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The specification of terminology related to terms command and control (C2) is quite important for further scholarly examination of military science. The command and control area is nowadays under the constant impact of the influx of information technology, as well as it is affected by the changes in the contemporary security environment. This article is dedicated to the military, its history, and its contributions to current military operations. It provides an attempt to specify terms "command and control" in both general and military levels. Finally, it provides clarification of the terminology within command and control systems, as their terminology has been changing. In a simple way, the C2 could be characterized as the execution of authority by the commander, via communication and information systems, with the use of current standard operational procedures, under present laws and rules, to act in the interest of forces to meet assigned orders and intentions.

All-inclusive attitude of NATO forces assumes that conflict can't be solved only by military means. This shift from purely soldierly level to political brought around numbers of Alliance activities at Strategical and Operational Commands. The common denominator was the philosophy of complex approach in operational thinking, planning, and implementing NATO activities. As a result the operational SACEUR's directive GOP was substituted by its revised successor-the so-called Comprehensive Operations Planning Directive (COPD). It is going to be introduced in 2011 and will influence groups and military persons at all levels of warfare, dealing with operational planning and operational art for art's sake. The article familiarizes readers with this directive (COPD) as a tool for comprehensive approach to operations. The COPD offers more deliberate and inclusive planning procedures that allow for both military and non-military actors broader understanding of operational environment and better cooperation in their common effort.

There are two great interpreters of the Napoleonic experience, Jomini and Clausewitz. Both were interested in the application of military force to achieve political goals. The article familiarizes readers with Jomini's theoretical fundamentals of operational design elements, namely the lines of operations. Jomini left a great mark on the details of strategic planning: campaign planning, the selection of the theatre of operation, the base of operation, the line of operation, and decisive points. At the end of this process of selection was the final deployment for the decisive battle. Jomini's major contribution, then, was to provide the geometry of the battle space. In his investigation of the nature of war he developed several key operational concepts. As an operational art tools they help the commander and staff to visualize the arrangement of military capabilities in time, space, and purpose to accomplish the mission. The concept of operational lines is evolved in all operational functions in terms of ongoing military missions.

The most frequent word in language preparation is successfulness. This term could be quantified, defined, examined from the point of growth or rating decrease. Our language preparation sticks to Defence Minister Order No 1/2007 (effective from September 2010) on language training. It abolished integrated language courses, teaching units for SLP 1, 2 were decreased. The author examines the situation before and after the publication of the said order and provides possible explanations of the current state, showing slow descent. He supports his explanations with empirical data gathered in foregoing years, through surveys, statistical analyses of test results, in-class observations, and oral feedback from course learners.

The book consists of papers by eleven authors, members and fellow members of the Centre for Social and Economy Strategy, Faculty of Social Sciences, Charles University Prague. At present, we must prepare to face socially unwelcome phenomena. We must arrange preventive projects, so that we could solve prospective crises. The authors therefore pay their attention to methodology of crisis scenarios, or how they are to be prepared. Predicted nine worst-case scenarios anticipate prolonged crises, failure in education policy, rise of extremism, climate changes, energy collapse, lack of international balance, and separation of the Czech Republic from Europe.

The article polemize against the content of the article "Operational Art" that was published in the previous issue of this Czech Military Review, 3/2011. The polemics points out that the author of the criticized article applied doctrinally incorrect terminology, he did not respect the valid standards of the military terminology and is cross-indexing to the old Allied standards. Such articles should present new lessons from field theory and practice, which would contribute to the professional preparedness of the military personnel, and to the required interoperability with our coalition partners. But according to the authors, criticized article is rather misleading. Key words: operational art, operations, operational concept, center of gravity.

The problem of obesity is most frequent metabolic disease rising from unhealthy life style of contemporary population. Cardiovascular and metabolic disorders are pressing even in the AČR, so the authors could describe monitoring the risk factors of non-infectious diseases of mass incidence and the implementation of preventive programme with excessive weight losses, using dietetic, psychological, movements and pharmacological approaches that offer real stimulant for decrease in overweight and obesity prevalence within the Czech Army and concurrently decrease in morbidity of Czech servicemen.

