Exercise Noble Partner involves approx... VIEW ORIGINAL
TBILISI, Georgia--A staff mentorship team from the U.S. state of Georgia is wrapping up a short tour to the European country of Georgia in support of the U.S. Army Europe Exercise Noble Partner.
Noble Partner is a bilateral exercise focused on enhancing U.S. and Georgian NATO Response Force interoperability in the context of military-to-military relationships.
The three-man Georgia Army National Guard team from the 48th Infantry Brigade Combat Team travelled to the Vaziani training area, near the capital of Tbilisi, under the auspices of the National Guard's State Partnership Program.
The U.S. European Command's State Partnership Program, a component of the larger National Guard program, partners U.S. states with European countries to support the command's security cooperation objectives. Currently, 22 partnerships exist with former Soviet, Yugoslav and Warsaw Pact countries in the EUCOM area of responsibility.
"The Georgia-Georgia is a 17-year old partnership program set up to share with the Georgian army American best practices and methodology, as well as unifying NATO doctrine," said Capt. Paul Rothenbuhler, a training officer with the 48th IBCT and the team officer-in-charge. "It's a special relationship."
Members of both forces fought side-by-side in Afghanistan and Iraq, and often train together.
"We have experience together, so our relationship is strong" said Georgian Lt. Col. Beka Ambroladze, the exercise executive officer. "Every time we collaborate with the American Georgians, they bring us new experience, which helps to synchronize our planning and operations."
The main task of the team is to share U.S. and NATO doctrine in support of the (country of) Georgia's contribution of an infantry company to the NATO Response Force.
"I'm hoping to pass on our best practices and lessons learned in regards to the planning process and military staff operations," said 1st Lt. Matthew Silva, an operations officer with the American mentoring team. "Each country has specific things that they do different, but if we are going to work together, our processes must be synched."
Though each member of the team has a specific mission, many of them have been helping out wherever needed.
"Their army is configured a little differently than ours," said Master Sgt. Lonnie Teal, the team operations noncommissioned officer. "Since I've been here I've been working with the operations section, showing them how we do battle tracking in the U.S. Army style and helping with operations orders, but have also assisted with some of the other sections like the [personnel] section to help get their products together."
Since Georgia isn't a member of the alliance, the U.S. is serving as the sponsor of Georgia's participation in the NRF. So the American team is assisting the Georgians with NATO compliance.
"Mentoring, in regards to NATO staff operations, is important," said Teal. "The alliance requires all business to be conducted in English, so we have an opportunity here to get their staff trained up on the complexities of the language, when it comes to staff products."
The Georgian armed forces have only been around in their current form since 1991, providing a unique experience for the American team.
"It's a young military, only since 1991, but in that short time they have already put a lot of things in place that will assist them going forward," said Silva. "Their desire to learn goes a long way - it really has propelled their military into a modern, professional force.
An exercise like Noble Partner allows Soldiers from both Georgias to put into practice the skills that they have learned from each other.
"The Georgian units here are gaining a lot of experience and learning new approaches to the planning and operations process," said Ambroladze. "I hope that Noble Partner will continue every year so that we can continue enriching our knowledge and strengthening our relationship."
Building and sustaining those relationships are another reason for the partnership.
"For the Georgia Army National Guard, it's an opportunity to have another great relationship," said Teal. "This exercise and others like it are a chance to solidify these relationships through mutual training. The more we are exposed to each other, the more we can understand each other."
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