Factsheet
SWISSINT Stans
e-mail: info.swisspso@vtg.admin.ch
1. The training centre is assigned to the Armed Forces International Command SWISSINT in Stans. The training centre which is also located on the premises of the military training area of Wil near Stans is responsible for mission specific training. Almost 20 military professionals and contracted military persons train all members of the Swiss Armed Forces who are involved in a voluntary peace support mission abroad. All courses are structured in accordance with the requirements and continually adapted to the lessons learned from operations. The range of courses offered is wide and seeks to meet the interests of civilians and military persons from both Switzerland and abroad.
2. In the preparatory course for the deployment of unarmed military observers (SUNMOC = Swiss United Nations Military Observer Course) Swiss officers are trained in conjunction with foreign course participants in English, the predominant language in UN missions. Here experienced Swiss and international military observers put the defined training into practise. SUNMOC was inspected in the summer of 2010 by experts from UN Headquarters in New York. Among other things, they acknowledged the practical aspect of its training. The training centre was subsequently certified 
for the next four years as recognised training establishment by the UN Under Secretary General for Peacekeeping Operations, Alain Le Roy.
3. During the military observer course, our training centre cooperates closely with the training centres in the Netherlands, in Germany and in Austria under the term ‘Fo(u)r-Peace Central Europe (4-PCE )’. The focus is on sharing experiences and instructors for the courses, in order to always keep the training up to date. Our motto is: we work together, we cross borders, we connect nations and we respect each other. We are one and we have one goal: peace.
4. Biannual SWISSCOY contingents training that depending on function takes up to three months, is the largest and most comprehensive preparatory course for deployment. Future leaders and soldiers for the EUFOR mission in Bosnia-Herzegovina are also optimally prepared in Stans for their engagement.
5. For their own safety, anybody staying in a crisis area has to observe certain rules and learn quite a few new things. For this reason, the experience of instructors at the training centre is also shared with national and foreign staff members of the FDFA / SDC for humanitarian missions abroad and in a practical security course at the GCSP . The training modules include topics such as heightening mine awareness, map reading, radio voice rules and coping with foreign cultures.
6. Depending on the course, participants are housed in the barracks, in the cantonal course building or in the SWISSINT camp which is directly adjacent to the barracks and corresponds to a camp as used during foreign deployment. In about 200 office and living containers there is sufficient room for work and accommodation for up to 180 people.