The primary purpose for NATO enlargement, covering first three countries of the so-called Visegrad Four and later Slovakia, was the necessity to fulfil "security vacuum" in Central and subsequently in Eastern Europe which came into existence after the fall of Soviet empire. Membership of those countries helped to fix criteria for admission of other states to the Alliance. Today, the NATO alliance stands in front of new important challenge: to work out a New Strategic Concept agreement in late 2010, based upon the idea saying that the security of Euro-Atlantic region is tied with and depends on the safety of the whole world. This safety concept will able to be realized only by means of global strategical governance. More then predicting expected security and defence ideas, the author reopens a broader discussion about the real meaning of NATO membership. He also repeats and enumerates risks and threats we are facing today.

The term of "growing complex of threats" covers higher and higher probability of concatenation of various intercommoned, mutually tied factors reflecting structured technological and informational reality of global society, making their solving by traditional means of security system extremely difficult. "Crisis situation" represents more general problem of natural disasters or technology breakdowns that are influencing one another, that cause great distress or destruction, in an unexpected manner, activating subsequent threats of so far unforeseen threats. For that reason we must adapt Czech security system to new liquid, instant and indivisible complex threats.

The document "Security and Stabilization: the Military Contribution UK revision of Joint COIN doctrine" was created by the team of authors of DCDC (Development, Concepts and Doctrine Centre), Defence Ministry, Great Britain. The publication was similarly as other JDP series written as an instruction manual for members of armed forces to solve at general level the tasks in missions abroad, in disintegrated countries: security, stabilisation and insecurity, strengthening the capacity within armed forces to work alongside civilians for certain specific, short-term reconstruction, development tasks in hostile environments, and to provide a stabilisation presence in the immediate aftermath of a military operation while sufficient security is put in place to enable civilians to deploy. It is highly recommendable literature for members at the level of join staffs, participants in stabilization operations, or for attenders of Higher General Staff Courses.

Relations between NATO and the Russian Federation are one of key factors influencing overall policy of the whole North Atlantic Alliance. They are complicated and sophisticated questions still predisposed by the heritage of the Cold War.But there are mutual fears, common security problems they both have to counter. NATO policy must be established upon present-day reality. It is self-evident that there are common fields of common interests in which mutual balance must be reached. There are among others: armament, preventing arms proliferation, halting proliferation of nuclear, biological and chemical agents, antimissiles defence, counter-terrorism, drugs smuggling, open sea security, common peace operations. After two years the Russian-Georgia war started, military cooperation between Russia and NATO was re-established. Separate problem in midterm prospects presents the solving of conflict in Afghanistan.

Israeli Defence Forces currently evaluates information collected during recent fighting in Lebanon. Although the war was assessed as successful, there are some deficiencies that are to be improved. (a) Aviation and air defence systems. Israel is prepared against ballistic missiles, it was not prepared against short distance ones. Attack helicopters AH-64 were for the first time deployed for tactical (close) combat support of ground forces. One of them crashed down, other two collided in the air; (b) Armour. Also Israel's Merkava Mk4 was used for the first time in combat. More than 50 of the 350 Merkava Mk2, 3 and 4 tanks used in the military operations in Lebanon were damaged by Hezbollah, resulting in the death of 23 crewmen. During the last year the IDF was constantly engaged in high-intensity urban counterterrorist warfare. The regular forces, including tank crews, were retrained for small unit infantry policing activities. As a result, among others, several tanks lost tracks due to driver's inexperience. The article widely drew from several reputable magazines and reviews: Aviation Week, No. 12/2006, Jane's Defence Weekly, No. 41/2006, Defense News, No. 38, 39/2006.

