The Buzdygany statuette weighs almost one and a half kilograms. However, its actual weight is difficult to estimate. Is it possible to calculate the hard work, open-mind attitude and ideas, courage, and determination to implement innovative ideas into simple physical values? It is for these achievements that Polska Zbrojna has been awarding the Buzdygany Awards for 31 years now.

The Buzdygany Awards can do a lot of good. Col (Res) Szczepan Głuszczak, who six years ago was the Buzdygany Winner in online voting of polska-zbrojna.pl readers, knows this perfectly well. He was awarded for activating veterans within the Project Warrior. However, he did not intend to put the statuette on the shelf to please his eyes. A few days after the Buzdygany Gala, the statuette was auctioned off to help raise money for the activities of the Association of Families of Fallen Soldiers ‘Memory and Future’ (Stowarzyszenie Rodzin Poległych Żołnierzy „Pamięć i Przyszłość”) by the soldiers of the 12th Wielkopolska Territorial Defense Brigade (12th WBOT). They paid 2,050 Polish zlotys for it. “Soon after, however, they decided to return it,” recalls Col Szczepan Głuszczak. Since then, the Buzdygany statuette has been auctioned off seven more times. The mechanism was the same every time: the auction winner would return the statuette to the former owner, and he would send it out to the world again. “In this way, we collected tens of thousands of Polish zlotys. The money helped, among others, the families of soldiers who died on the mission, of the sappers who died while disarming the unexploded bomb in Kuźnia Raciborska, or the Warsaw Uprising insurgent who needed rehabilitation,” lists Col Szczepan Głuszczak. Finally, the officer decided to break the chain. The Buzdygany statuette is now on exhibition in the Hall of Tradition in the Veteran Center for Activities Outside National Borders (Centrum Weterana).

Last year’s Budygany Winner, BrigGen Rafał Miernik, followed a similar path. The then commander of the 19th Mechanized Brigade in Lublin was appreciated for “introducing a new type of leader into the army.” On his way to the gala in Warsaw, he remembered the history of Col (Res) Szczepan Głuszczak’s statuette, especially since it was he who, on behalf of the 12th WBOT, was handed the award from the owner after the first auction. While on stage, he announced that his statuette would also be put up for auction. “We organized an event and auctioned 38,000 zlotys for the renovation of the flood-damaged kindergarten in Stronie Śląskie,” says BrigGen Rafał Miernik. The new statuette owners also did not intend to keep it. Today, it is exhibited in the Hall of Tradition in the Lublin brigade. “This is the most appropriate place for it. After all, the fact that I was awarded it, is the effect of the work of all my soldiers,” the officer explains.

There are more examples. Even if the good done by the Buzdygany Awards does not take such impressive forms regularly, it is still obvious. The statuettes awarded by Polska Zbrojna help to bring exceptional people out of the shadows. People who dare to implement innovative ideas and change the face of the army.

Gentlemen and Professionals

The work in the army is not easy. After all, we are talking about an institution that is strictly hierarchical, and firmly embedded in the framework of regulations and procedures. At first glance, it might seem that there is little room for individuality in it. These are only appearances, though – exceptional personalities are also valued in the army, which gives them much room for implementing projects that go beyond the scheme. Rear-Adm (Ret) Czesław Dyrcz, the 1996 Buzdygany Winner, knows exactly what it feels like. He was awarded for his ‘professionalism, the courage of an explorer, and the bearing of a gentleman officer” during a round-the-world cruise aboard the ORP Iskra ship.

Rear-Adm (Ret) Czesław Dyrcz, then in the rank of a commander, directed a sailing training ship, which covered 38,000 miles during a ten-month expedition, visiting 19 ports on five continents. “It was an extraordinary undertaking. It helped build the prestige of the Polish Navy, and the Buzdygany Awards which added publicity. I remember interviews that accompanied the Buzdygany Gala, the meeting... I felt honored. I still feel that way,” he recalls years later.

In a similar tone, the award is spoken about by WO (Res) Łukasz ‘Sikor’ Sikora, a former operator of the Commando Military Unit (JWK) in Lubliniec. In the photos from the 2017 Buzdygany Gala, his face was covered, because ‘Sikor’ was still in active military service in the combat team. However, the fact he had to stay anonymous was not a problem for him. “It’s important that people had heard how important what I was doing was,” he emphasizes. ‘Sikor’ has been specializing in battlefield medicine for years. He is one of the Poles who have completed an advanced course for the US special forces paramedics. He also co-created a medical training program at the NATO Special Forces International Training Center in Germany. Today, as a civilian, he conducts courses and shares his knowledge on how to save human lives. “I think this is the mission of my life. Winning this award just inspired me even more to go on with my work,” he assures.

