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NASHVILLE, Tenn. - July 14 of this year was the 22nd anniversary of the Tennessee and Bulgaria partnership that was created through the National Guard State Partnership Program in 1993.
"Back in 1993, Tennessee was picked for Bulgaria due to many factors similar in nature, one being land mass," said Lt. Col. Michael Nave, State Partnership program director for Tennessee. Bulgaria and Tennessee were about the same size geographically and similar in population.
The first three state partnerships were approved April 27, 1993. Soon after, Tennessee partnered with Bulgaria on July 14; one of nine more established that day. There would be three more later the same year, two in August and one in September.
Today, there are 68 partnerships with 74 countries.
"The State Partnership Program has evolved from a small program that was virtually unknown outside the National Guard to a program strongly supported by all the Combatant Commands and widely acknowledged by our nation's executive and legislative leadership," according to William Boehm, in a 2013 monograph entitled The National Guard State Partnership Program: Forging and Maintaining Effective Security Cooperation Partnerships for the 21st Century. Boehm is a historian with the Historical Services Branch of the Office of Public Affairs at National Guard Bureau, and was the primary author of the monograph.
"The National Guard SPP arose out of DOD efforts to assist the militaries of the former Soviet bloc nations of Central and Eastern Europe transition to democratic rule following the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991," said Boehm in the 2013 document.
There were several priorities developed when the program began, mostly focused on improving economic conditions during that time. The three with military relevance were helping to build democracy through the appropriate roles for European militaries including civilian command, pursuing humanitarian assistance for joint exercises with forces of interested nations for national disasters and rescue procedures, and developing a capability to participate with other institutions in strengthening crisis management mechanisms.
The training and exercises in the State Partnership Program initially involved military assistance to civilian authorities in the case of such emergencies and disasters, according to Boehm. Today's efforts are similar, involving more familiarization training.
"We have completed several exercises just this year with the Bulgarian Land Forces," explained Nave. "We usually conduct 12 to 16 events each year."
These exercises include Kabile 15, Joint Reaction, Peace Sentinel, and currently Resolute Castle with Tennessee National Guard engineers.
Tennessee and Bulgaria often exchange subject matter experts and even military units to develop leadership in officers and noncommissioned officers, enable modernization of the military, perform disaster preparedness and crisis management exercises, as well as deployment planning and family support program development.
"The events are tied to the Country Campaign Plans within the European Command Theater," said Nave. "Focus can be attributed to such things as professional development, interoperability, consequence managements and defense reform."
"Looking at the Guard as a whole, we can maintain a long lasting relationship with a partner country that our active duty counterparts cannot," said Nave.
The National Guard is able to forge relationships over a long period of time. Many Tennessee Guardsmen have visited Bulgaria on numerous occasions over the past two decades and vice versa. When the State Partnership Program began, the National Guard was in a unique position for aiding in the development of military forces in other countries by matching military organizations of comparable size, focus and mission. For active component personnel, this type of relationship would only last about three or four years, until the end of that tour of duty.
"The concept of military personnel that could work a full-time civilian job and then come to the aid of the population in times of disaster was nor widely embraced in the former Soviet bloc countries," explained Boehm. "Citizens in those countries generally views military personnel with suspicion and not as fellow citizens working for the good of the country."
"Our relationship with Bulgaria has evolved where we have contributed significantly to help them in many areas," said Nave. "Bulgaria joined NATO in 2004 and the European Union in 2008. In consequence management, the Tennessee National Guard and our Tennessee Emergency Management Agency have worked with the Bulgarians who have now created a 'Centers of Excellence' that just recently obtained NATO accreditation for emergency management within their Ministry of Defense."
"The Tennessee National Guard, both Army and Air, have supported the Bulgarian communities with school renovations, health assessments, as well as vision and dental screenings," Nave added.
Another unique characteristic is that SPP fosters broader cultural, economic and academic ties at the local and state level through the use of Operational Mentor and Liaison Teams, which began in 2003. OMLTs consists of bi-national units that were initially utilized in Iraq and later Afghanistan to coach, teach and mentor security forces units in those countries. Tennessee and Bulgaria were the second OMLT pairing and completed four deployment rotations that year. By the end of 2003, 11 partnerships had completed 54 rotations.
The SPP continues to grow, meeting combatant command objectives and national security goals while maintaining relationships in every corner of the world.
"The program promotes defense reform and modernization, and provides a training venue for our National Guard forces and personnel in meeting Joint and Service doctrine, as well as training requirements," explained Boehm. "The SPP has proven itself a unique and valuable engagement asset that will continue to pay dividends to peace and security from many years to come."
In 2005, the Tennessee Army National Guard's military police conducted an exchange in Bulgaria where 80 U.S. Soldiers trained in Novo Selo, one of the largest small-unit exchanges in the Partnership's history.
Since Tennessee partnered with Bulgaria, they have conducted more than 1,000 events, to include four deployments to Afghanistan where a joint Bulgarian/Tennessee force trained the Afghani Army.
In 2008, the Bulgarian military made the transition to an all-volunteer force and underwent a restructuring program aimed to bring the army up to NATO standards, modernize equipment, and fully integrate civilian and armed components.
Many Bulgarian villages have been influenced in a positive way by State Partnership Program events through humanitarian assistance initiatives in conjunction with military-to-military interaction. Exercises, such as Vigilant Sentry, have had a positive impact on the civilian population with the purpose of providing medical, dental and pediatric care to the rural population.
Pairing states with other countries is beneficial.
"Many people think some of these partnerships are mature enough that we should move on to other countries to provide support; however, maintaining these relationships is of vital importance both politically and militarily," said Nave.
Two years ago, the first two Bulgarian students completed the Airman Leadership School and Noncommissioned Officer Academy at Tennessee's I.G. Brown Training and Education Center in Knoxville, both of which are requirements for enlisted Air National Guardsmen across the United States during different parts of their professional military education while in service. Bulgarian students still attend training in the United States, with several graduating from the Air Force's Senior NCO Academy at Maxwell-Gunter Air Force Base in Montgomery, Ala., in June of this year and more attending both ALS and the NCO Academy over the last two years.
In June of 2013, the Tennessee Army National Guard's 117th Military Police Battalion hosted four members of the Bulgarian military police during the Tennessee unit's two-week annual training at the Volunteer Training Site in Tullahoma, Tennessee.
"It's been an incredible training experience," said Maj. Wade Reed, the operations officer for the 117th in 2013. "The Bulgarians have been alongside us, trading valuable techniques and learning different ways to look at tactical and technical problems."
"We've been learning from them, just as much as they have from us," Reed added.
As part of the training, the Bulgarian military police trained on tactics, operations, weapons familiarity, and were able to use several of the combat simulators at the Tullahoma training site, to include the Mobile Armored Tactical Combat House.
In January of 2014, officials from the Bulgarian Armed Forces Information Security Directorate came to Nashville to observe the Tennessee National Guard's Cyber Unit in an endeavor to strengthen their own cyber defense program.
"The relationship between Bulgaria and the Tennessee National Guard is very important for us to maintain," said Bulgarian Lt. Col. Atanas Atanasov, chief expert for Bulgaria's Information Security Directorate.
The visit centered on establishing methods of instruction to allow the Bulgarian team to better train their own defense force on cyber security measures.
| Date Taken: | 07.15.2015 |
| Date Posted: | 08.25.2015 15:08 |
| Story ID: | 174214 |
| Location: | NASHVILLE, TN, US |
| Web Views: | 189 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
This work, Tennessee and Bulgaria: 22 years of partnership, by MSgt Robin Brown, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
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