What is Necessary to Consider in the Process of Organization Structures Construction, Military Forces Equipment and Training in ACR, after the Ending of "Conception" by Ing. Antonín Krásný, CSc. The very welcomed "Concept of Development of the Professional Army of the Czech Republic and the Mobilization of Armed Forces of the Czech Republic" had to be revised because of the lack financial means. This fact influenced a lot of live of our army. Additional career officers were to leave his services; military material, vehicles were further reduced. At present, we have to balance our military strength with security demands reflecting running changes in world's security surrounding. The main aim of the article is to describe development of security environment in the Central Europe. It considers decision mechanisms reform in NATO and transformations of its military forces structures. It highlights an impact of demographic, technological, institutional changes and changes in value system of defence assurance of the CR. We must still bear in mind that for us, NATO alliance, supplemented by the EU structures, is the main tool of our security.

In Czechoslovakia, the "labour camps" came into existence under the Act 247 of October 25, 1948. They were camps for those who had not committed any crime, but ought to have been isolated from other civilian public. The sentences: "... the said person has no positive attitude to current regime" or "shows no interest in joining the Communist Party" constituted the reasons for 10 to 24 months of imprisonment. "Offenders" were not sent to labour camps by courts, but only under the prescription issued by "prescription committee", at the level of local and regional "national authorities". A total of 23,000 people went through those camps, as a cheap labour force, taken from among "class enemies". The special position among those camps had military camp of hard labour Mírov, designated for the former commissioned and warrant officers who fought during WWII not only on western but also on eastern fronts. In 1949-1950, there were six roundups (Action D) in which the former "bourgeois" officers were arrested by mixed teams of State Security and Military Intelligence guards; in fact, many times even in the contradiction with the then effective laws and regulations.

This article deals with objectives of EU BGs, required abilities and possible employment, namely from the legal point of view. Last but not least, there are mentioned relations between NATO and EU BG. Military capabilities of the EU are closely tied not only with the second pillar of the ?Maastricht Temple? (Common Foreign And Security Policy), but they are united with the activities of the EU as a whole (with all three pillars). The EU should have the potential to carry out independent military actions to solve international crises. The Battle Group is the smallest independent military unit (group) capable of being deployed in the area of operation. It is a combined arms grouping, the exact composition will vary according to the tactical requirement at the time. One of new BG?s tasks will be separation of parties by force. The ACR has earmarked the same units both for NATO and the EU led operations. This future deployment is specified in the current Czech Military Strategy and related documents. Now we are preparing the documents for building up common Czech and Slovak Battle Group (EU CZE/SVK BG).

The concept of development of professional army and mobilization of armed forces of the CR in conditions of a new framework source frame presupposes to introduce "process management" with the Ministry of Defence. Although this tendency is not new, mentioned concept is not generally known, so the author would like to make clearer its roots and reasons its introduction. The success of economic management lies in managing time, quality tied with costs of running processes, evaluating indicators of accountancy, activity-based costing and activity-based management. Our goal is not to evaluate costs, effectivity, but our objective is to constitute departmental economy system with the aspiration to guarantee continually economical rationality (overall economy, effectivity, usefulness) of its processes, activities and performances.

The article deals with duties of a sniper and a military observer, sharp shooting at long distances, movement at areas in which operations are being carried out. Snipers are trained marksmen who are specialized in sniping the enemy. They are usually sited away form the main force, so that they can concentrate on shooting at selected targets instead of being drawn into general firefight. They are also less likely to be affected when the main force comes under artillery fire. The modern sniper is not alone, he is usually employed in team of two. The author also describes rifles and other weapons and equipments snipers are armed. The article is supplemented by graphs and tablets.

