Delegation of ARM led by the Chief of General Staff of ARM Lieutenant General Metodija Velichkovski visited the National Guard of Vermont. Besides meeting the host, the Commander of the National Guard of Vermont, Major General Steven Cray, they also visited and met the commanders of the commands and units from the National Guard.
During the official meeting between the CGS of ARM and General Cray, they analyzed the benefits of 25 year-military cooperation, especially in the part of training, conducted exercises, joint peacekeeping missions and international exercises, for which the training and education capacities of the National Guard of Vermont have been available to the servicemen of the ARM.
The delegation visited the servicemen of ARM during the visit to the Fort Drum Base in the Federal State of New York, who currently are attending a pre-deployment training for peace keeping missions, together with their colleagues from the Engineering Regiment of the 86th Infantry Brigade (of the NG of Vermont). Several activities have been conducted so far with units from this brigade and also a joint participation in ISAF mission in 2010, and in the future, a peacekeeping mission, Decisive Support in Afghanistan, is planned.
Yesterday, the delegation visited the Vermont Air National Guard where besides familiarizing with the capacities and the activities of the command, General Velichkovski met Commander General Craig Campbell where they discussed planned joint activities.
By the end of the visit the delegation will have attended a ceremony for sending Air Force unit on a mission, and coordination meetings for the planned activities with the military authorities of the NG of Vermont.
Joint training of ARM servicemen based on the partnership program for cooperation with the NG of Vermont is the most obvious example for success by achieving the interoperability with the NATO standards which started a decade ago.
Joint cooperation with NG of Vermont so far includes almost 1000 conducted activities in the field of training where over 6000 ARM servicemen mastered the standards of the US Armed Forces, which are implemented in the ARM units. With the organization and conducting of these exercises, the declared ARM units in great measure raised but also confirmed NATO tactical procedures and techniques which contributed for successful implementation of the current evaluation processes in accordance with the NATO Concept, proved by the received certificates for flawless tasks performance in the peacekeeping missions.
The cooperation between the NG of Vermont and ARM, as well as between the Federal State of Vermont and the Republic of Macedonia stands out in the top of the programs of partner allied states in the Bureau of the NG, by having regular return visits on the highest military level and intensive conducting of the mentioned activities.
