Ceremony honouring NATO military personnel for service in operational theatres of the Alliance

Belgium: Warrant Officer Lin Pei

Warrant Officer Lin Pei, 31, is an experienced infantry soldier.  He has served in Bosnia and Herzegovina as a squad leader and Kosovo as deputy platoon leader.  In 2007 he completed his third mission in Afghanistan, most recently as platoon leader in the force protection company at Kabul airport.

Bulgaria : 1st Lieutenant Svetlozar Hristov

1st Lieutenant Svetlozar Hristov, 31, was deployed in 2003 to the Fourth Guard Stabilization Force in Bosnia and Herzegovina as a platoon commander.  He later participated in the ISAF Operation in Afghanistan as Commander of First Mechanized Company in 2007

Canada : Sergeant Patrick Tower

Sergeant Patrick Tower, 36, is an infantryman with experience in several NATO operations.  He deployed to Bosnia in 1997, 2000 and 2003 and to Afghanistan in 2006.  Sgt. Tower was the first recipient of the Star of Military Valour, second in Canada only to the Victoria Cross for gallantry in combat.  

Czech Republic : Staff Sergeant Milos Prasil

Staff Sergeant Milos Prasil, 32, is a squad commander with experience in the Balkans and Afghanistan.  He served with IFOR in 1997, SFOR in 2000, and KFOR in 2002.  He was also deployed in Operation Essential Harvest in Macedonia in 2001, and to Afghanistan in 2007.  He has been awarded a number of medals including the NATO medal For Service Abroad.

Denmark : Corporal Christian Lykke Birkholm Jacobsen

Corporal Christian Lykke Birkholm Jacobsen joined the Danish armed forces in 2000 and since then has served four times in international missions.  He  deployed to Kosovo as second-in-command of a mechanized infantry company and later to ISAF in the Southern Region as section commander of an armoured infantry company.

Estonia : Master Sergeant Andreas Rebane

Master Sergeant Andreas Rebane, 31, has served in a number of international missions in Lebanon, Bosnia, Kosovo and Iraq.  He was deployed to Afghanistan in 2007 and received several decorations throughout his career including three NATO medals.

France : Lieutenant-colonel Christophe de Lajudie

Lieutenant-colonel Christophe de Lajudie, 44, has served several times in different NATO or EU operational headquarters in the Balkans, including in Sarajevo in 2001, and as chief of operational planning in KFOR in Pristina, in 2006. As a member of the Foreign Legion for five years, he participated in several operational engagements in Africa.

Germany : Doctor Willi Schmidbauer

Doctor Willi Schmidbauer, 40, is the senior officer of Anaestesiology and emergency medicine at the Military Hospital in Berlin.  He has served in NATO missions in Kosovo and in Afghanistan.

Greece : Lieutenant-Colonel Ioannis Kremmidas

Lieutenant-Colonel Ioannis Kremmidas, 41, is currently serving as KFOR Joint Operations Centre Deputy Chief.  He has served in Armour units as platoon leader and company commander and as a commander of Armour Battalion and support Battalion. 

Hungary : Warrant Officer Laszlo Kollar

Warrant Officer Laszlo Kollar, 34, is part of the 37th Engineer Battalion.  He served in SFOR from June 1997 to June 1998 and in 2002 with an Engineer Company.  He deployed to Afghanistan and served at the Kabul International Airport.  He has received several decorartions including two NATO medals.

Iceland : Hrafn Gretarsson

Mr. Hrafn Gretarsson, 44, is a police inspector, who has served in Afghanistan as Major in the Ghor Provincial Reconstruction Team from April to August 2006.

Italy : Warrant Officer 1st Class Costantino Baffa

Warrant Officer 1st Class Costantino Baffa, 43, is a communications specialist by training who has spent more than 14 years serving in various NATO posts, including in Verona and Naples, Italy, with the AWACS unit in Geilenkirchen and at NATO HQ.  He has been deployed on operations in Bosnia and Herzegovina and Iraq.  His decorations include two NATO medals.

Latvia : Sergeant Normunds Bozevnieks

Sergeant Normunds Bozevnieks, 32, is an infantryman with experience in several NATO missions in Bosnia and Herzegovina.  His decorations include four NATO medals for Participation in Multinational Operations in Yugoslavia.  He has also served with coalition forces in Iraq.