This work deals with the selection of candidates for Czech armed forces, with particular emphasis on their aptitude for professional military service in the ACR. Their age is also one of the distinct features influencing the result of selection procedures. The goal of this work is to assess the results of psychological tests of selected group of candidates (aged between 20-29 years and over 40) and their relation to age. This work entails theoretical as well as a practical concept in the form of quantitative survey. The theoretical part acquaints with the basic theoretical facts and specifications pertaining to military service. There is a detailed description of the selection process of suitability of the candidates for military service, especially psychological compatibility, differentiation of the stages of maturity and characterization of the maturity level in each. The practical part serves to introduce the observational survey. It analyses results of the psychological tests and presents the ascertained correlation between age and selected psychological variables.

The article sums up the evolution of the Czech officers' qualification structure since the start of downsizing in 1990 and provides an outlook beyond 2010. At the early 90's graduate education used to be only for officers. A total of 65 % were holding university degrees. Today this number reaches 98 %, with 3 % holding Ph.D. or CSc. degrees. There is also an increase in numbers of WOs with graduate education, it is 4 %, despite the fact that such qualification is not necessary for them. Authors discuss this evolution and compare it with the ageing of the Czech population and overall academic education system. The gradual decrease of people aged 20-24 till 2020 is an important challenge to reforming recruitment and education of junior officers. The reform is needed to avoid deficits in quality junior officers and consequently the lack of personnel selection for military education at the University of Defence.

The Provincial Reconstruction Team of Czech Republic operates in very complicated conditions and environment that are in fact hostile. It can't be excluded that growing scepticism, today common among Afghanistan security experts, more or less could affects even Czech members of ISAF missions. This study deals with existing knowledge end experiences of Czech PRT in Afghanistan. It is divided into two parts. The fi rst one concerns with outside and inside factors infl uencing ISAF missions. It brings in details characteristics of geographical, historic ambiances in which ISAF mission are performed. The second part concentrates on tangible experiences of Czech PRT members, both in political and military spheres. Here the authors summarize conclusions and upon them they outline challenges for the future.

The Command and Control process may be defined as an ability to determine what to do and implement effective actions. With the use of the Standard Operating Procedures, the commander must be able to realize set tasks in defined time. The C2 system must be able to monitor and collect data on the situation, to develop an understanding of the situation, to develop a course(s) of action and select one, to develop a plan to execute the selected course of action, to execute the plan, to include providing direction and leadership to subordinates, to monitor execution of the plan and adapt as necessary. The commander draws the picture of situation on the base of surveillance and data collection from various sources, classified and unclassified. The context of information is formed by means of paradigm of personal experiences of commander and his intuition.

In spite of the fact that it is a new concept, it presents one of key methods of international engagement in crisis areas the EU prefers. Its main components are crises prevention and securing stabilization. Security tasks are composite problems solving one of main state functions: to guard external and internal security together with principles of civil control. This essay among others aims to explain practicability of the EU's concept of preventive engagement as a tool of implementation of the European Security Strategy, further it describes European concept for crisis management missions in the field of civilian administration supporting security and justice. At the end there are some recommendations for the Czech Republic how to form capacities for EU missions and for the transformation of Czech security sectors.

Had PhDr. Miroslav Purkrábek, CSc. was still alive today, he would be 80 years old. It was on September 8, 2005, that Miroslav Purkrábek, suffered a stroke. This year it has been fi ve years since he died. He was a person who contributed to social sciences on three distinctive fi elds: military sociology, sociology of military health, and sociology of public policy. As a gifted scholar he expected that alongside with disarmament talks and preparing collective defence, especially after the fall of world?s socialist system, that task of the army would shift towards preventive, threatening role. But he even lived to see the moments when military professionals were engaged in real combat, in preemptive conflicts, against non-traditional, assymetric forces of guerrilla character. At the same time he could see that another hypothesis of transition to all professional forces was going be fulfi lled. Unfortunately, the Czech Army was not prepared for this important process, as political and MoD leaders at were occupied by this theme of professionalization only marginally.

