Grand Duke Gediminas Staff Battalion

Grand Duke Gediminas Staff Battalion
	Gedimino štabo batalionas
	Insignia of the Battalion
Active	September 8, 1998 - Present
Country	Lithuania
Allegiance	Lithuania
Branch	Lithuanian Armed Forces
Type	Guard of Honor; Reinforced Battalion;
Part of	Lithuanian Land Force
Garrison/HQ	Vilnius
Anniversaries	25 August (Day of the Lithuanian Grand Duke Gediminas Staff Battalion); 28 November (Day of the Honour Guard)
Commanders
Commander	Lieutenant Colonel Egidijus Čiūtas
Chief of Staff	Major Vytautas Gudas
Notable; commanders	Lieutenant Colonel Saulius Juškevičius; Juozas Kačergius[1]
Insignia
Identification; symbol

The Grand Duke Gediminas Staff Battalion (Lithuanian: Gedimino štabo batalionas) is a unit of the Lithuanian Armed Forces, providing guard of honour units and HQ security on its behalf. It is located on 14 Jonas Kairiūkštis Street, in Vilnius.[2] 25 August is considered the Day of the battalion.

History

After the reestablishment of the Republic of Lithuania

On 5 April 1993, the Separate Commandant Battalion (Lithuanian: Atskiras komendantinis batalionas) was created with its main function being to safeguard buildings and material possessions left behind by the Soviet Army that was leaving Lithuania.

In 1997 veterans of the regiment asked President Algirdas Brazauskas to rename the regiment after the Lithuanian Grand Duke Gediminas. On 8 September 1998, the Separate Commandant Battalion was renamed to the Grand Duke Gediminas Staff Battalion by order of the Minister Česlovas Stankevičius, hence being granted the right to the traditions and insignia of the 1st Infantry Regiment.[3][4]

On 15 February 2002, the Battalion was solemnly bestowed a banner.[3]

On 8 January 2019, the PRISM, wired and wireless communication company was separated from the Staff battalion and became the Communication and Information Systems Battalion.[5]

Composition

Honour Guard Company
Lithuanian Armed Forces Band
Headquarters Provision Company
Deployable Communication and Information Systems Module D (DCM D) of the 3rd NATO Signal Battalion
Intelligence Support Centre

Honour guard company and its public duties

Today, the 98 soldiers and officers coming three branches of the armed forces (Land Force, Air Force, and Naval Force) use American M14 rifles. Over the quarter century since the founding of the unit, more than 3,500 Lithuanian citizens have served in it and has taken part in more than 5700 ceremonies and reconstructions.

The uniform of the company is based on the examples from of the interwar period. During demonstrations, the soldiers of the historical platoon put on the armor of the soldiers of the 14th century Grand Duchy of Lithuania. It celebrated its silver jubilee in November 2016, during which a ceremonial parade of the unit was held in Daukanto Square near the Presidential Palace, attended by President Dalia Grybauskaite. Grybauskaite personally greeted the soldiers and said:

"These soldiers are the mirror of our army. Each of them evokes a sense of pride and confidence not only here in Lithuania, but also beyond its borders."

In August 2016, the color guard took part in the Independence Day Parade in the Moldovan capital of Chișinău.[6] As recently as 2019, it has participated in the Romanian Great Union Day parade on Piața Constituției (Constitution Square).[7]