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 NEWS
 A history-making State Partnership Program workshop in an ancient city By Sgt. Jim Greenhill
                National Guard Bureau
 DUBROVNIK, Croatia - In 1991 and 1992, artillery shells exploded inside the walls of this beautiful medieval city during a seven-month siege in the heart of modern Europe. The collapse of the former Yugoslavia had triggered a civil war that included genocide and in which not even this UNESCO World Heritage Site on the Adriatic Sea was off-limits. Now â€“ thanks in part to the National Guard's State Partnership Program (SPP) â€“ former enemies who once tried to destroy each other's infrastructure are more concerned about how to help each other if it's again threatened, this time by earthquake, storm or terrorist attack. On May 8, representatives from countries whose citizens were just 15 years ago killing each other gathered for a regional workshop under the auspices of the SPP. "This is historic," said LTG H Steven Blum, the chief of the National Guard Bureau, "because we're taking 10 nations that in the past have not really worked and cooperated as well together as they might have and starting the first beginnings of a regional partnership or regional cooperation for mutual security and emergency response." The State Partnership Program Regional Workshop that concluded May 10 brought together Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Hungary, Macedonia, Montenegro, Romania, Serbia and Slovenia. The 10 countries were joined by representatives from their partner states and territories in the U.S. Six of the countries once were within the former Yugoslavia: Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia and Slovenia. "There is an opportunity here to make some very significant progress in a very short time," Blum said. "Everyone understands that we're in a very different era and we're in a very dangerous world and that we're better together than we are separate." The Dubrovnic conference, which included formal meetings and informal social activities, focused on three topics: **SPP, NATO membership and interoperability:** How the SPP helps countries build and maintain military capabilities that meet NATO standards and allow participation in NATO-led operations. The SPP can help countries seeking to join NATO or the European Union.
	**Consequence management:** How the SPP helps countries develop military assistance to civilian authorities for disaster response or tasks such as border or port security.
	**Going beyond the military-to-military relationship:** How the SPP promotes civilian-to-civilian relationships, including business, education, legal, medical and science/technology exchanges. "This is much richer than strictly a military-to-military program," Blum said. Blum said the Balkans have a need for the military to be seen as a force for good, providing a safe and secure environment for their countrymen. "Also, to save lives and reduce suffering when Mother Nature calls or even terrorism," he said. "What we do in the United States with emergency assistance compacts between states in times of need is something that we're going to share with our international partners here in Southern Europe." The Balkans are vulnerable to earthquakes. "The effects of that earthquake may not be contained by the political boundaries of these nations," Blum said. "They may find themselves having to work together. These exercises are useful, so that the emergency responders, the civilians and the military, don't have to be exchanging business cards and working out protocols in the time of a crisis. This allows that to happen ahead of time." One of the region's oldest National Guard SPP pairings matches Hungary with Ohio. "With the State Partnership Program acting as a catalyst for positive change, Hungary â€¦ now has NATO membership," Blum said. "They're interoperable and a very valuable ally with the United States and other parts of the world. Their economy is growing, and their government is stable." Hungary borders Serbia, one of the newest entrants to the SPP, deliberately also matched with Ohio, both to leverage Ohio's Hungarian experience and also because Ohio includes a concentration of ex-patriot Serbs. Croatia, where the workshop was held, has a population of about 4.4 million, according to the CIA World Factbook. The damage from the shelling of Dubrovnik has been restored, and multiple cruise ships once again dock here every day, bringing tourists to this place of extraordinary beauty perched on the edge of the Adriatic in one of the sunniest parts of Europe. "We had a very productive meeting," Blum told members of the regional media, speaking in both English and Serbo-Croatian. "Excellent results." The workshop was immediately preceded by the U.S. European Command (USEUCOM) Adjutants General State Partnership Conference in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, a gathering of National Guard leaders from states that have partnerships with nations in the USEUCOM area of operations. "When you take the State Partnership Program conference in Garmisch with all the European state partners and then the regional first-ever state partnership assembly that exceeded everyone's wildest expectations, the substantial progress, the substantial way ahead that was mapped out by the 10 nations that participated and the 10 states and then see what is positioned and postured for success in Kosovo it's all very optimistic," said Blum, who visited Kosovo after the regional workshop. The partner states to Balkan-region host nations are New Jersey (Albania), Maryland (Bosnia and Herzegovina), Tennessee (Bulgaria), Minnesota (Croatia), Ohio (Hungary, Serbia), Vermont (Macedonia), Maine (Montenegro), Alabama (Romania) and Colorado (Slovenia).
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