Blog Posts tagged with "partnership"
Last LOGEX conference before the exercise
Arriving in Tirana, Albania, I was not fully prepared for the various sights and sounds I experienced. My timing could not have been better: I arrived just as Albania was celebrating the 100th anniversary of their independence from the Ottoman Empire.
The LOGEX 13 Final Coordination Conference and associated workshop was held in Tirana, at the Albanian Military Training Doctrine Center. Lt. Col. Ndrieim Sallaku, the Albanian J4 Deputy Director, opened the workshop by saying that LOGEX events like this are very important to the Albanian military officers. He added these events are so important that the military budget took a twenty percent budget cut and LOGEX was the only program that did not get affected by the cuts. It is important to note that Albania became a NATO member and now self-funds their participation in LOGEX.
The objective of the workshop was to better familiarize logistics staff officers with NATO logistics planning and implementation procedures. Other benefits include increased cooperation and coordination among logistics staff officers for future combined operations and assessment of logistics support requirements. Participants also practice NATO reporting procedures and become familiar with NATO logistics communication systems such as LOGFAS. By the end of the conference Albania will develop a detailed deployment plan (DDP) -- equivalent to the time phased force deployment data (TPFDD) – to use during LOGEX 13 in Bosnia in February 2013.
During the week participants were introduced to topics such as NATO/National Security Element (NSE) guidelines, the NATO Combined Joint Task Force (CJTF), deployed contracting, acquisition and cross servicing agreements (ACSA), NATO Contracting, and NATO Support Agency (NSPA) (formerly known as NAMSA). They also participated in five breakout sessions to develop and build their national DDP which will feed into Bosnia’s DDP to create the exercise DDP.
The Final Planning Conference and workshop were both extremely successful due to the participants’ hard work, the amazing support of the host nation and the team effort by Joint Staff J7 and the Allied Command Transformation (ACT) personnel that put these workshops and conferences togther.
US Air Force Major Todd J. Morin
J4-JLOC Strategy & Engagements
International Program Manager
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An Interagency Persepctive on the Battle of Antietam
I couldn’t help but contrast the battlefield with my classroom setting of federal executives debating today’s contentious national policy issues.
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Reflections on 5th annual joint EUCOM/ Marshall Center International Legal Conference
EUCOM's Attorney and Legal Engagement Coordinator Reflects on the 5th Annual Joint EUCOM/Marshall CEnter International Legal Conference
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Arctic Nations Meet to Discuss Communication, Maritime Domain Awareness Strategy
As the Arctic climate continues to change, Arctic area nations are working together to address security concerns.
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An Active Autumn Ahead
As we wrap up high summer, it's a sensible time to look ahead at the fall and think about the big tasks facing the NATO Alliance and US European Command. The Olympics and the Jubilee fade to memory, and hopefully most folks have managed to break away for a short vacation to recharge. The autumn will be a busy time.
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Is it easier to train a cyber warrior to be a soldier or train a soldier to be a cyber warrior?
Some say it’s easier to train a cyber warrior (military specialists, law enforcement officials, computer forensics experts and civil engineers who defend national and economic security assets) to be a soldier while others say it’s easier to train a soldier to be a cyber warrior. So, which is it?
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Tale of Two Cities; J9s in Ulm and Stuttgart
In Stuttgart the U.S. European Command’s J9-Interagency Partnering Directorate was established in November 2009, while the multinational Response Forces Operations Command – Ulm, just established a “J9” within the last year.
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Commitment to 2014 and Beyond
As the North Atlantic Council finished up the 25th Summit it is clearly evident that it was a summit of commitment. The Alliance made the commitment to complete transition in Afghanistan and to support Afghans in achieving a stable future. It also made the commitment to ensuring NATO is capable of dealing with 21st century challenges, as well as the commitment to further strengthen connections with our global partners. Most importantly, the Chicago Summit demonstrated our commitment to each other - the unbreakable bond between North America and Europe, which remains the bedrock of our security.
