CIOR Past President received highest military decoration from the President of the Republic of Estonia.
CIOR Past President LTC Toomas Luman (EST) received The Order of the Cross of the Eagle IV class from the President of the Republic of Estonia. This decoration is presented in connection with the anniversary of Estonian independence day 24 February.
LTC Toomas Luman served as President of CIOR from 2022-2024 during the Estonian Presidency. Under his leadership, CIOR underwent modernisation and gained greater international visibility. He advocated for the importance of reserve forces in collective defence and for strengthening societal resilience and total defence concepts. He represented reserve officers in discussions connected to NATO - during his time as the President CIOR contributed to the development of the new NATO Policy on Reserves. LTC Luman engaged with senior military and political leaders – he met with NATO Secretary General Mr. Jens Stoltenberg and Chair of the Military Committe Adm Rob Bauer to raise awarenes of the role of reserve officers in modern security environments.
LTC Luman has served in the Estonian Army as a reserve officer more than 20 years and participated in numerous exercises as a CIMIC and staff officer. Luman has been strongly involved in Estonia’s national defense through the Estonian Defence League (Kaitseliit), Estonia’s voluntary national defense organization and the Estonian Reserve Officers‘ Association. In his civilian life he is a successful Estonian business leader. He has been active in Estonia’s construction and infrastructure sector for many years and has held leadership roles in major Estonian business organizations, including the Estonian Chamber of Commerce and Industry. Given his background as a business leader and reserve officer, LTC Luman embodied one of CIOR’s core ideas: reserve officers as a bridge between civilian society and military structures.
“Estonians’ willingness to defend their country is very high — higher than in previous years. In part, this increase is driven by the actions of our aggressive neighbour. However, compared to Finland, we still have ground to cover and significant work ahead.” LTC Luman said. “After four years of war, many people are understandably exhausted, and a certain degree of war fatigue has set in. Through the National Defence Promotion Foundation, we are running a major initiative to support Ukraine. To date, we have raised more than €6.8 million in voluntary donations. The first million was collected within the first week. Although the pace of contributions has slowed since then, donations continue to come in to this day.” he added. “ To strengthen Estonia’s defence, everyone should strive to do their daily work better than yesterday and avoid fighting among ourselves“ he concluded.
The Order of the Cross of the Eagle (Estonian: Kotkaristi teenetemärk) was instituted in 1928 by the Estonian Defence League to commemorate the tenth anniversary of Estonian independence. It was adopted as a state order in 1936. The Order of the Cross of the Eagle is bestowed to give recognition for military services and services in the field of national defence.