The Sachkhere Mountain Training School was created on the basis of the 16th Mountain Battalion, whose predecessor, the Sachkhere Battalion, was one of the first National Guard units established in Georgia during its struggle for independence from the Soviet Union in 1991. The founder and commander of the battalion, Besarion Kutateladze, played a role in the Georgian civil strife and was killed in a clash with the Russian troops at Gori in June 1992.