NUKU'ALOFA, Tonga – Last week, several members of the Nevada National Guard traveled across the globe to interact and exchange techniques for communicating with members of His Majesty's Armed Forces, the Army, Navy and Marines of the Kingdom of Tonga in the South Pacific.
Several members of the Nevada National Guard's 422nd Expeditionary Signal Battalion and the Nevada Air National Guard worked with the Tongan forces to set up, operate and troubleshoot U.S. and Australian radios and communication base stations at locations across the island nation and with one of its naval vessels at sea.
The Nevada National Guard and the Kingdom of Tonga signed a Declaration of Partnership under the auspices of the National Guard Bureau's State Partnership Program on April 11, 2014.
The State Partnership Program (SPP) links a unique component of the Department of Defense – a state’s National Guard – with the armed forces of a partner country in a cooperative and mutually beneficial relationship.
The SPP is administered by the National Guard Bureau, guided by State Department foreign policy goals, and executed by the adjutants general in support of combatant commanders and Department of Defense policy goals.
Past exchange topics have included military and maritime legal aspects, military police techniques, night vision equipment and Combat Life Savers.
Nevada and Tonga have also partnered in several Pacific Command and South Pacific exercises that include active duty, guard and reserve U.S. forces, as well as military personnel from Australia, New Zealand and several other Pacific Rim nations.
The exchange enhanced communication knowledge and focused on radio and equipment care and maintenance, command and control, emergency preparedness and standardizing radio procedures.
Maj. Jerome Guerrero, executive officer of 422nd ESB, was impressed with the knowledge and ingenuity of his Tongan counterparts. "Their ability to persevere despite limited equipment assets and compatibility was impressive," Guerrero said.
The team from Nevada also visited several Tongan military installations, toured the nation's newest naval ship and observed newly-created basic training classes.
Capt. Alex Kassebaum, a Reno Police Department detective and a member of the 152nd Airlift Wing Operations Group, visited the Women and Children Crisis Centre with Col. JoAnn Meacham, Headquarters Nevada Air National Guard, to support the Women, Peace and Security National Action Plan through high-level discussions with female senior leaders and female Tongan officers.
Discussions included domestic violence within His Majesty's Armed Forces and reporting procedures used in the U.S. military and Nevada National Guard.
"The approach to protecting these women and providing them with a way out is similar to programs here in Nevada and something both communities could expand upon," Kassebaum said.