<!--/* //NOSONAR */-->
<!--/* //NOSONAR */--><html  lang="en-US">
<head id="Head"><meta id="MetaDescription" name="DESCRIPTION" /><meta id="MetaKeywords" name="KEYWORDS" /><meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width,initial-scale=1" /><title>
	Wisconsin Guard seizes opportunity to grow relationship with Papua New Guinea
</title><link id="css3605" rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="/DesktopModules/ArticleCS/module.css" /><link id="css4870" rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="/desktopmodules/ArticleCS/styles/Joint/style.css" /></head>
<body>
    <main>
    <div>
    <div class="aprint news">
    <div class="header">
        <img height="100" class="print-logo" alt="Site Logo" src="/Portals/55/INDOPACOM2018_100x100.png?ver=J6xEsvouw9aaqHcHjhoIIQ%3d%3d" />

        <h1 class="title">Wisconsin Guard seizes opportunity to grow relationship with Papua New Guinea</h1>
    </div>
    
<div id="adetail-slick-gallery" class="gallery">
    
    <div class="item">
        
        <div class="image">
            
            <img src="https://media.defense.gov/2024/Apr/05/2003430851/1920/1080/0/240405-N-ZZ099-1001.JPG"
                 class="aimage img-responsive"
                 alt="Maj. Gen. Paul Knapp, Wisconsin’s adjutant general, presents Commodore Philip Polewara, acting defence chief of the Papua New Guinea Defence Force, with a framed print March 18 of an interaction between Soldiers of the 32nd Division and a Papua New Guinean sketching a diagram of Japanese military positions from Nov. 15, 1942 during the campaign to drive the Japanese army out of Buna. The 32nd Division was largely composed of Wisconsin National Guard Soldiers when World War II began. The photo underscores how far back Wisconsin’s history goes with Papua New Guinea. Forty Wisconsin National Guard Airmen and Soldiers spent the week of March 17-22 in Papua New Guinea collaborating with and training alongside the Papua New Guinea Defence Force as part of the State Partnership Program. This current exchange includes meetings between leadership along with training in instruction, medical, security forces, and collaboration with senior non-commissioned officers. The Wisconsin National Guard and Papua New Guinea began their partnership in 2020 and have since had several key leader engagements and site visits to strengthen that relationship. Wisconsin National Guard photo by Staff Sgt. Kati Volkman"
                 itemprop="image" />
        </div>
        
        
        
        
        
        <div class="slide-info-hidden">
            <div class="slide-info-inner">
                
                <div class="image-title">240318-Z-OK054-1942</div>
                <div class="image-caption">Maj. Gen. Paul Knapp, Wisconsin’s adjutant general, presents Commodore Philip Polewara, acting defence chief of the Papua New Guinea Defence Force, with a framed print March 18 of an interaction between Soldiers of the 32nd Division and a Papua New Guinean sketching a diagram of Japanese military positions from Nov. 15, 1942 during the campaign to drive the Japanese army out of Buna. The 32nd Division was largely composed of Wisconsin National Guard Soldiers when World War II began. The photo underscores how far back Wisconsin’s history goes with Papua New Guinea. Forty Wisconsin National Guard Airmen and Soldiers spent the week of March 17-22 in Papua New Guinea collaborating with and training alongside the Papua New Guinea Defence Force as part of the State Partnership Program. This current exchange includes meetings between leadership along with training in instruction, medical, security forces, and collaboration with senior non-commissioned officers. The Wisconsin National Guard and Papua New Guinea began their partnership in 2020 and have since had several key leader engagements and site visits to strengthen that relationship. Wisconsin National Guard photo by Staff Sgt. Kati Volkman</div>
            </div>
        </div>
    </div>

    
    <div class="item">
        
        <div class="image">
            
            <img src="https://media.defense.gov/2024/Apr/05/2003430852/1920/1080/0/240405-N-ZZ099-1002.JPG"
                 class="aimage img-responsive"
                 alt="Sgt. 1st Class Lindsey Breivogel, a master resilience trainer course manager with the Wisconsin National Guard’s 426th Regional Training Institute, reviews Papua New Guinea Defence Force training documents with Maj. Louisa Wanma, the PNGDF military hospital’s second-in-command and a medical lab scientific officer, March 17 during a recent visit by 40 Wisconsin National Guard members to Papua New Guinea in support of the State Partnership Program. This current exchange includes meetings between leadership along with training in instruction, medical, security forces, and collaboration with senior non-commissioned officers. The Wisconsin National Guard and Papua New Guinea began their partnership in 2020 and have since had several key leader engagements and site visits to strengthen that relationship. Wisconsin National Guard photo by Staff Sgt. Kati Volkman"
                 itemprop="image" />
        </div>
        
        
        
        
        
        <div class="slide-info-hidden">
            <div class="slide-info-inner">
                
                <div class="image-title">240317-Z-OK054-1036</div>
                <div class="image-caption">Sgt. 1st Class Lindsey Breivogel, a master resilience trainer course manager with the Wisconsin National Guard’s 426th Regional Training Institute, reviews Papua New Guinea Defence Force training documents with Maj. Louisa Wanma, the PNGDF military hospital’s second-in-command and a medical lab scientific officer, March 17 during a recent visit by 40 Wisconsin National Guard members to Papua New Guinea in support of the State Partnership Program. This current exchange includes meetings between leadership along with training in instruction, medical, security forces, and collaboration with senior non-commissioned officers. The Wisconsin National Guard and Papua New Guinea began their partnership in 2020 and have since had several key leader engagements and site visits to strengthen that relationship. Wisconsin National Guard photo by Staff Sgt. Kati Volkman</div>
            </div>
        </div>
    </div>

