National Army Peacekeepers Appreciated by NATO Experts

CHISINAU, June 30, 2011 — “Peace Shield 2011” was both, an exercise involving over 300 National Army servicemen, 16 North Carolina National Guard servicemen, as well as NATO experts, and an evaluation of the National Army military subunits’ professional readiness for peacekeeping missions, Minister of Defense Vitalie Marinuta stated during the closing ceremony of the exercise held at Bulboaca Training Facility.

According to Minister of Defense Vitalie Marinuta, an infantry company and a group of EOD engineers were assigned for the exercise as soon as the National Army joined the Operational Capabilities Concept (OCC) initiative. “To achieve this goal, they had to pass a very serious test. Both of them have successfully passed the 1^st level national evaluation in 2008 and NATO 1^st-level evaluation in 2009. According to our partners, this 2^nd level national evaluation has had success too.

Marinuta pointed out the National Army has one more year to get ready for being evaluated by an international team of experts that are to decide whether the subunits assigned are ready or not for cooperation with other partner countries within international peacekeeping missions.

Marinuta thanked the American military and NATO experts for training National Army staff within the exercise. The Minister of Defense stated that “Due to their efforts, our partners have made Republic of Moldova progress in term of their commitment to participation in international peacekeeping missions”.

Maj. Jerry Baird, Commander of the North Carolina National Guard military contingent, stated “We would be honored to have this company of the 22^nd Peacekeeping Battalion working with us in peacekeeping operations. The American office stated there is a well-prepared corps of sergeants within this battalion established according to the US military model. “This year, we have tested servicemen on how they cope with things without platoon commanders and they proved us they are good within this exercise”, Baird stated.

According to NATO experts’ conclusions, who evaluated Republic of Moldova military readiness within OCC, the infantry company and the group of EOD engineers were included in “combat ready” force category. During the exercise, they checked the professional level of National Army evaluators, that are to take part in similar readiness evaluation activities. According to NATO experts’ report, this group of Moldovan servicemen has been given an “excellent” mark.

Peacekeepers patrolled the area of responsibility, performed medical evacuation, convoy escort, guarded strategic facilities and interfered in case of assault, carried out checkpoint control operations during the Peace Shield 2011 exercise.

The National Army joined the Operational Capabilities Concept (OCC) in 2007. This concept is a cooperation tool within the Partnership for Peace Program designed to implement NATO-based standards in the training and evaluation process of declared subunits and readiness of Republic of Moldova for taking part in multinational peacekeeping operations.

Peace Shield 2011 Peacekeeping Exercise was held June 27-30.