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Cyber Defense Partnerships Lead to Lasting Relationships
Increasing our partners’ cyber defense postures to protect and defend against threats and vulnerabilities which disrupt free use of the global information grid is a top priority here at EUCOM where we are committed to building enduring cyber defense partnerships with Albania and other NATO and Partnership for Peace (PfP) countries.
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Sailing on to the NATO Chicago Summit
We've just concluded the two big warm-up events that have brought into focus what we'll be doing at the NATO Summit in mid-May, scheduled to be held in Chicago.
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Happy 60th Birthday to Baden-Württemberg, EUCOM’s Partner and Host
Today, Baden-Württemberg (BW), Germany celebrates the 60th anniversary of officially becoming a state. I heartily congratulate them on this historic occasion.
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Words and Swords
Francois Bellon, the Head of Delegation of the International Committee of the Red Cross to both the EU and NATO, visted the command last week, the first senior ICRC visit to EUCOM in nearly two decades.
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The 21st Century Force Multiplier: Public-Private Collaboration
The Department of Defense and most other U.S. government agencies are also looking for ways to improve effectiveness and efficiencies by reaching out to collaborate with private businesses, non-profit organizations and academia. EUCOM has already been working on initiatives like this for some time in areas such as cyber-security, communications, and humanitarian assistance, among others.
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Risks, Opportunities, and Open Source Security
In the world of security, we are generally focused on "risk." We worry about the chances of war, the spread of weapons of mass destruction, the likelihood of a ballistic missile attack, or the possibility of a biologic contagion. Understanding risk allows us to calculate how much we should spend on defense compared to what our potential opponents are spending.
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Final Four and Interagency
As I followed the Final Four I was reminded that there were four common requirements necessary both for this basketball tournament and for interagency partnering, my line of work at US European Command (EUCOM).
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Connecting public and private efforts to create security in the 21st century
I'm thinking about how to connect public and private efforts to create security. In this turbulent 21st century, security is not about creating walls. We won't deliver a secure world strictly from the barrel of a gun.
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First-Ever Regional Cyber Endeavor Seminar Held in Montenegro
I spent last week in the warm and hospitable city of Podgorica, Montenegro, with a EUCOM team executing the first-ever regional Cyber Endeavor event.
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LOGEX 13: workshop in wintery Montenegro
For this, the second of five scheduled LOGEX workshops, we drove to a training center in Danilovgrad, Montenegro, to meet with 17 Montenegro military personnel and observers from Armenia, Moldova, Azerbaijan and Serbia.
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Key Elements from the Munich Security Conference
Ah, the Munich Security Conference. Certainly the most prestigious of all the global security conferences, with routine appearances by heads of government, Defense and other ministers of state, brilliant academics, journalists and even a few Admirals and Generals.
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Trojans, Malware and Botnets got you down…?
We know that cyber attacks are employed not just for cyber crime (i.e. to access your bank account), but also to discredit national agencies and governments (i.e. the cyber attacks against Estonia and Georgia). It is incumbent on all of us to “know our enemy” to best defend against such attacks. The best means for doing so is for governments to regularly partner with academia and the private sector (i.e. with IT safety enterprises) to form a sort of cyber coalition.
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NATO in 2011 – Five Key Events
As I look back on 2011, I think we had a reasonably good year in the operational sense. Lots of good “end of the year” retrospectives are appearing in various magazines and on-line sites, and I thought I’d chip in with my own top five operational moments for the Alliance this past year – and a hope that it stays at least relatively quiet between now and the end of the year.Stavridis
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LOGEX 2011: A Review
During the past two weeks I really came to realize what a joint environment was really like. Having worked for the EUCOM J4 for only three months my experience was limited at best, despite three deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan under my belt.