    
</div>
<div class="slide-info"></div>





    <div><b>By  Courtesy story,</b> <span class="date">/ Published April 5, 2024</span></div>
    <span class="dateline-text">PORT MORESBY, Papua New Guinea, </span>
    <p><span style="font-size:larger;">Forty Wisconsin National Guard Airmen and Soldiers spent the week of March 17-22 collaborating with, and training alongside, members of the Papua New Guinea Defence Force in support of the State Partnership Program.</span></p>

<p><span style="font-size:larger;">The cost-effective State Partnership Program is administered by the National Guard Bureau, guided by State Department foreign policy goals, and executed by the state adjutants general in support of combatant commander and U.S. Chief of Mission security cooperation objectives and Department of Defense policy goals. The Wisconsin National Guard and Papua New Guinea began their partnership in 2020, and since have had several key leader engagements and site visits to strengthen that relationship.</span></p>

<p><span style="font-size:larger;">This recent exchange of subject matter experts included medical and security training, as well as instruction in how to train fellow troops, collaboration with senior noncommissioned officers, and meetings between senior leaders. In addition, Wisconsin National Guard troops worked through the challenges of shipping equipment and resources into the Pacific region in order to better understand what operations would look like in such an environment.</span></p>

<p><span style="font-size:larger;">“It is great to be able to bring our Soldiers and Airmen over here to experience the country and culture, while laying groundwork and building relationships with the Papua New Guinea Defence Force as well as the people of Papua New Guinea,” said Maj. Gen. Paul Knapp, Wisconsin’s adjutant general.</span></p>

<p><span style="font-size:larger;">Members of the Wisconsin Army National Guard’s 426th Regional Training Institute and the 135th Medical Company worked with Papua New Guinea Defence Force medics on training other medics. Master Sgt. Clint Vervoren, a senior advisor for Health System Services at the Wisconsin National Guard’s Joint Force Headquarters, has been collaborating with his counterparts in Papua New Guinea since visiting last year.</span></p>

<p><span style="font-size:larger;">“It ultimately came down to really focusing on building their instructor pool so they could better convey the information, and prop them up using their own medical training management plan (TMP),” Vervoren said. “We were able to use their TMP that they had just recently developed and teach their instructors how to read the TMP, how to connect with their students, and how to get the information across efficiently.”</span></p>

<p><span style="font-size:larger;">Sgt. 1st Class Lindsey Breivogel, a master resilience trainer with the National Guard Master Resilience Training Center at the 426th Regional Training Institute, worked with the Papua New Guinea medics on teaching others.</span></p>

<p><span style="font-size:larger;">“There is a lot that goes into how to be an instructor,” Breivogel said. “We went over the left and right limits of an instructor, how to get discussions going, and how to take material and get the group involved. I was impressed by the speed in which they processed what we taught them and then were able to demonstrate it back right away. As soon as we gave feedback, they were implanting that on the very next try.”</span></p>

<p><span style="font-size:larger;">Staff Sgt. Mckenzie Knight, a comprehensive medical training instructor with the 426th Regional Training Institute, shared how she leans on personal experiences to facilitate discussions.</span></p>

<p><span style="font-size:larger;">“They were so excited to learn and we could tell they wanted to be there,” Knight said. “They wanted that knowledge, and they have so much pride for what they do. It was refreshing and inspiring.”</span></p>

<p><span style="font-size:larger;">According to Breivogel, class feedback suggested the collaboration was successful.</span></p>

<p><span style="font-size:larger;">“I asked them what they learned today, and one of the students said, ‘I learned that the instructor is not the most important person in the room,’” Breivogel recalled. “This is such an important lesson to learn, and it’s one they picked up on through our discussions and instruction without ever hitting directly on that idea.”</span></p>

<p><span style="font-size:larger;">Knapp met with Commodore Philip Polewara, acting defence chief of the Papua New Guinea Defence Force, at the Kumul Leadership Centre in Murray Barracks.</span></p>

<p><span style="font-size:larger;">“This partnership is very valuable in the Pacific, for both Wisconsin and our country,” Knapp said.</span></p>

<p><span style="font-size:larger;">During an exchange of gifts, Knapp presented Polewara with a framed print of an interaction between Soldiers of the 32nd Division and a Papua New Guinean sketching a diagram in the dirt from Nov. 15, 1942 during the campaign to drive the Japanese army out of Buna.</span></p>

<p><span style="font-size:larger;">“Images like this show us where the relationship between Wisconsin and Papua New Guinea began,” said Capt. Florian Waitl, Wisconsin National Guard command historian, “reminding us that we once worked shoulder-to-shoulder — which is a tradition we hope to continue as we strengthen the partnership between the two countries.”</span></p>

<p><span style="font-size:larger;">Knapp agreed.</span></p>

<p><span style="font-size:larger;">“This ongoing partnership continues to present new opportunities for growth,” Knapp said.</span></p>

<p><span style="font-size:larger;">Vervoren has seen Wisconsin National Guard and Papua New Guinea participants build on prior exchanges.</span></p>

<p><span style="font-size:larger;">“We’re able to bring more people in, so more people have continuity, and we’re able to continue to build that relationship,” Vervoren said. “Hopefully we’ll be able to come back and see how they’ve developed as instructors, see how we can readdress some of the instructor training, and build on what they’ve learned.”</span></p>
<br />
</div>
    </div>
    </main>
</body>
</html>