Origin 1993 Prime Minister Boyko Borisov Ambassador to U.S. Elena Poptodorova | Country President Rosen Plevneliev Minister of Defense Anyu Angelov Ambassador to Bulgaria Eric S. Rubin | |
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The Tennessee-Bulgaria National Guard Partnership is one of 22 European partnerships that make up the U.S. European Command State Partnership Program and one of 64 worldwide partnerships that make up the National Guard State Partnership Program. The Republic of Bulgaria signed a bilateral affairs agreement with the U.S. Department of Defense and the state of Tennessee in 1993 establishing the Tennessee-Bulgaria State Partnership Program.
Contents
Since 1993, the state of Tennessee and Bulgaria were paired because they shared similar geographical and cultural features. National Guard has been the official state partner to Bulgaria through SPP and military-to-military branch. During these years, Tennessee and Bulgaria have literally exchanged hundreds of soldiers on travelling contact teams and familiarization visits covering variety of topics with respect to military operations and civil-military relationships, more than 420 events have been executed since the inception of the program. Tennessee National Guard soldiers have also participated in major military exercises in Bulgaria sponsored by the U.S. Air Force in Europe and the U.S. Army, Europe like Cornerstone, Bulwark; Sentry Lion, etc. It should be mentioned that many Bulgarian villages have been influenced in a positive way by this partnership through many Humanitarian Assistance initiatives in conjunction with Mil- to-Mil interaction.
Joint Contact teams continue to mature after Bulgaria’s accession into NATO in 2004, EUCOM, Tennessee, and Bulgaria wanted to explore moving to the next step of complexity in engagement activities with respect to the State Partnership Program. The events that EUCOM proposed were to be the first time Tennessee National Guard units were to conduct their annual training in Bulgaria independent of a larger exercise. Several major SPP events need to be highlighted which have impacted either side in a significant way. Vigilant Sentry is an exercise which combined efforts of both the 118th TN Medical group, and the 168th Military Police Battalion. The Medical part objectives’ were to provide medical, dental and pediatric care to the rural population in a joint effort with the Bulgarian Ministry of Defense and through the Military Academy and in cooperation with the Military of Health. Sentry Lion is another interesting event which took place in 2006 at the third Bulgarian AF base at Graf Ignatievo. In this event the TN Air Guard provided C-5 Cargo Transports to move the logistical equipment and support personnel from Oregon to Bulgaria.
History
"The state partnership program has offered the opportunity to forge a relationship that fosters democracy, encourages economic development, and promotes regional capability and stability that I would not have thought possible." - MG Gus Hargett, Former Tennessee Adjutant General
On August 13, 1993, the Sofia daily newspaper reported that: "from well informed sources in the midst of the Ministry of Defense, Duma has learned that four unidentified American Specialists have been roaming about Sofia for about 10 days. Without the approval of the government and not known by whose invitation, the guest with US epaulets are staying in the capital’s hotel Shipka. What are they doing here is not fully clear". This was the inception of the Military Liaison team in Bulgaria, and the first members of the liaison team arrived in Bulgaria in late July 1993, team chief was Colonel Gary G. Chamberlin accompanied by three more US military personnel. As elsewhere, the liaison team’s first task upon arrival was to develop a country work plan. Much patience was required on the part of the Americans to overcome the obstacles and complete the first work plan. The transparency of the contact program and repeated demonstrations of American intention to respond to priorities set by the host nation were the keys to this effort. The plan, completed in November 1993, contained a list of the 16 events, a plan for the next quarter consisting of 44 events, and a yearly work plan of 15 core events. Although the contact program was not able to conduct all of the events during the first quarter, the staff did schedule most of them during the remainder of 1994. This is how everything started and evaluated to the extent where the partners’ efforts are constant throughout the years and aim at achieving higher and higher levels of interoperability and mutual trust and understanding.
Since the inception of the Tennessee-Bulgaria State Partnership Program, the following are notable accomplishments:
FY2012 highlights
In FY12, the Army Rote Cadet Command executed the Culture and Language Proficiency Program. This is the very first time when American cadets came in Bulgaria to interact with their Bulgarian counterparts. The event has contributed to the increased adaptability of the U.S. participants when in a new environment and enriched their skill set to cope with a different and unknown cultural context. On the other hand, the Bulgarian General Harizanov, who runs the National Military University, has conveyed in his letter of gratitude to MG Haston, that his students and NCOs’ marks were dramatically improved and gives the credit to this bilateral event in particular. Furthermore, the very same event will be executed in FY13 and this time there will be three rotations of American cadets who will be at three different military installations.
Ten SPP events have been executed:
Partnership focus
The following are EUCOM stated areas of focus for the Tennessee-Bulgaria partnership:
ISAF Cooperation and OMLT teams
The Tennessee-Bulgaria State Partnership Program has accomplished a great deal in just 20 years. One of the most fruitful and unique initiatives is the so-called Operational Mentoring and Liaison Team (OMLT). Those rotations are part of the SPP portfolio. Its main objective was to bring together American and Bulgarian militaries and to train together spreading out their knowledge to their Afghans counterparts. There were the total of three Garrison OMLT rotations from 2009 to 2011, and one C55 OMLT. The initial trainings took place in the National Military University in the town of Veliko Tarnovo, Bulgaria and then continued in the Joint Multinational Readiness Center (JMRC) in Hohenfels, Germany. JMRC conducts several OMLT rotations each year, training multinational partners to ensure they are prepared for rotation to Afghanistan with the ability to train, advise and enable the Afghan National Army while possessing skills to survive on the battlefield. The Bulgarians have accomplished their objectives in ISAF – lead Core Training through executing different type of classes, such as IED training, M16 range, ANA doctrine, Log planning, CFF and CAS that were very useful for them. Different types of TTPs were rehearsed during those OMLT rotations, many valuable skills have been acquired during this interaction such as TSPs, reacting to ambushes, patrol drills, vehicle rollover training procedures, IED trainings, CAS, MEDEDVAC, call for fire.
One of the major engagements through SPP was the Bulgarian contingent in Afghanistan which consisted of 474 military personnel. They were involved in a wide range of military activities such as: mechanized company embedded into Italian Battle Group (Kabul) – 122 military personnel. The major tasks were patrolling and security of Invicta base and Kabul Airport; Security (guarding) platoon – 45 military personnel (protection of Waterhouse base and escort of logistical elements); recon team (five people); team for ATC of Kabul airport (two people); medical team (five people) – embedded into the French military hospital; guarding company -266 military personnel (protection and patrolling in the area of Kandahar airport); Bulgarian – US OMLT – Kandahar – seven Bulgarian military personnel; two medical teams (ten people) – embedded into the Spanish military hospital in Herat; two military personnel in the Hungarian PRT. In March 2009 the Bulgarians were withdrawn from that team.