Top Polish General to Visit Chicago, Celebrate 25-year Partnership with Illinois National Guard

SPRINGFIELD, IL (10/05/2017) (readMedia)-- Maj. Gen. Mika is visiting Chicago to celebrate the State Partnership Program with the Illinois National Guard. The partnership will reach its 25-year mark in 2018. It is the most successful such partnership in the nation with the Illinois National Guard and Poland helping each other. Over the period of the partnership, Poland's military has transitioned from a Soviet-style military to a NATO member, an all-volunteer military and a vital ally. Chicago-area Soldiers and Airmen have been a vital part of this strategic partnership, which is integral to the security of Europe and the United States as well as key to the ongoing war against terrorism. Polish and Illinois National Guard troops are deployed together in Afghanistan today and have continuously deployed together first in Iraq and now in Afghanistan since 2003. Polish military officers General Tadeusz Ko?ciuszko and General Casimir Pulaski played vital roles in helping the United States win its independence. The friendship between the citizens of the United States and Poland has spanned the generations since, especially in Chicago and the surrounding communities.