Georgia Train and Equip Program
Encyclopedia
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
-sponsored 18-month, $64-million program aimed at increasing the capabilities of the Georgian
Georgia (country)
Georgia is a sovereign state in the Caucasus region of Eurasia. Located at the crossroads of Western Asia and Eastern Europe, it is bounded to the west by the Black Sea, to the north by Russia, to the southwest by Turkey, to the south by Armenia, and to the southeast by Azerbaijan. The capital of...
armed forces
Military of Georgia
The Georgian Armed Forces , is the name of the unified armed forces of Georgia. The Georgian military is a defence force consisting of the Georgian Land Forces, Georgian Air Force and a paramilitary organization Georgian National Guard...
by training and equipping four 600-man battalion
Battalion
A battalion is a military unit of around 300–1,200 soldiers usually consisting of between two and seven companies and typically commanded by either a Lieutenant Colonel or a Colonel...
s with light weapons, vehicle
Vehicle
A vehicle is a device that is designed or used to transport people or cargo. Most often vehicles are manufactured, such as bicycles, cars, motorcycles, trains, ships, boats, and aircraft....
s and communications. The program enabled the US to expedite funding for the Georgian military for Operation Enduring Freedom.
On February 27, 2002, the US media reported that the U.S.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
would send approximately two hundred United States Army Special Forces
United States Army Special Forces
The United States Army Special Forces, also known as the Green Berets because of their distinctive service headgear, are a special operations force tasked with six primary missions: unconventional warfare, foreign internal defense, special reconnaissance, direct action, hostage rescue, and...
soldiers to Georgia to train Georgian troops. The program implemented President Bush
George W. Bush
George Walker Bush is an American politician who served as the 43rd President of the United States, from 2001 to 2009. Before that, he was the 46th Governor of Texas, having served from 1995 to 2000....
's decision to respond to the Government of Georgia's request for assistance to enhance its counter-terrorism capabilities and addressed the situation in the Pankisi Gorge
Pankisi Gorge
The Pankisi Gorge or Pankisi is a valley region in Georgia, in the northeastern corner of the country, bordering the Chechnyan republic of the Russian Federation. Administratively, it is included in the Akhmeta district of the Kakheti region...
.
The move drew protests from many Russia
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
ns. On March 1, 2002, in response to the domestic outcry, Russian president Vladimir Putin
Vladimir Putin
Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin served as the second President of the Russian Federation and is the current Prime Minister of Russia, as well as chairman of United Russia and Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the Union of Russia and Belarus. He became acting President on 31 December 1999, when...
met with Georgian president Eduard Shevardnadze
Eduard Shevardnadze
Eduard Shevardnadze is a former Soviet, and later, Georgian statesman from the height to the end of the Cold War. He served as President of Georgia from 1995 to 2003, and as First Secretary of the Georgian Communist Party , from 1972 to 1985. Shevardnadze was responsible for many top decisions on...
in Kazakhstan
Kazakhstan
Kazakhstan , officially the Republic of Kazakhstan, is a transcontinental country in Central Asia and Eastern Europe. Ranked as the ninth largest country in the world, it is also the world's largest landlocked country; its territory of is greater than Western Europe...
and pledged his support for the American military initiative.
The program began in May 2002 when American special forces soldiers began training select units of the Georgian Armed Forces, including the 12th Commando Light Infantry Battalion, the 16th Mountain-Infantry Battalion, the 13th "Shavnabada" Light Infantry Battalion, the 11th Light Infantry Battalion, a mechanized company and small numbers of Interior Ministry troops and border guards.
Responsibility for training Georgian forces was eventually handed off to the US Marine Corps in conjunction with the British Army
British Army
The British Army is the land warfare branch of Her Majesty's Armed Forces in the United Kingdom. It came into being with the unification of the Kingdom of England and Scotland into the Kingdom of Great Britain in 1707. The new British Army incorporated Regiments that had already existed in England...
. British and American teams worked as part of a joint effort to train each of the four infantry battalion staffs and their organic rifle companies. This training began with the individual soldier and continued through fire team, squad, platoon, company, and battalion level tactics as well as staff planning and organization. Upon completing training, each of the new Georgian infantry battalions began preparing for deployment rotations in support of the Global War on Terrorism
War on Terror
The War on Terror is a term commonly applied to an international military campaign led by the United States and the United Kingdom with the support of other North Atlantic Treaty Organisation as well as non-NATO countries...
.
Although GTEP formally ended in April 2004, US
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
military assistance to Georgia continued through the Georgia Sustainment and Stability Operations Program
Georgia Sustainment and Stability Operations Program
The Georgia Sustainment and Stability Operations Program was a security assistance program designed to create an increased capability in the Georgian military to support Operation Iraqi Freedom stability missions...
. Part of this program involved preparing Georgian units for operations in US-led Multinational Force Iraq. That program ended in September 2007.
External links
- http://www.defenselink.mil/releases/release.aspx?releaseid=3326 - original DOD press release
- http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/ops/gtep.htm
- http://www.eucom.mil/directorates/ecpa/operations/gtep/englishproducts/fact%5Fsheet5.htm&2