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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.〔(【引用サイトリンク】url=http://www.nationalguard.mil/features/spp/default.aspx )〕 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.〔(【引用サイトリンク】url=http://www.eucom.mil/key-activities/partnership-programs/state-partnership-program )〕 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 U.S. Air Force in Europe and 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: *More than 420 events have been executed since 1993 *31 SPP events have been executed since Fiscal year 2009 *4 Operational Mentor and Liaison Team rotations *Military Police NATO Combat Readiness Evaluation (CREVAL) *Enriched military experiences and adopting new military concepts for both sides *The Bulgarian Armed Forces realized the importance of the NCOs’ and started implementing new policy which empowers the non-commissioned officers with a greater level of responsibilities 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Tennessee – Bulgaria National Guard Partnership」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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