LJUBLJANA, Slovenia (3/11/11) – The Colorado Army National Guard and Slovenian Armed Forces second Organizational Mentor and Liaison Team completed its week-long, culmination exercise in Slovenia today.

The OMLT’s mission is to train and mentor an Afghan National Army battalion in order to increase the ANA’s ability to provide for the security of  its own country.

The combined U.S. and Slovenian unit has been training together for nearly three months, both in Slovenia and at the Joint Multinational Readiness Center in Hohenfels, Germany.

The team has been training in individual skills, cross training on each other’s weapons systems, combining each other’s standard operating procedures and refining their team tactics.

Equally important, they have been integrating into one team and fostering the strong team rapport necessary to operate well together, including ensuring the various sub-teams had a mix of both U.S. and Slovenian Soldiers.

Whether it was the conduct of pre-combat checks, rehearsals, or after action reviews, it was clear that even though their uniforms may differ, this was one team.

“The relationship between the Slovenians and the Colorado Army National Guard was tremendous from the get-go,” said Slovenian Armed Forces 1st lt. Miha Rijavec, a company-level mentor and graduate of the U.S. Army Infantry Officer Basic Course. “I think we really came together in Hohenfels because we were together 24/7.”

“Just like any two American units that get put together, you’d have an integration time,” said, Maj. Randy Schofield, the team’s executive officer. “We are one OMLT ready to go to Afghanistan to mentor Afghans. We’re one team focused on our mission, for all practical purposes we’re all Slovenian, for all practical purposes they’re all American.”

Partnering has been the key word in everything, whether it’s the Slovenian’s partnering with the COARNG, or the OMLT partnering with the Afghan National Army.

“It’s going to be a partnering experience, for us and the National Guard of Colorado,” said 1st. Lt. Ziga Pretnar a member of the Slovenian Armed Forces. “We have to work together, then work together with the Afghans. It’s going to be an interesting experience.”

Pretnar is a company-level mentor, a West Point graduate, an Infantry Officer Basic Course graduate, a Ranger School graduate and married to an American woman he met while in the U.S., which goes a long way to explain his impeccable English.

“As much training as we have had so far with our American counterparts, it has been a great experience so far,” he said. “We really have gotten to know each other. I am looking forward to working together, going on missions together, living together on the ready base camp and sharing stories and sharing experiences. It’s something I’m really looking forward to.

“There has been a long stream of cooperation between the Slovenian Armed Forces and the Colorado National Guard. It goes way back a few years. Some of our American counterparts we have seen before and we have stories of the past; but most of the stories that are still alive are the ones that occur here during training. I’d say 70 to 80 percent of that good relationship we have comes from the informal side of the story, of the Afghanistan deployment story.”

“Our mission in Afghanistan will be more geared toward partnering with the Afghan National Army and patrolling with them,” said Capt. Luke Booth, a company-level mentor. “We will accompany them and mentor and advise them on their missions. They’re going to plan them and develop them – and if they trust us and respect us they’re going to invite us to come along so we can help – and that is what I anticipate most of our missions to be: partnering missions with the ANA.”

When Booth was asked which was better, Slovenia or Fort Polk, La., he said, “I’d like to say Fort Polk. That way no one would find out about Slovenia. It’s a gem. After two months in Slovenia, I just can’t express how impressed I am with this place. The people are absolutely amazing the accommodations and the care we have received from the Slovenian soldiers have been absolutely phenomenal. It is not what I expected.”

Virtually every COARNG team member is bringing his family to Slovenia to see the beautiful country and meet their Slovenian team members and their families during their pre-deployment leave. This is a testament to how much of a “gem” Slovenia is and of the bonds that these brothers-in-arms have created already in less than three months.

After their leave is over, the team will head to Afghanistan for its six-month rotation.