15th Anniversary of cooperation between CAF and Minnesota National Guard
The 15th anniversary of successful cooperation between the Croatian Armed Forces and Minnesota National Guard was commemorated this weekend by military exercise of 27 CAF members and the same number of members of the Minnesota National Guard, and by the meeting in Minnesota of MOD State Secretary Pjer Simunovic with Minnesota NG Commander Major General Richard C. Nash.
MOD State Secretary Pjer Simunovic and Maj. Gen. Richard Nash talked about the successful cooperation so far of the CAF and the MNG through the “State Partnership Program”, which was especially evident in the regular annual joint training but also through a joint multinational OMLT that participates in the ISAF mission in Afghanistan. Topics of discussion were also the ISAF mission and the military police school in which the leading nation is Croatia, then the situation in the region, as well as cooperation through A5 – the US-Adriatic Charter.
Support of military forces in the event of natural disasters and catastrophes, and the functioning of the MNG through the active reserve were some of the topics for which the Croatian side expressed its interest and the need for sharing experience.
A joint military exercise “CROMINN 11” which was attended by members of the 2nd Battalion “Gromovi” and led for the first time by the Croatian Army female officer Second Lieutenant Manuela Denzic was held in “Camp Ripley”.
It is an exercise that is traditionally held for the sixth consecutive year in the framework of bilateral cooperation with the United States. The aim of exercise is a common practice of army platoons and contribution to the development of security measures in the fight against terrorism.
More than 230 CAF members were on training in “Camp Ripley” in Minnesota so far, while in the various forms of training and education in the U.S. was around 550 people from Croatia who were on more than 750 individual military trainings and educations in that country.