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School donation continues long-standing relationship with Poland
Just last week, I visited the Krakow School for the Blind and Visually Impaired, which was heavily damaged in the spring floods of 2010, to deliver furniture and pianos donated by the U.S. Government.
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“Black Gold, Texas Tea”
Cooperation on Energy Security issues is in Lithuania’s and the United State’s common interests. The MOU outlines ways in which both organizations, EUCOM and the Energy Security Center, can continue to work and coordinate together.
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Interacting with AID
At the invitation of my good friend and colleague, AID Administrator Raj Shah, I had the chance to speak to his senior team about their extraordinary work on global issues of poverty, disease, and economic development.
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Learning to Institutionalize Partnership
"2011 Soft Power Symposium" hosted by Pepperdine University and the League for Hope, an NGO that promotes public-private partnership to foster educational, medical, and commercial opportunities for disadvantaged populations.
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Developing a True Strategic Partnership with Russia
My visit was part of NATO’s outreach and desire to develop a “true strategic partnership with Russia,” as it says in the Strategic Concept approved at the Lisbon Summit last fall. In my role as the Supreme Allied Commander, I continue to search for zones of cooperation with the Russian military.
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Cooperate and Graduate; Interagency Advancements
COMMON EFFORT, involved a notional UN-backed NATO deployment to Africa. It had some 500 multinational participants, 150 of whom were civilians from more than 30 organizations.
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Interagency Teams Meet in Berlin
This was an outreach effort meant to enhance understanding and facilitate future cooperation between two interagency organizations.
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The Importance of Collaboration and Cooperation in 1648 and Today
The Treaty of Westphalia, signed in 1648 in the Rathaus of Muenster, Germany, ended one of Europe’s bloodiest periods: the Thirty Years War (1618-1648) fought mostly on German soil, and 80 years of war between Spain and the Dutch Republic. Today two nations that benefitted from that peace treaty, Germany and the Netherlands (it achieved its independence as a result), are the framework nations for a multinational NATO High Readiness Corps headquartered in Muenster.
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Dutch Treat: Interagency Collaboration in The Hague
These days The Hague, the Netherlands' third largest city, is most often in the news as the home of the International Criminal Court (ICC), the body that has recently indicted Muammar Gadaffi for war crimes or for the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) which saw last week’s appearance of the former Bosnian Serb military general Ratko Mladic. Certainly both of these courts serve a valued purpose and The Hague -- with its history of hosting the first international peace conference in 1899 -- is a well-suited site for these courts.
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Effective Partnering for Cyber Security
A little over a week ago, at the request of EUCOM, the U.S. Embassy in Riga and the Latvian government, a small group of cyber security experts donated their time and expertise to conduct a strategic assessment of Latvia’s cyber security infrastructure.
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Commencement season is upon us...
Good morning. Good morning especially to the Class of 2011.
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A Pretty Good Birthday
Along with two of the youngest members of the command, I cut a birthday cake to celebrate the moment sixty years ago, on 2 April 1951, when SACEUR Dwight D. Eisenhower activated Allied Command Europe – the predecessor to today’s Allied Command Operations – and its headquarters, the Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe.
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Ending the week in Estonia
The final day of the Wounded Warrior team’s trip in the Baltics began with a visit to Magdaleena East Central Tallinn Hospital, one of the largest hospitals in Estonia and the best hospital in Tallinn for rehabilitation.
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Day 2: Nothing says spring like fresh flowers.
While visiting Lithuania the Wounded Warrior team and the two physicians from Project Hope drove out to Vilnius University Emergency Hospital (VUEH) located 15 minutes west of the capital, Vilnius. The day’s mission was to deliver medical lectures about Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) to the staff at a local hospital there.
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Exploring Wounded Warrior issues in partner nations
Wounded Warrior, Veteran care, traumatic brain injury and post traumatic stress disorder. All are powerful terms capable of eliciting intense emotions from military service members and civilians alike. For the Baltic nations of Estonia, Lithuania and Latvia supporting International Security Assistance Force - Afghanistan it is a term they are becoming more familiar with.
