Graduation Ceremony of the Command Senior Enlisted Leaders’ Course 2021

On 30th November, the Baltic Defence College (BALTDEFCOL) held the Graduation Ceremony of the Command Senior Enlisted Leaders’ Course 2021. It was the third iteration and also the last test course. This year 19 students representing 13 nations – Latvia, Lithuania, Canada, Denmark, Germany, Georgia, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Sweden, Switzerland, United Kingdom, and the US - received their diplomas.

The Graduation Ceremony was preceded by the lecture of the State Secretary of the Ministry of Defence of Latvia, Mr Jānis Garisons covering current national security developments. After a fruitful discussion, he congratulated the students on the successful completion of the course.

The Graduation Ceremony was also opened by Jānis Garisons, who highlighted the role of NCOs in “implementing strategic thinking at all the levels in armed forces”. It was followed by the graduation speech by BALTDEFCOL Deputy Commandant/ Chief of Staff Colonel Dietmar Hartung, who encouraged the CSELs to act as Ambassadors of the Course and marked it as a significant milestone for CSELCs professional development in Europe and beyond. CSELC will be officially one of BALTDEFCOL’s core courses from 2022.

The Course Director of the CSELC SGM Peeter Einbaum thanked separately the CSEL of US European Command (EUCOM), CMSgt Phillip Easton for his dedication and support to the Course. In addition, this year was exceptional as three graduates of CSELC were acting as Mentors of the Course. The Course Director expressed his gratitude for the support provided during the Course.

As a tradition, the best students of CSELC were recognised for their outstanding performance.

• Commandant’s Award - SGM Darius Masiulis (Lithuania)
• Academic Writing Award – CSM Daniel Stiris (Norway)
• Course Leader Recognition – WO1 Nicholas Seal (Great Britain)

During his speech, WO1 Nicholas Seal recognised Dr Lukaš Dyčka as a Best Faculty Member by CSELC 2021. Congratulations!

Baltic Defence College family wishes good luck to all students of the Command Enlisted Senior Leaders’ Course in their future endeavours! Stay in touch with each other and with the College as you are the members of the BALTDEFCOL Family!

CSELC was designed in 2019 to fill the educational gap the Nations have and to prepare Command Senior Enlisted Leaders (CSELs) for the service in a National and Multinational environment on a strategic level. Two successful years are behind, plenty of lessons identified and today we can say this course is designed from CSEL’s for the CSELs.