THE State Partnership Edition MarylandLINE Celebrating 20 Years with Estonia Celebrating 10 Years with Bosnia and Herzegovina OFFICIAL MAGAZINE OF THE MARYLAND MILITARY DEPARTMENT Inside this issue: 8 6 9 12 10 LINE 18 22 16 20 Feature Stories Capt. Adolphus Houck makes his way across a northern Estonia waterfall during the Erna Raid 2007 competition in norther 14tests Soldiers’ skills and endurance over six grueling days of competition. 6 Maryland celebrates 12 4 Maryland Guard partners with LINE partnerships: Estonia & Bosnia and Herzegovina On The Bosnia and Herzegovina for peace, security 8 State of Maryland signs 10 Estonian Air Force pilots Memorandum with Estonia deploy with Maryland 9 Adjutant General Hosts Bosnian On the cover: National Guard Deputy Minister of Defense 12 Maryland Guard trains Maryland 16 The Forgotten Front Estonian Air Force pilots 13 Estonian Border Guard 20 Special Forces in Estonia Cross of Merit 24 State Partnership Program THE 22 Sabre Strike 2013 Governor: Contributors: Martin O’Malley Lt. Col. Charles Kohler 1st Lt. Kristofer Baumgartner Maj. Wade Minami A Maryland Army National Guard Sol- Adjutant General: dier sight opposing forces during the Capt. Joseph Winter Erna Raid 2007 military event in north- Maj. Gen. James A. Adkins Military Department 2nd Lt. Jessica Donnelly ern Estonia Aug. 9, 2007. Maryland National Guard Staff Sgt. Thaddeus Harrington Public Affairs Office Staff Sgt. John Higgins The Ambassador and BiH Minister Design & Layout: Fifth Regiment Armory Spc. Loni Kingston of Defense signed a Memorandum of 29th Division St. Understanding confirming continued Assembled from past Baltimore, Md. 21201 Spc Kieth Muckler (AF) Staff Sgt. Benjamin Hughes funding of the International Military publications [email protected] Education and Training program in 410-576-6179 American Forces Press Service Mostar June 5, 2008. /MDGUARD /MDGUARD /MDNG /MDNG /MDNG 2 WWW.MD.NGB.ARMY.MIL The Maryland Maryland Army National Guard Soldiers from the 253rd Engineer Company (Sapper) hitched a ride with the New Hampshire Air Guard to Puerto Rico this year for annual training. Nearly 50 Citizen Soldiers from the La Plata, Md., based unit along with eight soldiers from Bosnia and Herzegovina flew to Camp Santiago Joint Maneuver Training Center July 13-27. While there, they trained side-by-side with the 1013th Engineer Company (Sapper) and the 232nd Dive Team from Puerto Rico. The Maryland and Puerto Rican Citizen Soldiers shared best practices, experiences, and lessons learned with each other during the two-week AT. 1st AppeAred April 2006 Line State Partnership Edition 2013 3 Maryland Guard partners with Bosnia and Herzegovina for peace, security 1st AppeAred that Bosnia’s highly-trained and capable force shows MArch 2013 promise that would have seemed unachievable in the mid-1990s. But the Maryland National Guard, she said, has brought a sense of community that distin- By Amaani Lyle guishes itself from conventional joint training mis- American Forces Press Service sions. Armed forces from Bosnia and Herzegovina de- “The Bosnians display a great sense of pride, confi- ployed with a military police task force to Afghani- dence and teamwork that has, in part, been built during stan’s Kandahar these military and security exchanges,” province in Janu- “ his partnership is a testament Farkas said. “The work they’re doing ary, thanks to on- Tto the great strides Bosnia with the Maryland National Guard has going training and has made to become a real con- not only primed them to support Inter- integration with the tributor within the international se- national Security Assistance Force Af- Maryland National ghanistan missions, but [also has] pre- Guard. curity landscape pared them for international security The integration, ” involvement around the world.” which began in 2003 through the National Guard State NATO officials said they have long since champi- Partnership Program, ranks among the Bosnia Armed oned nation partnership and collaboration, concepts Force’s top accomplishments since civil unrest began that have gained particular interest in an era of fiscal in the former Yugoslav republic region two decades uncertainty. earlier, said Evelyn Farkas, deputy assistant secretary “The partnership with Bosnia yields benefits that of defense for Russian, Ukrainian and Eurasian af- are hard to quantify on paper, but definitely result in fairs. forces that are now better equipped, more credible and “This partnership is a testament to the great making prog- strides Bosnia has made to become a real con- “ t’s all about sharing our ress toward tributor within the international security land- Iexperiences as the Nation- meeting NATO scape,” Farkas said. “The troops are stepping al Guard and building trust and standards -- up and showing significant progress in their confidence in the citizens of which ulti- capabili- their country mately creates ties and ” efficiencies,” professionalism, Farkas said. moving them clos- Army Maj. Gen. James A. Adkins, Maryland’s ad- er toward the goal jutant general, said the program builds partnership of membership capacity and relationships as it facilitates Bosnia and in the NATO alli- Herzegovina’s journey to NATO membership. ance.” “We build relationships at the squad, platoon and Citing one of company level, where these individuals work together the most recent time after time, and we’ve seen that come together in success stories the Bosnian deployment with us to Afghanistan,” he of U.S. National said. “The Bosnians are willing and able partners in Guard and foreign anything we do on the battlefield.” nation pairings, In many cases, the general added, the training is re- Farkas explained ciprocal. 