Photo By Sgt. 1st Class James McGuire | Wyoming Army National Guard State Partnership Program Coordinator Maj. Eric McCoy and...... read more read more
CHEYENNE, Wyo. – The best relationships are like fine wine - they get better with time. This paradigm holds true in that in order to build trust, understanding and vitality in any relationship, the concept of time is a key component.
The National Guard’s State Partnership Program is no exception to this idea. Its roots have grown deeper, stronger and more complex in the more than 20 years since the program’s inception. According to the National Guard, the SPP first evolved in 1991 with the idea that it would be beneficial to pair soldiers and airmen with military partners from host nations, therefore bridging the physical, political, economic and military gap between the United States and foreign territories. It was the hope that this partnership would become a mutually beneficial tool for both the U.S. and the host nation, facilitating cooperation, understanding and friendship along the way.
The proverbial SPP ‘bridge’ between the U.S. and host nations was initially built in 1993 when three inaugural SPPs formed between the Pennsylvania National Guard and Lithuania, Maryland’s Guard and Estonia, and the Michigan National Guard and Latvia respectively. Since that time, 68 total partnerships with 74 countries have formed, spanning more than 20 years of mutually beneficial cooperation.
The Wyoming National Guard was able to jump on-board with the SPP program in 2004 when they partnered with Tunisia, a small country in Northern Africa that sits between Libya and Algeria.
“It started as the Partnership for Peace. At the end of the Cold War the United States didn’t want those countries going back communist, so we got the idea that our National Guard channels would be good conduits for developing relationships in order to stop communism and build relationships with foreign countries,” said Lt. Col. Henry Cudney, who served in Tunisia for the Wyoming National Guard from August 2010 – July 2012, as the bilateral affairs officer.
Wyoming’s pairing with Tunisia was far from coincidental as the decision was made due to commonalities the state and country shared in climate, environment, economy and military interests. Militarily, the Wyoming Air National Guard operates C-130 aircraft, as does the Tunisian military; the Wyoming Army National Guard is heavily focused on field artillery, as is the Tunisian military; the Wyoming Army National Guard flies UH-60 aircraft, and Tunisia is in the process of procuring that airframe and training prospective UH-60 pilots. The partnership just made sense.
“I was there during the Arab Spring, when it was very difficult,” Cudney said. “Tensions were extremely high after the overthrow of the dictatorship, but eventually things settled down and we were able to coordinate resources and help the Tunisians in a way that they wanted and needed to be helped. When I first got there, the Tunisians were very stand-offish; the uneasy relations were palpable as they were cautious about developing a relationship with Americans. However, after the revolution took place, the Tunisians were more open. I observed their first elections, which went really, really well,” he added of his Tunisian experiences.
SPP has also extended their reach beyond military-to-military relations, as it served as a catalyst for initiating the Arabic Studies Program at the University of Wyoming. This program, which came about after former U.S. Ambassador Gordon Gray visited Wyoming in 2011 urging support for educational initiatives for Tunisians, allows five students per academic year to attend the University of Wyoming, in Laramie, to attain their bachelor’s degree while receiving in-state tuition.
“We have an Arabic program at the University of Wyoming in no small part due to the State Partnership Program’s assistance in tying us with universities in Tunisia, facilitating faculty exchange and program initiation. It’s been a real boom to us,” said Anne Alexander, director of UW’s international programs.
Alexander, who also serves as the university’s associate dean of the UW Outreach School, said Tunisia has also asked Wyoming to help build an educational curriculum that would mirror what Wyoming Technical Institute, also in Laramie, teaches to those interested in fields dealing with automotive, plumbing, electrician and heating, ventilation and cooling systems as those fields furnish a particularly useful and transferrable skill-set.
“The State Partnership Program has led to great ties in business and in other areas of higher education, which has been wonderful,” she added.
Members of the Cheyenne Frontier Days committee, local elected officials, and staff at the University of Wyoming, have had the opportunity to visit Tunisia while in their official capacities, with the goal of fostering this mutually beneficial relationship with the Tunisian military and civilians.
The SPP has also allowed the Wyoming National Guard to consistently have a physical presence in-country serving as the bilateral affairs officer. Currently, Maj. Terry Oedekoven is serving in that capacity.
“I see having a presence in Tunisia as being crucial for the program. Where else could a major in the military help guide and mold a partner military? To me, the State Partnership Program goes beyond just the events, exercises and engagements. I have made lifelong friends here,” she said.
Besides having someone stationed in the partner country, the SPP also has someone in Wyoming coordinating the program. Maj. Eric McCoy is the Wyoming National Guard’s SPP coordinator.
“The program has morphed from hosting a few events each year when the program started in 2004, to now seeing Tunisians and the United States reaching out their hands to one another not only militarily, but also in the civilian sector,” he said. “These partnerships have evolved tremendously over the years, and built solid, trusting relations, so much so, in fact, that from 2003-2013, 15 countries co-deployed with their SPP host-state to Iraq or Afghanistan over 79 times. If that doesn’t speak volumes about the relationships that this program has built, I don’t know what will.”
The Wyoming-Tunisia SPP just celebrated their 10th anniversary, and looks to continue taking steps in the positive direction in the program’s future.
“It is my hope that Wyoming can build a relationship with Tunisia that is as strong and united as other SPP relationships that I know,” said Oedekoven.
As time progresses, so too, does the relationship between Wyoming and Tunisia, just like fine wine, growing stronger and sweeter as time passes.
| Date Taken: | 07.06.2015 |
| Date Posted: | 07.06.2015 18:10 |
| Story ID: | 169188 |
| Location: | CHEYENNE, WYOMING, US |
| Web Views: | 135 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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