An official website of the United States government
Here's how you know
A .mil website belongs to an official U.S. Department of Defense organization in the United States.
A lock (lock ) or https:// means you’ve safely connected to the .mil website. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites.

Archives

NEWS | July 12, 2022

US, German Reserve Officer Exchange Program begins in Colorado National Guard

By Spc. Clayton Eggan, 104th Public Affairs Detachment

The National Guard Bureau State Partnership Program, which connects individual states within the U.S. to allied nations, was established in 1993. Examples of these partnerships include Colorado’s partnership with Slovenia, Utah’s partnership with Nepal, and Kansas’ partnership with Armenia. Germany is not currently a state partner.

In a further attempt to develop connections among U.S. allies, the U.S. and German Reserve Officer Exchange Program was created to exchange officers between nations in order to collaborate on leadership and to create and strengthen alliances with our allied nations for further support in future conflicts.

This present cycle brought Lt. Col. Christian Goessiger to Colorado, attached to the 220th Military Police Company, Colorado Army National Guard. Goessiger is a military police officer within the German Reserves.

“I'm interested in your education to become a reserve military policeman,” Goessiger said. “The comradeship is very important for me. I think that’s the most important thing for the Army side. And on the other side, I'm interested in the people and what they are thinking and how they're living, and, of course, of Denver, I think it's a very beautiful city and Colorado is a very beautiful state.”

During the first day of the exchange, Goessiger said he felt like he had already absorbed many important takeaways such as how to improve their leadership skills and to bring fresh ideas to the German Reserves and updating programs to improve camaraderie within their own units back home.

“What I learned in the last few hours is that we need a system like yours, that we get together two weeks a year to come and to build a unit from our soldiers,” Goessiger said. “I think this is very important. And this is perhaps something I can take with me as the lessons learned. That is very good.”

U.S. Army Capt. Zachary Thompson, commander, Headquarters-Headquarters Company, 193rd Military Police Battalion, Colorado Army National Guard coordinated the exchange with Goessiger.

“The Military Reserve exchange program is a partnership that we do through the National Guard Bureau and other partner nations where we send Soldiers overseas to conduct annual training with other (host nation) units,” Thompson said. “And then they send soldiers to do the same thing over here. The three partnerships that we're doing this year are Denmark, Germany and Estonia. Our Estonian soldier actually just got back. And then we're facilitating that soldier coming out and having an AT with HHC here.”

Thompson went on to speak about why this is an important program for the National Guard and for the rest of the nation – including how we can learn new things from our allied nations in terms of leadership and common day-to-day practices that can have a greater impact on the whole unit.

“We do this to strengthen the partnerships we have overseas with the other countries, but also for soldier experiences,” Thompson said. “To make sure that they are able to develop themselves as young leaders and to experience how another nation runs their military and maybe gather some good SOPs (standard operating procedures).”

Preparedness and readiness are pivotal to the operations of the National Guard.  Consequently, they are main focal points of leadership. Thompson explained why this exchange program assists the National Guard with readiness as well as how this helps the Soldiers able to take these opportunities.

“It's a very good opportunity for soldiers to experience something new. When it comes to readiness, readiness is three-fold,” Thompson said. “We want to make sure that our retention is great. And this is a good retaining tool. Soldiers exchanged to our allies will receive an experience that they will not have been able to experience outside of the military.  It’s a great opportunity. These experiences give them opportunities to grow themselves.”

The National Guard SPP assists us in learning more about our allies, improving leadership capabilities, and creating strong bonds with these allies for future conflicts. The U.S. and German ROEP builds upon this and allows the U.S. to incorporate our German allies and, possibly in the future, make them a permanent part of our SPP. Soldier exchanges like these are what allow us to improve the connections we can make all around the globe.

“I think the system that you come together one weekend a month, that you have more communication and more education in the things you do, is very important. In Germany, we have special, very specialized people.  They come as often as they can. And then they are very specialized at things, but I think here you are more into training. And I think you can do more robust action than we are able to,” said Goessiger.

March 2024 (2)
February 2024 (1)
January 2024 (3)
December 2023 (5)
November 2023 (3)
October 2023 (6)
September 2023 (2)
August 2023 (3)
July 2023 (6)
June 2023 (4)
May 2023 (6)
April 2023 (2)
March 2023 (2)
February 2023 (2)
January 2023 (6)
December 2022 (5)
November 2022 (5)
October 2022 (2)
September 2022 (7)
August 2022 (5)
July 2022 (3)
June 2022 (7)
May 2022 (3)
April 2022 (4)
March 2022 (3)
February 2022 (4)
January 2022 (5)
December 2021 (7)
November 2021 (3)
October 2021 (2)
September 2021 (2)
August 2021 (6)
July 2021 (4)
June 2021 (1)
May 2021 (5)
April 2021 (5)
March 2021 (5)
February 2021 (2)
January 2021 (3)
December 2020 (3)
November 2020 (7)
October 2020 (6)
September 2020 (6)
August 2020 (8)
July 2020 (9)
June 2020 (7)
May 2020 (10)
April 2020 (9)
March 2020 (2)
February 2020 (4)
January 2020 (5)
December 2019 (6)
November 2019 (2)
October 2019 (8)
September 2019 (4)
August 2019 (7)
July 2019 (5)
June 2019 (2)
May 2019 (6)
April 2019 (9)
March 2019 (2)
February 2019 (2)
January 2019 (3)
December 2018 (4)
November 2018 (6)
October 2018 (2)
September 2018 (3)
August 2018 (9)
July 2018 (1)
June 2018 (1)
May 2018 (1)
April 2018 (5)
October 2017 (1)
May 2017 (1)
April 2017 (2)
March 2017 (2)
February 2017 (3)
January 2017 (1)
November 2016 (1)
October 2016 (2)
September 2016 (5)
August 2016 (3)
July 2016 (4)
May 2016 (2)
April 2016 (3)
March 2016 (1)
February 2016 (4)
January 2016 (1)
December 2015 (1)
November 2015 (3)
October 2015 (3)
September 2015 (2)
August 2015 (1)
July 2015 (1)
June 2015 (2)
May 2015 (3)
March 2015 (1)
February 2015 (1)
October 2014 (1)
September 2014 (1)
June 2014 (1)
April 2014 (1)
May 2013 (1)
April 2013 (4)
March 2013 (8)
February 2013 (9)
January 2013 (7)
November 2012 (1)
April 2012 (2)
January 2012 (1)
March 2010 (1)