Lithuania : Captain Arnas Mikaila

Captain Arnas Mikaila is an officer of the Lithuanian Armed Forces currently serving as deputy chief operations.  He participated in different NATO related exercises and in ISAF operations in Afghanistan in 2007.  His decorations include the NATO medal for international missions.

Luxembourg : Adjudant-Chef Claude Schmitz

Adjudant-Chef Claude Schmitz, 46, working at the NATO school in Oberammergau, Germany, has been a NATO lecturer at various institutions since 2003.  He has served in Bosnia and Herzegovina in 1996.  Since 2007, he is also producing and publishing the NATO School TODAY magazine distributed to sixty different MoDs, NATO HQ and Sub-HQs.

Netherlands : Warrant Officer first-class Robert Hommen

Warrant Officer first-class Robert Hommen, 44, is joinning the brigade of foreign missions.  He has worked at AFNORTH from 1999 to 2002 and has been deployed to Afghanistan as part of ISAF from March to July 2007.  He is currently beeing deployed to Kosovo.  

Norway : Major Kurt Are Malme

Major Kurt Are Malme, 38, has served as an operations officer at the Kabul Multinational Brigade from 2004 to 2005 and as a Brigade mentor at 1st Bde/209th Corps OMLT in ISAF from 2006 to 2007.

Poland : Lieutenant-Colonel Tomasz Kowalczykiewicz

Lieutenant-Colonel Tomasz Kowalczykiewicz, 37, is the commander of the 2nd motorized infantry battalion of the 17th Mechanized Brigade.  In 2007 he was OMLT commander and a senior mentor in Afghanistan.  The team worked with 3rd  Kandak 203rd Afghan National Army Corps in Gardez.

Portugal : Sergeant Carlos Alberto Da Silva Barry

Sergeant Carlos Alberto Da Silva Barry, 37, is part of the Commandos Troops Centre, who deployed twice on NATO missions to Afghanistan including with their Quick Reaction Force in 2005 and 2007.

Romania : Lieutenant Nicolae Grigore

Lieutenant Nicolae Grigore, 26, is an experienced Platoon Commander who has been serving in the ISAF mission in Afghanistan since July 2007.  He was wounded on September 6, 2007 in Massoud district during a Quick Reaction Force mission to support an American patrol team involved in an IED incident.  His decorations include one NATO medal.

Slovak Republic : Miroslav Fejko

Miroslav Fejko, 33 is currently an instructor at the NCO Academy in Martin.  In 2002 he deployed to Kosovo as leader of mechanized infantry platoon.  He redeployed to Kosovo in 2007 as senior assistant of a liaison monitoring team. 

Slovenia : Major Marjan Videtic

Major Marjan Videtic, 49, has been involved in eight crisis response operations since 1998.  From 2004 to 2005 he served with the SFOR mission.  In 2006 he was chief of the intelligence sector in the West Heart Regional Headquarters, ISAF.  In 2007, he was Head of CIMIC Group within the Slovenian Contingent in KFOR.

Spain : Enrique Cristobal

Enrique Cristobal, 44, is currently serving in the International Relations Centre in the Spanish Army General Staff.  He served in Bosnia in 1995 and 1996 with UNPROFOR and then with IFOR.  He also served in Bosnia in 1997 and 1998 with SFOR.  He later served with KFOR in 2000. 

Turkey : Major Dilaver Dinc

Major Dilaver Dinc, 35, is an experienced helicopter pilot working in the Logistics Command of the Turkish Army.  He was assigned to the Turkish Helicopter Unit in Afghanistan under the command of ISAF as a liason officer in 2005 and as a helicopter pilot in 2007. 

United Kingdom : Corporal Vanessa Parsons

Corporal Vanessa Parsons, 30, embarked on her first NATO mission to Bosnia in 2002, and in 2003 she co mpleted six months service in Iraq.  She later returned to the NATO mission in Bosnia in 2006 for another 6-month tour, and now works in the UK Ministry of Defense as a Military Clerk.

United States : Specialist Monica L. Brown

Specialist Monica L. Brown, 19, is an Army medic from Texas attached to the 4th Squadron of the 73rd Cavalry Regiment.  She became only the second woman in the Fight Against Terrorism and the first American servicewoman in Afghanistan to receive the Silver Star, the U.S.’s third-highest award for valor.