Ohio National Guard in Serbia

Ohio National Guard in Serbia

The official cooperation started with President Tadić’s visit to the Ohio Guard HQs, and continues with Major General Wayt’s visit to Belgrade. He explained that partnership meant exchange of ideas and personnel.

“This exchange can literally mean anything. It can include small units, where our units would arrive in Serbia to carry out exercises with your armed forces or vice versa, when your units would arrive in the U.S. We can work on other means of cooperation such as the military cooperation with the civilian structures. Essentially, this is an agreement on any subject”, Major General Wayt said.

The agreement is the result of the talks held during Serbian Army Chief of Staff Lieutenant General Zdravko Ponoš and President Boris Tadić’s visits to Washington.

Serbian Army delegation also visited the Pentagon at the time, discussing the partnership program.

Guard civilians

National Guard is an old military formation and exists in each of the U.S. states, commanded by the state governor, while under president’s command at the federal level.

The National Guard of Ohio has been cooperating with the Hungarian Army for the past 13 years, and Major General Wayt hopes the same, if not better, kind of cooperation will be established with Serbia. “This program usually starts as cooperation in the military sector, but I must say both sides gain in experience”, he said.

“The soldiers will learn form one another during unit exchanges. This can grow into a civilian relationship. Our soldiers and pilots are civilians during the week. It is their additional duty to be members of the National Guard. They are in fact civilians within our community and some of them own companies and could recognize business opportunities in Serbia”, Wayt said.

Serbia offers combat experience

Serbia won’t simply present its Ohio partners with a wish list. Some might find it strange, but the Chief of Staff says the Serbian Army has combat experience to offer.

“Combat experience from war is what it is, and everyone’s interested in hearing about that. It is not a simulation, or theory, but something we went through. I mentioned war-time medicine, which is our strong point. We even have experience in air defense that achieved the kind of results it achieved. There’s no reason not to share with our partners, we are partners, not enemies now”, Ponoš said.

The Serbian Army expects the Ohio National Guard to assist its effort to establish active reserves and a professional army.

General Ponoš also said he expected assistance in establishing a new NCO corps that will represent the basis of the Serbian Army training system.