Last week of the Command Senior Enlisted Leader’s Course (CSELC) final contact-session started with a trip to North-East region of Estonia. Students visited Kuremäe Convent and were briefed on significance on the Convent to Russian Orthodox community, as well as to the region itself. Later, students of the CSELC visited Narva Castle and received a comprehensive guided tour of the Castle and its history, as well as history of the Narva and the region in general. This visit was tied to the lectures of Module 3 on Situation in Post-Soviet countries and role of minorities in national security situation.

The next day students of CSELC joined Senior Leader’s Course (SLC) in Tallinn for the remainder of the course. They participated in SLC lectures, panels and in the visit to the NATO Cooperative Cyber Defence Centre of Excellence. One of the highlights of these days was the visit to the Embassy of Sweden, where the course was welcomed by Ambassador H.E. Mr Mikael Eriksson. Students were briefed on Swedish-Estonian relations on several fields of cooperation. Visit continued with a cozy reception where students had an opportunity to engage in discussions with embassy’s diplomatic staff.

On 04th of December 2019, after the concluding panel, Joint Graduation of SLC 2019 and CSELC 2019 took place. The Baltic Defence College opened a new chapter with 13 Senior Non-Commissioned Officers, from 8 different countries, becoming the first NCOs to graduate the college in more than 20 years of its existence. Among high-level speakers, the CSELC Class Leader, CSM Claus Andersen from Denmark, gave his student’s speech, where he underlined the importance of this course for regional NCO community and thanked Baltic Defence College for the planning and delivery of this very first strategic level SNCO course in the region.

During the awards ceremony, the CSELC Senior Mentor, CPO1 Gerald Price, from the Royal Canadian Navy, was awarded with Baltic Defence College Medal of Merit Bronze for significant contribution to the development of the curriculum and design of the Command Senior Enlisted Leaders Course; notable professionalism; dedication and mentorship during his secondment to the Baltic Defence College.