Text and photo: Major Michael Christiansen, SPAO DATG

During the exercise, the Special Support and Recce Company (SSR) operates from the british ship ALBION. The company furthermore provides a liason officer to the Danish Task Group on board the command ship THETIS as well as a command element in Auderød by Frederiksværk, where the company is based.

The company consists of voluntary Home Guard personnel, which is specially selected, trained and equipped to operate for longer spans of time away from own forces in a hostile, tactical environment. The personnel has for example received training in patrol medicine at the Danish Defence Medical School, combat swimming by the Danish Frogmen Corps and protection team training by the Danish Ranger Corps.

From ALBION the SSR-patrols will be sent out to various types af military operations. This can happen both by helicopters and by small light crafts up to a suitable distance from the coastline, swimming the rest of the way.

During DANEX 07 the company’s tasks include covert information gathering about the warring fractions, used for planning by the Danish Task Group.

– During the exercise, the company’s patrols function as a special force. Seen from an educational point of view, DANEX 07 is really a good exercise for SSR, says Lieutenant Preben Bille-Brahe. The is the company’s liason officer on THETIS. Here he informs the staff about the observations made by the patrols. It can be threats in areas, where the ships will operate or for example landbased missiles which can hit targets at sea.

The patrols have communication equipment, that can send both text and images. They have enough supplies to be able to operate for several days without the need of resupplying food.

Read more about the SSR company on the Danish Home Guard website