For some of the Buzdygany Winners, this award was the culmination of a certain stage of their careers. For others, it coincided with the beginning of their march upwards. In the first group, there was, for example, SSWO (Res) Andrzej Wojtusik, who was the 2012 Buzdygany Winner. “For me, it was a bit like a giggle of fate. On February 28, 2013, I ended my military service, and a day later I visited Warsaw to participate in the gala,” he recalls with a smile. Wojtusik was honored for creating an elite military leadership course called Leader. He came up with the idea when he was an assistant to the commander of the ground forces for non-commissioned officers. He gained the approval of his superiors and began to visit units scattered throughout Poland. “We were fishing out natural leaders, explaining what leadership was all about, we put into practice a whole array of ideas related to it,” he says. “We organized 50 courses in total. They were hard. Out of a thousand participants, a quarter completed the training,” he explains. Today SSWO (Res) Andrzej Wojtusik is a lecturer at several universities, including War Studies University (ASzWoj). “The award gave me an impulse not to abandon what I had always been keenly interested in, even after I left the army. I’d say it allowed me to maintain my educational drive,” he jokes.

SSWO Andrzej Woltmann’s career was different. This experienced soldier, a veteran of foreign missions, and a participant in the Battle of Karbala was the Buzdygany Winner for 2015. At that time, he served as deputy commander of the Land Forces Non-Commissioned Officer School (SPWL) in Poznań, and he was awarded for introducing new quality in the education of soldiers of the corps where he served. He drew upon the solutions used in the West, especially in the US Army. SSWO Andrzej Woltmann, among other things, was the leader of the team that implemented a special scoring system in the evaluation of soldiers and the establishment of a council that would recommend promotions and courses for the highest-ranking non-commissioned officers to superiors.

“I was surprised that I had been awarded. I assumed that hardly anyone noticed non-commissioned officers, let alone all the heavy work I did each and every day,” he admits today. The statuette was a powerful boost of energy to him. The following years were a constant climb in his career. Woltmann was already a senior staff warrant officer in the Armed Forces Operational Command and the General Staff of the Polish Armed Forces. He will probably soon take up a position in the newly formed Transformation Command. “My task there will be to work on a new concept of training non-commissioned officers,” he announces.

Statuette for Three Hundred

It is just a tiny snippet out of a whole bunch of diverse and inspiring stories. Over 30 years of the Buzdygany Awards’ existence, the statuette went to nearly 300 people. The majority were selected by the winners of the previous year’s edition and the editorial management of the Polska Zbrojna monthly. Among them, however, there were also unusual characters selected in online voting by the readers of the polska-zbrojna.pl military website. The Buzdygany Awards went mainly to soldiers of all ranks and representing all branches of the armed forces – from privates to generals. However, next to them, on the Buzdygany gala stage, were also civilians who contributed to building a positive image of the army. The statuette went to, among others, the journalists: Waldemar Milewicz, Bogusław Wołoszański and Marcin Ogdowski (who has recently become our editorial colleague); a basketball player Marcin Gortat; or Jerzy Owsiak, a founder of the Great Orchestra of Christmas Charity Foundation.

The judges also appreciated candidates from abroad twice. The statuettes were awarded to Edgar Buckley, NATO Deputy Secretary General, and General William Carter, commander of the 1st Armored Division of the US Army – for the allied support provided to Polish soldiers. There were also collective awards – for the ORP Kaszub corvette’s crew for paving the way for the Polish Navy in NATO or the soldiers of Polish Military Contingent in Iraq – for their contribution to the stabilization of this country and taking up the challenge of the first such serious mission of the Polish Armed Forces after World War II.

“As a journalist, I have been observing the history of the Buzdygany Awards for almost two decades,” admits Magdalena Kowalska-Sendek, acting Editor-in-Chief of the Polska Zbrojna monthly. “During this time, the Polish Armed Forces have changed a lot, including its equipment and soldiers, but the Buzdygany Awards still exist. What’s more, they have never lost their prestige. The awards are continuously respected and widely recognized in the army,” she adds. She admits that while working on articles about the winners of subsequent editions, she not only got to know the winners better but also caught a professional bug in very different fields. “It is thanks, among others, to LtCol Anita Podlasin, today Deputy Commander of the Military Medical Education Center (WCKM) in Łódź, and former medical operators Łukasz Sikora and Krzysztof Pluta from the Commando Military Unit (JWK), that I became interested in battlefield medicine. Thanks to Generals Mariusz Chmielewski and Karol Molenda, I’m curious to read about artificial intelligence and cybersecurity, and while Wojciech ‘Zachar’ Zacharków told me the secrets of selection for the special forces. Examples could be multiplied, but the punchline is short: the Buzdygany statuette has power,” concludes Magdalena Kowalska-Sendek.
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Translated by Anita Kwaterowska