Photo By Nathan Rivard | (Left to right) U.S. Army Maj. Gen. Gregory Knight, Vermont’s Adjutant General, U.S....... read more read more
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With a stroke of the pen, the Vermont National Guard and Republic of Austria’s Letter of Intent under the State Partnership is official.
On July 19, U.S. Army Maj. Gen. Gregory Knight, Vermont’s Adjutant General, U.S. Army Gen. Daniel Hokanson, Chief of National Guard Bureau, Klaudia Tanner, Federal Minister of Defense of the Republic of Austria, and Lt. Gen. Erich Csitkovits, Training Director and Commandant, National Defence Academy, performed a signing ceremony in Vienna to recognize and formalize the relationship between the Republic of Austria and Vermont.
“Today’s ceremony is not the finish line of a 40-year friendship, it is the beginning of a new deeper partnership build on global security, economic cooperation, shared values, and cultural exchange,” said Gen. Daniel Hokanson, Chief of the National Guard Bureau. “By working together, polling our resources, and learning from each other, we enhance readiness and interoperability. We deepen enduring friendships and further understanding. We invest in ourselves and we invest in our shared future.”
This signing ceremony mirrored the one held in Vermont on May 11th, which included the Governor of Vermont, Phil Scott, the Republic of Austria Minister of Defense, as well as military officials from both Vermont and Austria.
“Vermont and Austria already share many economic and cultural ties,” said Vermont Governor Phil Scott at the May 11th signing in Vermont. “This exciting new partnership will strengthen our relationship and I know it will be of great benefit to all involved.”
Austria and Vermont already had a long-standing partnership dating back more than 30 years with the Vermont National Guard’s Army Mountain Warfare School in Jericho, the U.S. Army Biathlon Program, and training conducted with the 86th Infantry Brigade Combat Team (Mountain). Vermont National Guardsmen and Austrians also served together last year when deployed to Kosovo as part of Kosovo Force (KFOR).
“When creating our Army Mountain Warfare School, the first place we reached out to for expertise and guidance was the Austrian Army. We benefited greatly from our ongoing relationship with Austrian military mountaineers since 1983,” said Knight. “So, while our friendship is not new, our formal partnership will allow for even mor collaboration to increase security cooperation in the region.”
Austrian’s Federal Minister of Defense felt the same as Knight on previous accomplishments and moving forward.
“Synergies created in the past decades, we decided to expand the cooperation within the framework of the state partnership program after the National Guard,” said Tanner.
Knight continued to say how he was eager for what the formal partnership between the Vermont National Guard and Austria will look like in the future.
“Over the coming years, we hope to conduct many military exchanges to mutually improve in areas such as cyber defense, peacekeeping operations, military mountaineering, and humanitarian and disaster assistance response,” said Knight.
| Date Taken: | 07.19.2022 |
| Date Posted: | 07.19.2022 11:14 |
| Story ID: | 425294 |
| Location: | VIENNA, AT |
| Web Views: | 235 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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