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 Ohio National Guard and Hungary: ‘Graduate-level’ state partnership By Army Staff Sgt. Jim Greenhil, National Guard Bureau
 BUDAPEST, Hungary, - Back in 1993, Hungary was  emerging from behind the Iron Curtain. The National Guard’s new State Partnership  Program was announcing a third pairing of a state with a nation. And Army Lt.  Col. Gregory Wayt was about to become the Ohio National Guard’s desk officer,  nurturing a new international relationship. Fast-forward 17 years. Hungary is now a member of the  North Atlantic Treaty Organization and the European Union. Its troops stand  side-by-side with Ohio National Guard Citizen-Soldiers, jointly deployed in  Afghanistan. The National Guard’s 62-nation State Partnership Program will soon  celebrate its 20th anniversary. And Army Maj. Gen. Gregory Wayt is now the  adjutant general of the Ohio National Guard. Sitting in a second-floor business center overlooking the  lights of Budapest on Wednesday evening, he marveled at how much has been  accomplished in less than two decades. “Think back 17 years,” Wayt said. “Could anybody have  ever imagined that we would be jointly deploying to Afghanistan to train the  Afghan National Army in the middle of war?” Wayt was here leading a delegation of Ohio National Guard  members for SPP activities, including an after-action review conference focused  on joint operations in Afghanistan and an exchange addressing issues related to  chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear, and high yield explosives weapons. Hungary formally asked to deploy to Afghanistan in joint  Operational Mentor and Liaison Teams with the Ohio National Guard. The fourth  Hungary-Ohio OMLT is currently serving in theater, and a fifth team is now  training here for deployment. “It’s amazing to think how far we’ve come in this  partnership, to a professional army here in Hungary, an army that’s  well-respected in Europe and in NATO, to partner with them, and to deploy with  them to a combat zone in Afghanistan,” Wayt said. “This is graduate-level  work.” “It’s important on so many different levels,” said U.S.  Ambassador Eleni Tsakopoulos Kounalakis. “Hungarians and Americans have so much  in common in terms of our shared values.” The SPP is “very helpful and very successful,” Kounalakis  said. “Both sides gain so much from the partnership. “The Hungarians are very disciplined people by nature.  They’re very determined. They’re very sincere. They do what they say they’re  going to do. They’re committed people. “There is an element to the success of this partnership  that goes to the character of the young [National Guardmembers] who come here  and the young [Hungarian] men who participate in the training with them.” The Hungarians have transformed their armed forces from  the Soviet military model – officer-heavy, not encouraging initiative,  emphasizing doctrine – to a Western model, in part with help from their SPP  pairing with Ohio, in the form of exchanges, such as NCO development programs. Today’s Hungarian forces are smaller in numbers, have  more NCOs and are better-equipped than 17 years ago. The OMLTs are a NATO mission led by Hungarian commanders,  usually with about a 50-50 mix of Hungarians and Ohio Guardmembers. Ohio Soldiers tell Wayt that they are proud to serve  alongside the Hungarians, who they view as professional, justifiably proud and  disciplined and from whom they learn as much as they teach. On Sept. 15 in a ceremony at Tata, Hungary, about an hour  north of here, Wayt pinned 28 Ohio Commendation Medals – a state award – on  Hungarian soldiers, recognizing their OMLT service in Afghanistan. Hungary has sacrificed in Afghanistan: The day Wayt  arrived here, the nation honored a fourth soldier who died from injuries  sustained over there serving on a Provincial Reconstruction Team. “The support in the nation, the support in the press for  their military was huge,” Wayt said. “The outpouring from the community this  week has been very large.” Ohio was selected as Hungary’s SPP partner in part  because the largest population of Hungarians outside Hungary is in Cleveland,  Ohio. “The time that I have spent out in the field with the  Ohio National Guardmembers has been some of the most wonderful time that I’ve  spent in Hungary,” Kounalakis said. “They’re such impressive, strong, smart  young men, who are so determined to do their job and do it well. “What they bring -- just when they walk into the room –  what they bring along with them is the confidence and experience and training  and discipline that is noticeable from the very first moment. Noticeable to me,  and – frankly – it’s noticeable to the Hungarians, who learn so much from  them.” In 1993, SPP relationships were run from state  headquarters. Today, a National Guard bilateral affairs officer is  forward-deployed at the U.S. Embassy in the partner nation as the adjutant  general’s eyes and ears on the ground. Ohio now has two state partnerships, adding Serbia –  Hungary’s neighbor – in 2006. “One of the nation’s goals of Hungary is stability in the  Balkans,” Wayt said. “More importantly, the Serbian armed forces wants to  benchmark from Hungary because ... Hungary has previously gone through many of  the same things that they’re going through right now. “We do a lot of exchanges together between Serbia, Ohio  and Hungary,” he said adding that he met with the defense chiefs of both  nations in Ohio in February. Serbia now plans to deploy to Cypress with Hungary for a  joint peacekeeping mission. “That partly was brought on because of the SPP,”  Wayt said. “Our ability to all work together has helped facilitate that  deployment. There’s still a lot that we’re doing in Hungary.” “They appreciate it,” Kounalakis said. “They value the  partnership ... because of what they learn, because of the training that they  get. ... It’s such an extraordinary opportunity, because many of them won’t have  the chance to go to the United States for training. The United States comes  here. “General Wayt coming here is an opportunity for the  Hungarians. They see him as having such an amazing success story in his own  right for what he’s done with the Ohio National Guard that they absolutely  focus on the opportunity to talk with him, to gain advice and knowledge on how  they can expand and improve and strengthen their armed forces.” Among contributions Wayt said Ohio can offer: More OMLTs;  assisting with the transformation of Hungary’s Special Forces; conducting joint  NATO exercises; and offering the National Guard’s 373 years of experience as  Hungarian leaders consider adding a reserve component to the Hungarian Defense  Forces. “They know that the National Guard is an efficient  operation inside of defense budget,” Wayt said. “They’re very interested in  forming a professional reserve component.” This week, the Ohio National Guard had seven SPP events  underway in Serbia even as it simultaneously ran events in here in Hungary. “The SPP is having an impact on national security for the  United States,” Wayt said. “It’s assisting [U.S. European Command] initiatives.  It’s assisting our ambassadors and their country teams. “This SPP is having an impact not only on the national  security of the United States but the national security of these two countries. “We all want a more stable world for our kids. This  program is going to help facilitate a more stable world and provides an  opportunity for our Soldiers to train together with their soldiers, learn how  to operate with different cultures. It’s got many huge advantages for all of us  in this together.”
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