SR12 Cultural Day promotes cross-nation appreciation [Image 11 of 19]

CAPLJINA, BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA

06.03.2012

Photo by Staff Sgt. Daryl Knee 

52nd Fighter Wing

Participants of the Shared Resilience 2012 Cultural Day tour listen to a local church's monk June 3 as he explains the history of the Zitomislic Monastery. According to the monk, in 1941, Croat fascists tortured and killed the monks of the church, threw their bodies into a pit and razed the church to the ground. After World War II, the locals rebuilt the site, recovered the remains of the monks and entombed them within the cathedral. However, the church was destroyed again in 1992 during the War in Bosnian and Herzegovina from 1992-95. This time, the monks' remains were nearly obliterated. The locals began rebuilding the churchyard in its former shape and style in 2002. They placed what remains they could find inside the cathedral and opened church services in 2005. More than 500 military members from nine nations are participating in SR12, the annual U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff sponsored exercise, May 28 - June 8. The goals of the exercise are to strengthen interoperability, facilitate training in crisis response and disaster management, and validate the readiness of deployable military medical and humanitarian assistance teams. The exercise, in the spirit of partnership for peace, directly supports U.S. European Command's theater cooperation efforts and strategy for active security with European countries.

• Date Taken: 06.03.2012
• Date Posted: 06.04.2012 08:44
• Photo ID: 593492
• VIRIN: 120603-F-JZ627-052
• Resolution: 2100x1500
• Size: 2.97 MB
• Location: CAPLJINA, BA