With the easing of the coronavirus measures, the tasks for the soldiers in Tyrol are also decreasing. During the shutdown of public life and Tyrol’s self-quarantine, up to 660 soldiers were deployed at any one time. From June 20, 280 soldiers will be fulfilling the orders of the health authorities and the police.
Since the refugee crisis in 2015, the military in Tyrol has been deployed with 150 soldiers to assist the police against illegal migration. As the pandemic became more acute in Tyrol, the demands on the armed forces also increased. The province of Tyrol, all districts and the provincial police command called on the services of the Austrian Armed Forces. Nine liaison officers established and maintained contact between the authorities and the police and the military. To date, 1,200 soldiers from all over Austria have been deployed under the command of the Tyrolean Military Command to fulfill the orders. The soldiers’ tasks ranged from measuring fevers, issuing quarantine notices and enforcing quarantine regulations to putting food on supermarket shelves and guarding protected objects to border surveillance to prevent undetected border crossings. “The satisfaction of the authorities and the police with our deployment shows how important the Armed Forces are for our country in crises and how flexibly the soldiers can be deployed,” summarizes the military commander of Tyrol, Brigadier General Ingo Gstrein.
With the easing of restrictions in Tyrol and the opening of borders with its neighbors, the demands on the military are also decreasing. From next week, the soldiers will only carry out random checks for the health authorities in North and East Tyrol. The missions against illegal migration are becoming more important again. In Tyrol, this task will be carried out by militia soldiers, who have been called up for the first time in the history of the republic.
