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Costas Meligonis (center) in an Egyptian helicopter carrier in the context of the joint Greece-Egypt exercise “Medusa”, in 2019.
He showed his devotion to duty and his love for his homeland with the help of his bravery and a brave heart. In the most adverse conditions, in countless exercises, Costas Melingonis performed free-fall jumps from helicopters and airplanes, declaring that he was ready “if and when necessary.” Sergeant, 34, unlucky hero in peacetime.
A gloomy fact, in the middle of the news of the day, which dictates the need for the debate on the Armed Forces (ED) to be almost monopolized by the weapons programs. Airplanes, ships, missile systems, everything necessary to increase the operational capabilities of the Armed Forces, are on the daily agenda. For a time, the effect of the last few years had waned by many leaders and leaders of formations for the “potential of the soul” as the most important element of the DE. There are times when these words break with the rhetorical scheme for which they were intended and they take on meaning. One of them was recorded ten days ago. When 34-year-old EPOP Sergeant Costas Meligonis got on Chinook that would take him to the Megara drop zone to do what he had learned better than many. For free-falling jumps in even the harshest conditions, from Chinook, Hugh and NH-90 helicopters, fully loaded C-130 freighters and binoculars. Your colleagues in the Interdisciplinary Special Operations Administration (ICS) know that free fall jumps have nothing to do with static belt jumps. The degree of operational difficulty is much higher.
That night, from September 3 to 4, Costas Meligonis failed. Driven by strong local winds, he fell into a swampy spot, before reaching the landing zone, hitting his head and legs. In fact, when they took him to “General Military Hospital (GSN) 401” he was already dead. Costas Meligonis lived in Nea Chalkidona as a child and was proud of his special origin from Ilia prefecture. He made the decision to qualify for the ED in 2007, shortly after his 20th birthday. In 2012 it became permanent and until 2017 it belonged to the 2nd Parachute Squadron (MAL) when it was transferred to the Special Parachute Department (ETA). A little later he went through difficulties, graduating from the Free Autumn School, because, as his friends say, he always wanted to exhaust the limits of his possibilities, always, of course, within the very strict training framework of the Special Forces. And the question arises as to why a young man decides to dedicate his youth to hard training, overnight, dangerous business. Each month, 1,015 euros were deposited in the Costas Meligonis account, which, in other words, corresponded to his rank and years of service in the Special Forces. Ultimately, he did not do it for money, and neither did any of the men and women who serve in the Armed Forces. People who know him well said that he had two passions: first the homeland and then the Panathinaikos. When he did not participate in any of his unit’s ongoing training sessions, he played soccer in recent years at Kaisariani. Costas Meligonis, like many men and women of the Armed Forces, was an athlete and like many of the current men of the Special Forces known for his worth to the head of GEETHA Konstantinos Floros. The sergeant was aware of the dangers he faced, as was his dear brother Nikos, a member of the Special Operations Force, who a few days later parachuted into the same area where his brother was killed in the area of Megaron’s fall. Costas Meligonis gave everything for the shield.