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Local Procurement in Latvia Strengthens Northern Distribution Network
The United States European Command (USEUCOM) plays an important role supplying the International Security Assistance Force in Afghanistan.
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Stronger Together through Language
The Defense Language Institute recently assigned a detachment to the Stuttgart military community, including EUCOM. Here, Cathy Gramling talks with Dan Regelbrugge about why the detachment is here, what they're doing, and what is in the future for DLI and EUCOM.
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Three Outcomes from Lisbon
We finished the Lisbon summit last week – really a high point thus far in the nearly 18 months I’ve been the Supreme Allied Commander Europe (SACEUR). While not without some challenges, overall the summit must be judged a real success.
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The Importance of Culture
As I mentioned in my vlog last week I was in Bergen, Norway during my official co-hosting duties with the Norwegian Chief of Defense, General Harald Sunde, for the Northern European Chief of Defense (CHOD) Conference. As "The Fjord Capital of Norway", Bergen is often described as "a city with its feet in the sea, its head in the skies, and its heart in the right place." What I didn't mention in the vlog is I found myself in a situation that affected my head and heart before the conference had even begun.
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Silly Bands, mood rings and… Interagency?
“Interagency…ah, that’s just a fad that will soon fade.” This was a comment overheard at a recent EUCOM meeting. The person seemed convinced that the pursuance of a “whole of government approach” and the continued emphasis on collaboration with interagency partners by EUCOM, a geographic military command, was just a fad. They also believed that this “fad” would soon fizzle once the novelty was gone or once there was new leadership in place. I beg to differ.
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Admiral Stavridis comments on the Northern European Chief of Defense Conference
Military leaders from Nordic and Baltic countries to include Estonia, Finland, Iceland, Latvia, Lithuania, Sweden, and of course, the host country of Norway joined the Admiral to discuss regional issues and challenges that they share.
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The Face of Security – Can It Be Found In a School Opening?
For much of our Army careers, defining security involved calculating the size of the military force that could be moved to and sustained in a particular area of the world on short notice; the larger the force equating to proportionally more security. However, attendance at two elementary school rededications in Vares and Fojnica, Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH), lead us to believe that perhaps this definition is far too simple.
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Law enforcement links along the Danube River: ILEA and EUCOM
I visited the International Law Enforcement Academy (ILEA), located on the Buda side of the Danube. I did so to better comprehend the current curriculum at ILEA and to discuss possible future collaborative training engagements. This was part of our ongoing J9 outreach efforts to meet with and understand the actions of other federal agencies, Departments, and organizations also operating in Europe and Eurasia.
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Special Operations Media Engagement…the future of investing
I believe most people think that special operations forces never interact with the media. That is, of course, until something bad happens, forcing someone to explain the situation in an ambiguous manner.
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A Fighting Force & So Much More
The military is occasionally called upon to provide life saving assistance in times of disaster. I’ve blogged over the past few years about our involvement in fires, floods and earthquakes. These disasters, and the military’s role in them, receive much attention. But the military is also routinely involved in capacity building projects which often do not get the same level of coverage.
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An “ICEman Cometh” to EUCOM J9
Kevin works in the J9 Interagency Partnering Directorate and is one of a growing number of law enforcement/border protection-oriented interagency representatives now on the EUCOM J9 “interagency team”. Kevin, for example, is also joined by a Customs and Border Protection representative, Christina Bell, and will soon be joined by a Drug Enforcement Administration representative, Mr Nick Brooke.
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Why NATO Matters to the USA
Pretty surprising that a Supreme Allied Commander Europe – standing as I do in the footsteps of General Dwight D. Eisenhower, just 65 years after the end of WWII and after 60 years of the founding of the Alliance – would feel need to blog about “Why NATO Matters to the USA.”
