HQ MND-SE's New Chief of Staff
HQ MND-SE strengthened its command team with a new Chief of Staff. Let`s meet colonel Ciprian BALICA, a very well trained and experienced infantry officer with a successful career of almost 25 years. “I finally got home after a journey of 25 years. It’s the pinnacle of my career. MND-SE is representing myself because I have always interacted with multinational environment,” says Chief of Staff.
The 46-years-old colonel is a graduate of the Tudor Vladimirescu Military College in Craiova, of the Land Forces Academy in Sibiu and head of promotion of the Master of Command from the National Defence University „Carol I”. He held various positions at tactical level, from platoon commander to battalion commander, and between 2017 and 2020 he commanded 341st Infantry Battalion “White Sharks”, with the motto “Deeds, not words”. He has been deployed twice in TO, in 2004 in Kosovo as part of the KFOR mission, and in 2011 in Afghanistan.
Colonel Ciprian Balica attended the Infantry Officers Course at U.S. Marines Corps University, a unique experience for a second lieutenant. Arc over time, 10 years after graduating from the course, he met again the commander of the school, who became the commander of ISAF mission in Afghanistan. “My former student is now my brother in arms,” the U.S. general told him.
HQ MND-SE’s Chief of Staff confesses that all his life has been guided by the principle that a leader must be a “player coach”, very important being the power to influence and shape subordinates through his own attitude and mentoring.