Estonian officer receives high NATO award

Maj. Eero Kinnunen, who headed the infantry company ESTCOY-5 on a mission in southern Afghanistan earlier this year, has become the first Estonian to receive the NATO Meritorious Service Medal.

Maj. Kinnunen was decorated with the medal for his service as commander of ESTCOY-5 as part of the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) in Helmand province of Afghanistan during the first half of 2008, military spokespeople in Tallinn said.

The NATO Meritorious Service Medal was first awarded in 2003 to commend NATO staff whose personal initiative and dedication went beyond their duty to make a difference both to their colleagues and to NATO as an organization.

When assessing nominations for the award, a number of criteria such as the performance of acts of courage in difficult or dangerous circumstances, showing exceptional leadership or personal example, making an outstanding individual contribution to a NATO sponsored program or activity, or enduring particular hardship or deprivation in the interest of NATO, are taken into consideration.

Together with Maj. Kinnunen the medal was presented in the biannual ceremony to 45 NATO personnel who served in Afghanistan, Kosovo, Iraq, Sudan, and in the Mediterranean.
Maj. Kinnunen entered service with the Estonian defence forces in 1994. He has served as company commander on a mission in Bosnia and Herzegovina, as platoon commander in Iraq and as company commander in Afghanistan.

He has been appointed infantry inspector with the Army Staff effective from this June.

Units of the Estonian defence forces are deployed in the composition of the NATO-led ISAF in Afghanistan since 2003. Three Estonian soldiers have been killed and 28 injured in Afghanistan during that time.