4 WWW.MD.NGB.ARMY.MIL The Maryland “They’ve provided sound instruction and expertise and ideally allows U.S. and Bosnian troops to tackle in dealing with mines and other things they’ve expe- problems, place resources against those problems and rienced in their country [so] we can take advantage of brainstorm on final solutions, Adkins added. their knowledge,” he said. “It’s critical that everyone in the command sees the Adkins also has seen the 20-year jour- value of the exchanges ney in Maryland’s ad- and partnerships to devel- ditional partnership with op that trust,” he said. Estonia, noting that both Farkas said she remains Maryland and Estonia are optimistic that Bosnia and coastal states with popu- Herzegovina will con- lations centered in a large tinue to thrive within the port city. State Partnership Pro- “It’s all about sharing gram, which now features our experiences as the Na- 65 participating nations tional Guard and building that enhance U.S. com- trust and confidence in the batant commanders’ capa- citizens of their country,” bilities around the world. Adkins said. “It’s also “There is still work important to show the relevance of what the military to be done, but Bosnia certainly continues to move does to support the local community in their country.” forward with the support of the National Guard,” she Trust at the senior level resonates at all levels, said. Line State Partnership Edition 2013 5 Maryland celebrates partnerships: 1st AppeAred MAy 2013 By the Maryland National Guard Public Affairs Office overnor Martin O’Malley recognized the 20 and 10 year anniversaries of the Maryland GNational Guard’s partnerships with Estonia and Bosnia and Herzegovina with a reception for se- nior delegations from the two nations May 13, 2013, in Annapolis, Md. The Maryland National Guard established its State Partnership Program with Estonia in 1993 to assist with the Baltic state’s transition to an independent nation after the collapse of the Soviet Union. In 2003, the Maryland National Guard began another partnership, this time with Bosnia and Herzegovina, to help stabilize that country following the break-up of Yugoslavia and the ethnic conflict that followed. The program promotes civil and military coop- eration to promote peace, stability, prosperity and democratic principles. During the past two decades, the State Partner- ship Program enhanced relationships between the United States and these countries through hundreds of military and civilian exchanges. Cooperation spread, over the years, beyond military-to-military 6 WWW.MD.NGB.ARMY.MIL The Maryland Estonia & Bosnia and Herzegovina exchanges to civilian collaboration. Salisbury Univer- ering Africa, Asia, Europe and Latin America. Some sity in Maryland and Tartu University in Estonia, for states have two programs. Although many of the example, established a relationship as a result of the partner nations have deployed together, in 2012, State Partnership Program. Maryland’s became the first program ever to have “Over the last 20 years, the Maryland National supported two co-deployments with two different Guard has been a pioneer in this type of interna- partner nations at the same time. tional engagement,” said O’Malley. “The organiza- “Over the past 20 years, we have achieved great tion’s success with two state partnerships has been success through our partnerships while supporting a terrific benefit to not only the state of Maryland, U.S. foreign policy objectives,” said Maj. Gen. James but also to the nation as a whole.” A. Adkins, the adjutant general of Maryland. “As we Two pilots from Estonia, Capt. Rene Kallis and look forward to Capt. Martin Noorsalu, are serving with the Mary- the future, the SPP land National Guard on a 3-year tour. They recently remains a cost- returned from Afghanistan with the Maryland Army effective engage- National Guard’s C Company, 1st Battalion, 169th ment program that Air Ambulance Company where they flew medical produces results evacuation missions alongside Maryland pilots. beneficial to the Twenty-six military policemen from the Armed United States and Forces of Bosnia and Herzegovina deployed last fall our partners.” to Afghanistan with the Maryland National Guard’s 115th Military Police Battalion to support the Inter- national Security Assistance Force.