KAPODISTRIAS established th "Corps of Fortification and Architecture of the Hellenic Army officers'' at NAFPLIO city (which was the first capital city).
The mission of the Corps was the working out of studies and plans for the construction, maintenance and improvement of army and public building fortifications, also bridges, streets and other constructions as well as monitoring their implementation.
After this period, the Engineers of the Nation participated in all combat periods (including WW I, the 1920 Minor Asia campaign, WW II, 1945 civil war and other).

It is worthwhile mentioning the great social and military contribution of Engineering in the establishment of the Service beacon (1910), the Service Cartography (1911), the Air Force (1912-13), the Fire Corps (1930) and the Signal Corps (1946).

Emblem - motto

The GRC ME emblem is the ram. It symbolizes the siege ram which was used for violating entrenchments, designating the striking nature of ancient Greek army. Over the ram there is a motto, which says 'along with words, come actions', meaning immediate action after a decision has been taken, it must be implemented, exactly as in the operations of MILENG. This motto comes from "Tactics", a book by the Byzantine emperor Leon VI "the Wise". This motto expresses a military principle, which was adopted, preserved and delivered by the Ancient Greeks through Byzantium to modern times.

Mission of Hellenic Army MILENG

During military ops, the main role of the MILENG (in addition to general engineer purpose tasks) is the support of friendly forces mobility and survivability and the increase of force protection and counter mobility.

MILENG School / Training Center

The heart of GRC MILENG, is the MILENG SCHOOL which is located in LOUTRAKI city, next to the well-known CORINTH Canal (or "Isthmus"). The place has great historical significance as it is close to the site of the "Diolkos", an ancient track dating from 600 BC, built to move boats across the land of Isthmus, a technical wonder of its times. Basic and operational training takes place in MILENG TRAINING CENTER, located at NAFPLION city.

MILENG structure in the Hellenic Army formations

• In every Army Corps: Two Bn’ s and one Bridging Coy.
• In every mechanized or armor brigade: One MILENG mechanized Coy.

Special MILENG capabilities

EOD Battalion
This unique Bn is a double role ME unit. The first is land demining and the second is EOD and C-IED operations.

Peace Support Ops / missions participation

UNITAF (Somalia):
Engineer Personnel and MILENG assets (March 1993 to March 1994).
IFOR/SFOR (BiH)
One Engineer platoon and other MILENG assets (February 1996 to March 1999).
FMP (Albania):
One Engineer Coy (April 1997 to April 1999).
One Engineer platoon and other MILENG assets (May 1999 to January 2003).
KFOR (Kosovo):
One Engineer Bn (from June 1999 to March 2003).
One Engineer platoon (assigned to JLSG) and other MILENG assets (from June 2003 to February 2011).
ISAF (Afghanistan):
One special Engineer Coy in KMNB / RCC AOR (February 2002 to March 2011).
NRF relief mission (Pakistan):
Engineer personnel (October 2005 to January 2006).

International Co - training

Afghanistan NA: MILENG operational training focused both on earthmoving machinery and on initial sapper training, under the command of MNEG (from February 2002 to March 2011).
MILENG CoE: A one-week Mobile Training Team Course (07 to 11 September 2015).
Iraqi ARMY: Demining and C-IED training in GRC MILENG SCHOOL (May 2016).

Egyptian Army : EOD /C-IED training in GRC MILENG SCHOOL (Dec 2016-17-18)

Bosnian Army : EOD /C-IED training in GRC MILENG SCHOOL (Dec18)

Romanian Army : EOD /C-IED training in GRC MILENG SCHOOL (Nov18)

Jordanian Army : Training in Handling of Natural Disasters (basic skills and tools)

In GRC MILENG SCHOOL (Sep 19)

Bosnian Army : Co – training and exchange of information in the field of crisis Management and Disaster response in GRC MILENG SCHOOL (Oct 19)

Listed NATO Courses

NATURAL DISASTER COUNTER COURSE (ETOC: ETE-ET-21959): The purpose of the training is the education of military personnel of European Union (EU) country- members, as well as of countries deprived of experience in countering natural disasters, so as to provide basic skills when conducting Natural Disaster Counter Operations. (Training Duration 12 Days)

EXPLOSIVE ORDANCE RECONNAISSANCE (EOR) (ΕΤΟC: MEG-EO-21942): The course is focused on providing the basic EOR level to non-EOD qualified personnel. The attendees will achieve all Enabling objectives through lectures, demonstrations and practices by qualified and experienced EOD specialists. (Training duration 14 Days)

HAZARD AREA CLEARANCE (ETOC: MEG-ME-31943): The attendees will be trained and practiced in planning, preparation, command-control, co-ordination, execution and management of HA clearance operations and SHA exploitations through lectures, demonstrations and practices by qualified and experienced EOD specialists. The students will have the opportunity to visit sites running clearance operations in order to be familiarized with challenges and the problems of different clearance projects. (Training duration 14 Days)

Training capabilities

MILENG SCHOOL (located in Loutraki) has numerous Training Capabilities leading to several international courses.

EOD – C/IED TRAINING COURSE: The aim of the School is to provide the ability to perform in EOD environment and the basic knowledge on countering improvised explosive devices. (Training duration 2 weeks)

DEMINING TRAINING COURSE: The aim of the school is to provide the ability to operate effectively Demining Procedures and in Demining operations. (Training duration 2 weeks)

DEMINING SEMINAR: The aim of the school is to provide the ability to operate effectively Demining Procedures and in Demining operations. (Training duration 2 days)

TRAINING IN HANDLING OF NATURAL DISASTERS: The aim of the school is to provide basic skills when operating in Natural Disaster Operations. (Training duration 2 days)

FLOAT BRIDGING TRAINING ("RIBBON" FLOAT BRIDGE): The aim of the school is to provide the ability to construct effectively the "RIBBON" float bridge. (Training duration 2 weeks)

Looking to the future

Aim: Promoting further the concept of INTEROPERABILITY, conducting top performance ops and improving personnel’s skills especially in Base Camp Planning MILENG contribution in Force Protection, C-IED and Route Clearance.