November 10^th – 14^th, 2025, IPJO – " Introduction to the Planning of Joint Operations " course was held for the fourteenth time at the International Courses Department (ICD) of the Armed Forces Academy of General Milan Rastislav Stefanik (SVK AFA). It is a NATO-certified course, to which senior officers from NATO partner countries are regularly sent as participants, including those, who as lecturers in their country, will use the acquired knowledge to train students in the given field. This time, thanks to NATO-DEEP - Defence Education Enhancement Programme, the course was attended by two members of the Armed Forces of Bosnia and Herzegovina and three from Ukraine. Another two participants were from Armenia, a partner country, whose education is supported by SVK AFA as PTEC in cooperation with NATO SHAPE. Five members of the armed forces of Poland, who are also lecturers and academics of the War Studies University in Warsaw, were invited to complete the course based on an exceptional cooperation between our educational institutions. The total number of 19 course graduates was supplemented by members of the Slovak Armed Forces, who also came to broaden their knowledge and professional education in the field of planning at the operational level.

The aim of this short-term course was to familiarize participants with NATO doctrines and procedures and to prepare them for the NATO planning process. The graduates of the course have gained the knowledge which enables them to work within the Joint Operational Planning Group at the International Headquarters and to prepare operational plans that include all relevant factors for effective and successful execution of joint NATO operations and help to implement the planning processes in practice.

Acting chief of ICD, LTC Miroslav MAJTNER, handed over the certificates to all 19 successful participants of the IPJO 14 course at the Graduation Ceremony and during his speech towards graduates highlighted also that “planning is not only about drawing lines on a map, but about anticipating chaos, understanding human behavior, and shaping the battlefield before a single shot is fired.” And that “operational level planning demands a rare set of skills - discipline, creativity, humility, and courage”. The graduates will remember that planning is not about predicting the future; it is about creating the conditions to influence it.