LATHAM, New York - Six New York Army National Guard officers and an Air Guard master sergeant are heading to Sweden to help the Swedish Army’s 1st Division conduct its first-ever division staff command post exercise.
Before 2022, the Swedish Army’s highest command level was a brigade.
Sweden, which joined the North Atlantic Treaty Organization in March 2024, initiated a Department of Defense National Guard Bureau State Partnership Program agreement with the New York National Guard in July 2024.
Since then, Swedish military personnel have visited New York regularly to learn from the New York Army and Air National Guard and New York’s Naval Militia.
Now, the Swedish military has requested that the New York Army Guard provide staff officers to offer advice and support during its command post exercise, according to Lt. Col. Melanie Padilla, the New York National Guard’s State Partnership Program director.
In February, the Swedish Army sent a delegation to observe the New York Army National Guard’s 42nd Infantry Division conduct a Warfighter exercise at Fort Indiantown Gap, Pennsylvania.
Warfighter tests the ability of division staff personnel to operate in a simulated combat environment.
The Army Guard Soldiers were conducting the command post exercise, or CPX, to prepare for their current deployment to the Central Command area, where they are serving as the headquarters for Task Force Spartan.
At the time, Swedish Lt. Col. Fredrik Mansson, the chief of operations for the Swedish 1st Division, said the purpose of the visit was to observe and learn from a division staff in action.
The New York Army Guard has been asked to send experts in the following areas, according to Padilla: operations and planning, targeting, running a joint air-ground operations center, logistics and rear-area support, force protection and division operations.
The Swedish 1st Division has recently reorganized its staff and is still developing internal standard operating procedures, known as SOPs. The division wants help in these areas, she explained.
The Americans will travel to Sweden on Sept. 13 and plan to spend the first two days of their visit working with their Swedish counterparts to help refine the Swedish division SOPs and discuss staff processes, Padilla said.
During the CPX, which will be held at Swedish Ground Combat School in Enköping, the Americans will act as observers and advisors to their Swedish counterparts.
The CPX kicks off Sept. 19 and is scheduled to run through Sept. 24.
The State Partnership Program pairs state National Guards with other countries’ militaries for joint training and exchange programs.
The New York National Guard has had a State Partnership Program training and exchange relationship with Brazil since 2019 and with South Africa since 2003.
New York also has a bilateral training agreement with the Israeli Homefront Command and the Danish Joint Arctic Command, which operates in Greenland.