Here's how you know
 **Official websites use .mil** .mil
 **Secure .mil websites use HTTPS** lock () https://


Skip to main content (Press Enter).
 Toggle navigation
            
            
            
            
            National Guard
                        Always Ready Always There
                    National Guard
            
            Search National Guard:
                        Search
                    Search
                        Search National Guard:
                            Search
    Home

    News
    
        Guard News

    Overseas Operations

    State Partnership Program

    News Features

    RSS Feeds

    Press Releases

    Transcripts

    Features
    
        Features by Year

    State Partnership Program

    Special Features

    About the Guard
    
        How We Began

    Air National Guard

    Army National Guard    
    
        DEERS Soldier Journey

    Leader Development Program

    History and Heritage

    I am the Guard

    NGB Official March

    Leadership
    
        CNGB

    VCNGB

    SEA

    DANG

    DARNG

    Joint Staff    
    
        J-1

    J-2

    J-3

    J-4

    J-5

    J-6

    J-7

    J-8

    Personal Staff    
    
        Inspector General

    General Counsel    
    
        Special Victims Counsel

    Public Affairs

    Executive Support Services

    Legislative Liaison

    Special Staff    
    
        Office of the Provost Marshal

    Office of the Joint Surgeon

    Director of Acquisitions

    Small Business Programs

    Chaplain

    Senior Leader Management Office

    Diversity Equity Inclusion

    Comptroller

    Resources    
        National Defense Strategy Implementation Guidance

    Community Engagement

    FOIA

    Fact Sheets

    Helpful Links

    Image Gallery
    
        News Images

    Graphics

    Historical Paintings

    Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion

    Legislative Liaison

    Small Business Programs

    Social Media

    State Websites

    Videos    
    
        Featured Videos

    On Every Front

    2019 Videos

    2020 Videos

    2021 Videos

    Suicide Prevention

    Family Programs

    Environmental

    Trial Defense Service

    Holistic Wellness Challenge

    Contact Us  Home
  News
  Article View
 
 Download
 Details
 Share
 NEWS
 Maine partnership promotes learning with Montenegro By  Staff Sgt. Angela Parady
                121st Public Affairs Detachment
 PODGORICA, Montenegro - Seven members of the Maine Army National Guard traveled to Podgorica in November to train alongside Montenegrins during an emergency management preparedness exercise. These Soldiers served as observers, selected for their experience and knowledge in training, general operations, and emergency operations, assisting and evaluating over 15 different agencies, departments and ministries in the country's first inter-ministerial emergency disaster exercise. "For us, this validates our own knowledge and experience with incident command and responding to Maine disasters," said Sgt. 1st Class John Knobloch, the disaster management operator who organized the exercise with Montenegrin input and support from the Civil Military Emergency Preparedness Program. "At the same time, we are getting a unique look at preparedness. When we review how other people do something, as we help them plan their procedures and review best practices we may identify shortcomings we have ourselves. We find we see things a little differently. Many folks who come here, or travel internationally go back and have a renewed motivation to look at their own plans and refine them." The exercise featured a devastating earthquake in the Boca Bay, a popular tourist destination along Montenegro's coastline. It tested the ability of the Ministry of Interior to respond, control and manage over 40 situations that called for communications breakdowns, flooding, evacuations, civilian chaos and the need for medical and search and rescue response. "We can imagine this happening here," said Lt. Col. Igor Knezevic. "We have a history of terrible earthquakes. The last one was in 1979 and left over 100 casualties, and hundreds of thousands homeless, and entire towns devastated. We cannot forget this recent past, and we want to be ready in the case of a possible future earthquake." Knezevic, the operations officer for Armed Forces of Montenegro, remembers the destruction of the 1979 earthquake and knows that it could happen again. "Earthquakes can come in at any time, and they happen without any kind of warning signs," he said. "This region is susceptible to earthquakes. In July, we had several minor, small earthquakes here in Podgorica. Albania has also had earthquakes this past year, and last year hundreds of people died in an earthquake in Italy. That could have happened here." This exercise put the emphasis on civilian leadership for disaster management, a shift that Knobloch said is happening internationally. While Knezevic was present and ready and able to provide military support, his mission was to wait for direction from the incident commander, the Ministry of the Interior. "We have been working for a few years, incorporating our Defense Support Civilian Authority mission," he said. "Ten years ago, we were the response, but now we are the support. The experience we get here and in Maine is precious to us. It shows us a wider picture and gives us some ideas of other ways we can work together to reach a common goal. Sharing information is very important." In addition to physical similarities between Montenegro and Maine, there are political similarities. The different ministries are akin to our different departments and agencies in how they work together. If they are unable to communicate, there are additional challenges that are thrown in the way and can distract from the goal of trying to save lives in a disaster, said Knoblach. Being able to work together and communicate amongst one another helps them find their own ways to overcome challenges and be better positioned to protect their own population. Among other initiatives, disaster preparedness has remained a top priority for Montenegro since officially declaring independence. They began working with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineer's CMEP program almost immediately, according to Diane Accurio, program manager for Interagency and International Support for the region. A few years later, the Maine National Guard sent Knoblach to start working the same project as part of the state's partnership program initiatives. "We sat down with them multiple times throughout the last two years as the principal agencies were challenged to create an upcoming exercise," said Knoblach. "They followed a planning conference framework to develop the plan, and we are taking on a more observing role to witness their very first exercise that is inter-ministerial, where one ministry, the Ministry of the Interior is the lead agency, and will remain the lead agency throughout the entire event." Both Acurio and Knoblach focus on connecting subject matter experts between the two countries to develop capabilities with the mission of making disaster response the responsibility of the civilian authorities. Maine hosted select individuals from Montenegro to come to Maine and work directly with such agencies. Most recently they worked with the Maine National Guard Emergency Operations Center, the local Maine Emergency Operations Center, and a regional center that Knezevic attended.
 SHARE
 PRINT
 
 Massachusetts Guard Helps Host Crisis Leadership Seminar
 By Airman 1st Class Julia Ahaesy,
  Massachusetts Air Guard Airmen Test New Air Combat Tactics
 By Jerry Hewitt,
  Nebraska National Guard Assists with Tornado Response
 By Nebraska National Guard
  More
 Massachusetts Guard Helps Host Crisis Leadership Seminar5/2/2024Massachusetts Air Guard Airmen Test New Air Combat Tactics5/2/2024Nebraska National Guard Assists with Tornado Response5/2/2024 View more Guard News »
 New York Army Guard Soldiers Heading to North Africa4/30/2024
Pennsylvania National Guard Members Deploy to Africa4/19/2024
US, Canadian Special Forces Forge Partnerships in Jamaica4/8/2024 View more Overseas Operations News »
 Enduring Partners 2024 Begins with Thai-US Airmen Exchange5/2/2024

Virginia National Guard Formalizes Partnership with Finland5/2/2024

Guam National Guard launches State Partnership with Palau5/2/2024 View more State Partnership Program News »
 Back-to-school tools for military families8/11/2015DoD sends blended military retirement proposal to Congress6/16/2015First employment symposium held for National Guard spouses5/11/2015 View more Family Programs News »
 Home
 Site Map
 Privacy & Security Policy
 Link Disclaimer
 Web Policy
 DOD Information Quality
 DOD Open GovernmentFOIA
 No FEAR Act
 Accessibility/Section 508
 Contact Us
 Army Guard Careers
 Air Guard Careers
 USA.gov
                    
Staying Connected
    XYouTubeFlickrFacebookInstagram
                 
                
                

Hosted by Defense Media Activity - WEB.mil