Moldovan Military Members to Visit NCNG

Media availibilities in Morrisville and Charlotte

RALEIGH, NC (07/26/2010)(readMedia)-- Five members of the Moldovan military are scheduled to visit the N.C. National Guard this week as part of the NATO State Partnership Program. The Moldovan military members are here to learn about medical evacuation and search and rescue operations conducted by the N.C. National Guard.

There will be two media availabilities this week; the first will be at the N.C. National Guard Aviation Flight Facility located at 2050 National Guard Dr., Morrisville, N.C., on Tuesday, July 27, at 10:00 am, and the second will be on Thursday, July 29, at the N.C. Air National Guard Base located at 4930 Minuteman Way, Charlotte, N.C., at 10:00 am. Moldovan and N.C. Guardsmen will be available for interviews. The Moldovan military members will receive briefings on domestic operations, medical evacuation processes and participate in orientation flights of both helicopters and fixed-wing aircraft.

There will be an opportunity for media to fly on the orientation flight in Charlotte only. Media interested in flying must contact Air Force 2nd Lt. Michael Wilber upon arrival at the N.C. Air National Guard Base to inform him of your intent. This will be on a first-come, first-serve basis and seating is limited to 10 media representatives. The flight will be from noon to 2:00 pm. Media not interested in flying are welcome to cover the event from 10:00 am to noon.

The Moldovan representatives are in North Carolina as part of the State Partnership Program. The program links U.S. states with partner countries for the purpose of supporting U.S. security cooperation objectives. The program's goals reflect an evolving international affairs mission for the National Guard using the unique civil-military nature of the Guard to interact with both active and reserve forces of foreign countries. The State Partners actively participate in a host of engagement activities ranging from bilateral familiarization, fellowship-style internships, civic leader visits and medical events. All activities are coordinated through the Theater Combatant Commander and the US Ambassadors' country teams, and other agencies as appropriate, to ensure that National Guard support is tailored to meet both US and country objectives.

The value of the SPP is its ability to focus the attention of a small part of the Department of Defense, a state National Guard, with a single country or region in support of U.S. Government policies. This concentrated focus allows for the development of long term personal relationships and a mechanism to catalyze support from outside the DoD which otherwise would not occur but nevertheless complements US policy. The optimum SPP partnership is one in which: the host nation professes genuine interest in partnership; U.S. and theater engagement objectives are satisfied; the force protection risk is acceptable; a minimum of additional resources is required to execute engagement; and National Guard core engagement competencies, particularly military support to civil authority (MSCA), and national defense are heavily incorporated.