Chief of staff Ciuca: Selection, participation in Invictus games should include all injured soldiers

Chief of Romania's Army Staff Nicolae Ciuca on Friday dispatched an order to the commanders of the country's military facilities, asking them to get all the wounded soldiers in the theatres of war involved in a selection and training programme for Invictus Games Sydney 2018. 

"This is an order I am dispatching to each and every commander to get all the wounded soldiers in theatres of war, in the same organization, in the same distribution, in the same spirit and with a cohesiveness that truly shows the fighter in the theatres of war has the will, the power, and a trained mindset to continue to highly perform in this new endeavour. From the start, there should be planning, a phased distribution, and I can see these phases by echelons so that selection and participation in the Invictus games will be extended to include all the wounded soldiers. All the commanders will have a monthly analysis of how we manage to develop such project and how the activities are carried out during the month," Ciuca told a video conference on Friday hosted by the Defence Ministry (MApN). 

He also talked about the conclusions drawn from the participation of the Romanian military in the Invictus Games Toronto 2017, about the Veterans Day to be celebrated on November 11, and about the planning of the next participation of Romanian soldiers in the Invictus Games of 2018. 

"We have organised this activity for three main reasons. The first is that we have completed the work of reviewing all that has happened this year in terms of preparing and carrying out the activity of the Invictus group in the participation of our soldiers in this activity and we were able to come up with a series of conclusions and projects that we can carry out and for which we need the involvement of all those who have responsibilities in this area, and I mean here the commanders of the local units and big units, and also the personnel who, following their participation in missions in theatres of war they got wounded and acquired this military status in the process," said Ciuca. 

He also wished a happy Veterans Day live to the Romanian veterans deployed in theatres of war, through the videoconference system. 

"The third reason we organised it was precisely this, so that next year we may have a very clear picture of what we have to do and may be convinced there will be no hiatus, that there is communication, that there are resources and that we can be sure that the participation of our group will gain scope, consistency, and coherence in everything that the representation of the Romanian Armed Forces in such activities entails," added Ciuca. 

At the Invictus Games Toronto 2017, September 23-30, Romania sent 15 athletes, wounded or disabled soldiers as a result of missions in theaters of war or domestic military actions, to compete in seven adaptive sports: archery, athletics, swimming, powerlifting, indoor rowing, cycling and sitting volleyball. 

Team Romania, made up of Ionut Butoi, Dorin Petrut and Nicusor-Augustin Pegulescu, has won the gold medal in the men's open compound - heat men's open compound archery event at the Invictus Games Toronto 2017, while Ionut Butoi has also won the silver medal in the men's open compound - final gold archery event.