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Jumping In
I’m finally back home after nearly two weeks on the road and it has been more than a week now since I jumped into Iron Mike Drop Zone in Normandy, France to commemorate the 66th Anniversary of D-Day. I’ll never forget the experience – not just because of the historic significance, but also because of those that jumped with me that day. As you probably well know, British, Canadian and American forces jumped to secure the Allied flanks on D-Day, but personnel from Australia, Belgium, Czechoslovakia, France, Greece, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway and Poland also took part in the landings. On D-Day 66, I hit the ground, collected my parachute, and then walked off the drop zone with British, French, Polish, Dutch, German and fellow Americans paratroopers surrounding me. On my aircraft alone, we had Dutch, German and Polish paratroopers and I earned both the Dutch and Polish jump wings that day.
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Building Bridges
Our Commander, Admiral Jim Stavridis, often challenges us to serve like a “bridge” linking U.S. European Command to others. In May, we linked EUCOM with three varied groups, acting as a kind of bridge spanning oceans and generations.
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Public–Private Collaboration: The Next Big Thing
Over 25 years ago our defense establishment – pushed by Congress – started the process of creating a “joint” military – where services plan, train for, and execute military missions together. Then about five years after that, mainly because we found we needed better coordination among agencies conducting peace and stability operations, the government started to work on creating an interagency culture and process.
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Headed home after four days in Australia and New Zealand
Headed home over the South Pacific after four days in Australia and New Zealand, strong allies and partners in Afghanistan as part of our 45-nation International Security Force – it was an excellent visit.
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Interagency Partnering -- Batter Up!
EUCOM’s Commander, Admiral Stavridis, often points to the importance that he attaches to “partnering,” both military and interagency partnering. In his recent Capitol Hill testimony he said that interagency partnering is “more than a tool or a method, 'interagency partnering' is an expanding paradigm at EUCOM and we are intent on serving as a model of interagency cooperation."
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U.S., “Team Brussels” and EUCOM
On Nov. 25, 2009 I proposed in these spaces an idea of linking the leadership of U.S. European Command with the senior U.S. leaders based in Brussels, the “Capital of Europe.” Then I suggested a meeting involving America’s geographic military command in Europe - EUCOM, with the 3 U.S. Ambassadors representing America to Belgium, NATO and the European Union. I’m happy to report that that idea materialized into a productive, informative visit March 19, 2010.
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Stronger Together: Logistics Exercise 2010 Mid Planning Conference (LOGEX10)
It is no secret that EUCOM remains committed to enduring partnerships and increased interoperability with NATO.... look at any Directors calendar and you'll probably notice how busy we all are towards that commitment. This year marks the third EUCOM-led logistics exercise, which is a Command Post Exercise (CPX) that is based on NATO doctrine which uses a multinational approach in supporting deployed forces in NATO-led out of area operations, and easily follows EUCOM's them of "Stronger Together."
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A Global Force for Good
Just left historic Munich, Germany where I was fortunate to attend and speak at their annual Security Conference.
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Reaching Out to My Team at U.S. European Command
Last Friday I flew to my U.S. European Command (EUCOM) headquarters in Stuttgart to conduct an “All Hands” with the military and civilian personnel assigned to the headquarters at Patch Barracks. The flight from my NATO headquarters in Belgium was an airborne “sleigh ride,” and the landing a bit of a white knuckle experience. However, I really wanted to meet with the team and talk about the “way ahead” for 2010, share with them my perspective, and solicit their feedback.
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The New Year with European Command and Our Partner Nations
Happy Twenty Ten from U.S. European Command in Stuttgart, Germany!
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Friends Come in all Shapes and Sizes
I recently had the opportunity to travel to Macedonia and Georgia.
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Ukraine - The Land of Resources
When driving through the Ukraine, you can’t help but notice the incredible amount of resources.
