I had noticed several references to the Polish contingent in Iraq. They have been publicly commended by Bush and Rumsfeld. Up until this conflict I had not given much thought to Polish military capabilities. I did a google search to see what information was available. Like any special forces group, little information is made public, but I did manage to find one really good web site.
Note, this web site is not available 24 hours a day. It seems like it is available several hours per day. I guess the state of free web hosting in Poland is a little behind the times. Not bad though, for a country that still has some problems with providing basic phone service.
For more information on Poland, check with the CIA Factbook.
The photo below was taken recently in Iraq. I believe it was controversial due to the prominence of the U.S. flag, no doubt the Poles would have rather seen a Polish flag, or keep the troops out of the media.
Did I mention I am Polish?
Did I mention I am Polish?
Just found the note about GROM...
ROTFL my ass off:
"Not bad though, for a country that still has some problems with providing basic phone service"
Jeez, the GROM web page author wrote: "internet is not cheap in Poland" which is 100% true.
I've travelled around Europe hundreds of times, including a dozen of trips to Poland. When I was there last time, 2 years ago, their cellular service had been much more sophisticated than american one is now!!!
BTW, I'm German, and I'm GROM fan.
just wanted to praise the polish military.for it,s support and i am proud to know that they were the one of a few countrys that had went into the iraq conflict to help with the support.with out having to have a bunch of evidence .if half of the country "usa" would turn on the history channel i don,t thank they would have needed the o.k from the united nations to give the ok.i my self have learned thru the history channel what hitler as well as stahlen had did to my family i am one of the last oferosky,s in fact my family are the last of the oferosky,s .i have been trying to locate any other living oferosky also offerosky.but again i am glad i have found a site that means a damn to me .sorry for the spelling i guess im just caught up in the momment .and to the polish americans out there that give there lives for me and my family as well as country i salute you .your freind al oferosky .fill free to e-mail me .asap.
OK, I am Polish. There is no English Version of "GROM History" on http://acn.waw.pl/grom1/english.htm so I'll try to translate some facts for you:
- GROM was created on 13.07.1990
- word "grom" in Polish means "thunder", it is also a tribute in honor of Gromoslaw Czempinski who commanded an operation of getting CIA agents out of Iraq before the Desert Storm. (there is a Polish movie "Operacja Samum" about it).
- according to the text the direct reason of creating GROM was to prevent terrorist attacks on Polish institutions in Beirut
on another website: http://www.grom.tgw.com.pl/ there some more facts:
- first GROM officers were trained in the US
- first international mission: Haiti 1994 "Uphold Democracy"
- after Haiti GROM trained together with Delta and SAS
- next missions:
* UNATES in Yugoslavia
* Kosovo
* Enduring Freedom in Afghanistan 2002
* Persian Gulf before war - GROM operated with Navy Seals and stationed at USS George Washington
* war in Iraq - GROM operates in Iraq (oil facilities in Umm Quasr), in the Gulf operates also Formoza - scubadivers
The G.R.O.M. Troopers are outstanding "allies" in the truest sense of the word. The Polish contingent in Iraq has proven itself among the world's finest soldiers. However, THE AMERICAN FIGHTING MAN IS THE GREATEST WARRIOR TO EVER EXIST! The world should never forget the sacrifices that American soldiers have continued to endure, in the name of freedom, world wide.
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