The problem of forming military decisions lies in the very core of this article. Among others, there are a lot of highly unpredictable impact factors; there are many assessment criteria for individual variants of solving problems. Criteria of qualitative characters, and various interpretations of data information demand quality decisions; they are sometimes difficult to understand and even contradictory. The commanders and their staffs must be well educated, trained and experienced. To meet this precondition we must ensure quality of career training, supported by practical experiences. The staff work must be practiced regularly, with the use of various scenarios, supplemented by historical studies of past or recent fi ghts and battles.

Risk management covers the identification, assessment, and prioritisation of risks, which is followed by coordinated preventive operations to minimize negative impacts on society. The most demanding is the so-called risk assessment (risk identification, risk analysis, risk evaluation). The Risk Catalogue consists of introductory page, and twenty cards for risks register. With the assistance of this catalogue, defence analysts acquire general knowledge about number of risks and their frequency. The level of risk is calculated by summation according to its probability, gravity, and unwanted effects. In case of defence department, actual tasks are assigned to manage to Defence Ministry, Division, Branch, and Section accordingly. Possible risks are represented at a chart accompanying the article. The purpose of Risk Catalogue, its principles, guidelines for implementation, is to make the work of analysts easier.

The deteriorating situation in the Afghanistan region poses a security threat not just to the United States, but to every single nation. It was from that remote area of the world that Al Qai'da plotted 9/11 and subsequent attacks in Europe and elsewhere. Reading news about Afghanistan today gives rise to the question why the situation in this country is such as now really is. Ordinary mass media depict the country often in a confusing manner: Afghanistan as "a country, full of terrorists and uneducated barbarians, longing to destroy western civilization and kill". The author describes bad security situation which presents problem for both coalition soldiers and local Afghanistan population. At the same time we must realize that involved soldiers are exposed every day to asymmetric enemy forces, they stand face to face to mortar danger that could be hidden in for example in every car passing by.

Army rations or preserved foods are used to be normally prepared in field kitchen. For standardization reasons, the forces of NATO nations have agreed on several principles, embedded in STANAG 2937 that is the basic document for nutrition of soldiers, compulsory for all NATO member states. Up to now, as a field food support, the Army of the Czech Republic has had at its disposal only the so-called "combat ration food", offered in two variants. At Jan Bata University Zlín, experts finished the development of pre-prepared meals, i.e. "meals ready to eat" intended to be prepared in field conditions. Basic rations meet all requirements prescribed by the Czech Field Manual Prov-1-1. Emergency rations meet 60 % of required energy value. They are intended to help in crisis situations, in time of lack of food. For handling, packing and traffic grounds, food rations are planned for 25 persons.

In recent years both authoresses took part in several important international terminology meetings: European Association for Lexicography (EURALEX), International Conference and Exhibition Dedicated to Defence Training, Education and Simulation (ITEC), and finally the highest Alliance terminology forum: NATO Terminology Programme. In our country this subject is under the authority of Defence Standardisation, Codification and Government Quality Assurance Authority. All problems are incorporated in the Terminology Programme of Defence Department. It deals with STANAG 3680 implementations, MoD's standardisation policy, standardisation terminology process. The most representative terminology body within the Army of the Czech Republic is the Terminology Conference of MoD, traditionally held in the premises of the Defence University Brno.

The article is focused on issue of hybridisation of Al Qai'da in Islamic Maghreb (AQIM), in North Africa, and its implications for European countries. The process of hybridisation is being conceived as growing nexus and convergence between violent non-state actors, while these processes could be in this case identified mainly in issues of use of kidnappings and secondary also reported involvement of AQIM in regional smuggling, mainly drugs, activities through Sahel and Saharan region to Europe. Regarding GSPC background, AQIM could be in long term theoretically able to re-establish its financial and supporting networks in Europe via cooperation with organized crime, which were largely disrupted after major crackdowns by security forces between 2004-2007. Event though a direct Al Qai'da attack in Europe is-according to the author-excluded, the purpose of this article to draw our attention to an eventuality of rebirth of European operation network of AQIM operational predecessor, i.e. GSPC.