Vermont – Macedonia National Guard Partnership

Vermont-Macedonia State Partnership

Origin	1993
Country President	Gjorge Ivanov
Prime Minister	Nikola Gruevski
Minister of Defense	Talat Dzaferi
Ambassador to U.S.	Zoran Jolevski
Ambassador to Macedonia	Paul D. Wohlers
Adjutant General	Major General Steven A. Cray
2012 Engagements	17
Current ISAF Pax	157
NATO member	No
EU member	No

Macedonia

The Vermont-Macedonia National Guard Partnership is one of 22 European partnerships that make-up the U.S. European Command State Partnership Program and one of 65 worldwide partnerships that make-up the National Guard State Partnership Program.^[1] The partnership between the Vermont National Guard (VTNG) and the Army of the Republic of Macedonia (ARM) has flourished since its establishment in 1993.^[2] In 2012, the VTNG was awarded the Macedonian Military Order of Merit by President Gjorge Ivanov, in appreciation of VTNG’s commitment to the ARM. Vermont continues to support Macedonia’s armed forces as their professionalism and capability increase.

An officer from the Vermont Army National Guard provides After Action Reporting comments to American, Armenian, Belarusian and Macedonian soldiers at the Krivolak Training Area in the Republic of Macedonia.

A Macedonian Soldier shakes hands with an Afghan National Army Soldier.

LTG Mark P. Hertling, U.S. Army Europe Commander, congratulates Macedonian troops following a training demonstration in Macedonia.

A Macedonian Soldier takes aim during a crew-served weapons range in Macedonia while a U.S. and Macedonian Soldier looks on.

A U.S. military police officer addresses Macedonian and U.S. troops during a safety brief in Macedonia.

History

79 Macedonian soldiers co-deployed with the 86th IBCT (MTN) in OEF X.
The President of Macedonia visited Vermont in September 2009.
In 2012, President of Macedonia awarded Vermont National Guard with highest military decoration, the Military Order of Merit.
15 Military-to-Military (M2M) events scheduled for completion in 2013, to include the 2013 NATO Comprehensive Operations Planning Division (COPD) Logistical Exercise 2013, which will be held in Macedonia.
Contention with Greece over constitutional name continues to challenge acceptance into EU/NATO.
Macedonia continues to reform the Army to gain accession into NATO.^[3]

Partnership focus

The focus of the partnership is accession into NATO and the EU.

Military to Military (M2M):

Continued commitment to reaching Security Cooperation Goals
Continued support for Non Lethal Weapon capability and PKO deployments
Support ARM Transformations for 2015 (Med Inf Btl Grp)
Trilateral engagements (Vermont, Macedonia, Senegal)

2013 events include Operational Logistics, National Defense Organization and Cyber Security.^[4]

References

↑ "National Guard SPP". The National Guard. Retrieved 19 October 2012.
↑ "SPP Data". U.S. European Command. Retrieved 23 January 2013.
↑ "SPP Data" (PDF). U.S. European Command. Retrieved 23 January 2013.
↑ "SPP Data" (PDF). U.S. European Command. Retrieved 23 January 2013.

External links

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