UDBINA, Croatia – President Ivo Josipovic of Croatia visited the Josip Jovic Air Base in Udbina, Croatia during the Jackal Stone 2012 Media Day to observe demonstrations from Special Operations units from 11 nations participating in this year’s training event.

After visiting the Little Bear Kindergarten in Udbina, the president traveled to the Air Base to watch tactical demonstrations by U.S., Romanian and Croatian special forces.

Josipovic was given the opportunity to meet with the Special Forces operators and experienced a hands-on display of weapons and equipment the various nations employ. This helped the president understand the importance of Jackal Stone and what the NATO Forces are accomplishing through the training.

The purpose of the training exercises this month in Croatia is to strengthen tactical proficiency through the annual event and demonstrate the United States’ and its allies' commitment to peaceful military-to-military relationships and improve regional stability.

Also in attendance were Croatian Defense Minister Ante Kotromanovic, Counselor and Charge d’Affaires to Croatia Hoyte B. Yee of the U.S. Embassy, and U.S. Army Maj. Gen. Michael S. Repass, commander of U.S. Special Operations Command Europe.

“I want to say thanks to the Croatian people and the Croatian government for hosting the exercise,” said Repass. “We benefit from the brotherhood we have among the special operators.”

JS-12 is a multinational exercise that will involve approximately 1,700 military personnel from the U.S., Croatia, Czech Republic, Estonia, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Norway, Poland, Romania and Slovakia from Sept. 13 to Sept. 27.