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The Course for Afghanistan
Yesterday President Obama laid out the strategy for Afghanistan
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“Smart” Engagement with the “Capital of Europe”
Last week, I spent two days in Brussels attending two European Union conferences “EU Smart Power” and “Energy Security” and got the chance to visit with my counterparts at the EU Military Staff.
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Does social media allow you to care now?
So, based on my fellow blogger, Maj. Jim Gregory’s, last post on the relevancy of European Command, I’d like to take that one step further and put you on the spot, in a nice way of course!
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On the Road with Dr. Hubner
In support of EUCOM’s efforts to do more interagency partnering, I found myself driving through the pouring rain out of Tirana, Albania to visit a remote hospital in Kukes. Kukes is one of 14 hospitals in Albania we would like to connect to the main Albanian hospital through telemedicine. This project would combine the efforts of USAID, an NGO and the DoD to link the hospitals by using the internet for training, counsel and a second opinion via a program like Skype. It will allow Albanian citizens with complex or rare medical conditions to receive high quality care from Albanian and potentially world-wide specialists. This is a major feat for a country with a poorly developed transportation system and difficult living conditions. Interagency team made up of: J4-Medical Readiness, Army Corps of Engineers, Regional Minister of Health of Kukes, University of Arizona, Tucson, director, Kukes Regional Hospital, J4-Humanitarian Assistance. (Photo by Tara Clark)
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Defense Ministerial
I’ve just returned from Bratislava, Slovakia where the NATO Fall '09 Defense Ministerial was held, followed by an official visit to Slovakian senior defense leaders.
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Doing More with Less - Is Social Media the Answer?
Well, the NATO Secretary General is blowing me out of the water for sure on the blogging side of the house. It's been seven days since my first blog. Does the excuse that I just got here and I've got a staff of two count? And oh by the way, that staff of two was down to one this week? Yah, I didn’t think so…
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Unexpected Twists Are Normal Business at SOCEUR
The Jackal Stone Special Operations Training Exercise is now officially finished with the successful completion of the closing ceremony Saturday afternoon, Sept. 26. And as with all military operations (especially special operations in my experience), flexibility remained key. You see, we set up for the ceremony on a concrete “parade field” area on Zemunik Air Base near Zadar, Croatia (beautiful area by the way). Of course, we had already briefed the boss, we’d conducted a rehearsal, and we had set up all of the props – chairs, podium, speakers, etc. Those scheduled to be given awards were seated and awaiting the beginning of the ceremony. The plan was in place.
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SOCEUR and Exercise Jackal Stone -- ‘Speed, Strength and Efficiency: Rising to Challenges Together’
Two weeks ago, I jumped on a flight headed for Croatia to participate in special operations forces (SOF) Exercise Jackal Stone 2009. Although the name sounds strange (you’ve got to love how the military often throws two completely unrelated words together to name training exercises), the purpose of the exercise is quite ambitious: to promote cooperation and interoperability between the 11 participating nations. Significant is the fact that the Croatian government is hosting its first major military exercise since accession as a NATO member nation earlier this year, and that they chose to host a special operations exercise. To me, it shows the importance that the Croatians place on special operations and the value they place on increasing international military partnerships.
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What is the South-Eastern Europe Brigade (SEEBRIG)?
Here at Combined Endeavor 09, we have participating organizations in addition to country participants. One of the organizations -- NATO -- is familiar to many people. SEEBRIG, however, is not as well known, so I want to take a few minutes to tell you about it.
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Excellence in Action: Combined Endeavor’s Regional Site in Denmark
This past weekend I had the pleasure of meeting the national delegations at Combined Endeavor 2009’s regional site at Bülows Kaserne, Fredericia, Denmark. Delegations at this site are from Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Ireland, Slovenia and Sweden with additional support personnel from the United States, Austria and Germany.
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Prepping for CE09
Tomorrow, I'll be gathering my gear and moving into my temporary home at Banja Luca, Bosnia-Herzegovina to do my part within EUCOM's Combined Endeavor 09 exercise.
