A delegation from the United States National Guards led by the head of the US National Guard Bureau, General Joseph Lengyel, who is on his first official visit to the Republic of Macedonia, today visited the Ministry of Defense and the General Staff of the ARM, and toured part of units and capacities of the ARM.
During his stay in the ARM General Staff, General Lengyel held separate meetings with the Minister of Defense Radmila Shekerinska and the Chief of General Staff of the ARM, Major General Vasko Gjurchinovski.
At the meeting with General Gjurchinovski, the activities of the US partnership program were discussed, expressed through the 25-year joint activities of the ARM and Vermont National Guard.
General Gjurchinovski emphasized the importance of the experience acquired by the ARM members and the achieved interoperability with the NATO standards, gained through joint participation in peacekeeping operations, the realization of a large number of joint exercises and the continuous implementation of joint training.
During the meeting, General Lengyel expressed his satisfaction with the military cooperation so far, stressing that the ARM was among the first partner armies that was deployed in Afghanistan along with the US Armed Forces in Operation “Phoenix”.
At the meeting, General Gjurchinovski and General Lengyel discussed the upcoming joint activities of the “Decided Punch” exercise that will be conducted at Krivolak training area with about a thousand members from the 56th Brigade of the Pennsylvania National Guard with members of the ARM from the First Mechanized Infantry Brigade.
The delegation headed by General Lengyel will also visit the barracks “Strasho Pindzur” in Petrovec, where he will be introduced to the mission, tasks and equipment of the first mechanized infantry brigade, whereby the funds and capacities of the unit will be presented, and they will also get acquainted with the capacities of TA “Krivolak”.
The benefits of the ARM from the 25 years military cooperation so far, especially in the part of the training, the exercises and the joint appearance in the peacekeeping operations, have greatly improved and confirmed the training of the ARM members in NATO tactical procedures and techniques, which contributes to the successful implementation of the interoperability with NATO standards.
In the past joint activities of the ARM with the Vermont National Guard, nearly 1000 activities in the field of training were realized, of which over 5,000 members of the ARM have mastered the standards of the US armed forces, which are implemented in the ARM units.
