ZAGREB, Croatia - Field water experts from the Minnesota Army National Guard and U.S. European Command traveled to Zagreb, Croatia, to conduct a Field Water Treatment Workshop with partners from the Croatian Armed Forces from May 7-9, 2013.
The visit was very timely since Croatia anticipates being fully operational within NATO’s capability of field water treatment by January 2017, and is now developing a field water team. So they were very interested in information provided by their state partners, Minnesota, and the European Command.
During the two-and-a-half day workshop, the U.S. field water experts shared expertise with their Croatian counterparts on a spectrum of topics including reconnaissance, water source selection, environmental health, NATO water quality standards, technologies, planning, maintenance and other considerations.
Croatian military participants included preventative medicine personnel, technicians, and logisticians. The Croats briefed the group on their current plans toward developing a field water capability, and solicited recommendations to improve their proposal. They also demonstrated their water quality sampling equipment in an interactive learning session.
This type of engagement is one example of how EUCOM utilizes Theater Security Cooperation (TSC) to support theater strategies and objectives. All TSC activities are aligned with pre-determined Lines of Activity (LOA) to ensure support of strategy, conducted under the Environmental Security LOA.
Under the Environmental Security LOA, we partner with nations to build basic environmental engineering capability to improve efficiency, effectiveness, and protect the health of our military. Other examples of engagement under the Environmental Security LOA include hazardous material management, climate change impacts on military operations, and oil spill response.
In this engagement, the objective was to assist Croatia in achieving their NATO Capability Target, to learn more about their capabilities, and to build stronger relationships with our partners and allies. Utilizing the State Partnership Program (SPP) was another way we worked to develop dedicated relationships. Croatia and Minnesota have been partnered under the SPP since 1996, and therefore have an established history between the two international military organizations, sharing concepts, ideas and lessons learned through numerous military-to-military exchanges to promote military transformation, interoperability, and civil-military operations.
The workshop was deemed highly productive and informative, and was greatly enjoyed by all participants. The U.S. team toured the beautiful capital city of Zagreb, topped off with a traditional Croatian family-style meal and lots of laughter.