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Connecting Stuttgart to BiH
Well, the Tandbergs worked between here and Stuttgart! What's a Tandberg? It is a point-to-point (or multipoint) teleconferencing tool used by many commercial firms as well as by many nations. The screen looks like a portrait-sized computer screen (in other words, a normal computer screen turned 90 degrees) and there's a camera embedded into the top of the screen. With this tool, individuals can sit at their desk and communicate with any number of others for video conferences.
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Transforming the Main Operating Base
Things are going well as Kozara Barracks is being transformed into a large telecommunications site to support the Main Operating Base of Combined Endeavor 2009 (CE09). We are finalizing contracts, continuing to build the main operating base infrastructure, and installing several networks which will serve as the backbone for our daily communications during the communications interoperability testing. There are as many Bosnia and Herzogovina military support personnel on the ground here as there are members from the CE staff and early participants!
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EPTF Organizational Development
Standing up a new organization is an interesting process. As I look at the EPTF there are three key components to consider: Understanding the European environment and our partners in order to build effective partnerships Thinking outside the box to generate new ideas Creating the new organization structure and staffing itAdmiral Stavridis has an excellent reading list that helps to build foundational understanding. I've been working my way through this reading list. But there is no substitute for face-to-face discussion and meeting people. We're working on a partnership engagement strategy now. I think getting some of allies embedded in the EPTF will be critical for success.
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European Partnership Task Force
The EPTF is designed from top to bottom, left to right to embody the concept of Partnership. That's why we selected the image to the right and the motto, Give Way Together for the conference. We're all in this together and need to work as a team to make progress. And that we did during the conference. I know this spirit will carry forward as we start to implement the EPTF.
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The State Partnership Program, Relationships, and Building Partner Capability
Increasingly, these relationships are also forged in the fires of combat. Many of the states in the EUCOM SPP have deployed to Afghanistan and Iraq with their partner nations. In some cases, the partner nation requested their co-deployment based on the strength of their relationship. Poland and Illinois comes to mind, as does Georgia and Georgia. In other cases, the state provides critical capabilities to enable the partner deployment. Great examples are the co-deployment Operational Mentor and Liaison Teams (OMLT). Michigan-Latvia, Tennessee-Bulgaria, Hungary-Ohio, and Minnesota-Croatia are good examples and the list is growing.
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Community outreach onboard USS Dwight D. Eisenhower (CVN 69)
Today, I have the opportunity to escort military and community leaders from Poland and Germany aboard the “Ike” and I can’t think of a better platform to demonstrate the United States’ commitment to building partnerships here in Europe. It’s my sincere hope that our guests walk away with a greater appreciation and understanding of that commitment.
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Combined Endeavor 2009
CE – Combined Endeavor – is a large telecommunications exercise sponsored by EUCOM but planned and executed by our partner nations. This year, 2009, we are moving the exercise out of Germany for the first time in our 14 year history to Bosnia and Herzegovina. It is a big enough challenge planning this exercise, but this year we add the challenge of building a new infrastructure to support the exercise.
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EUCOM Chaplain Delivers Field Kits to Republic of Georgia
In our recent trip to Tbilisi, Georgia, on April 1, 2009, EUCOM’s senior Chaplain Assistant, Army Master Sergeant Ralph Martinez, and I presented six portable field worship kits to the leader of training and education of the joint staff of the Georgian Military, Major Lasha Beridze, and the Orthodox priest assigned to support the joint staff, Father David Londaridze. During this visit, we discussed developing training specifically for chaplains and collaborated on ideas for the way ahead for future engagements between our two organizations.
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USAFE Blog: First C-130 delivered to Poland
The first Polish C-130E Hercules arrived at Powidz Air Base on 24 March 2009. In my role in the Office of Defense Cooperation at the U.S. Embassy in Warsaw, I serve as the in-country program coordinator; linking the many people in the U.S. who make this program a reality with their Polish counterparts. (more)
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