Ministry of Defence 06.06.2013
In a meeting with Major General James A. Adkins of the Maryland National Guard, Minister of Defence Urmas Reinsalu expressed his gratitude to Adkins for 20 years of cooperation in building up Estonia’s national defence.

“Major General Adkins was present at the birth of the cooperation between Estonia and our good partner the State of Maryland in 1993, being the first project officer to arrive in Estonia,” said Reinsalu after the meeting at the Ministry of Defence.

Over the years, many members of the Defence Forces and the Estonian Defence League have received additional military training from the Maryland National Guard. “Major General Adkins has personally contributed to the success of several cooperation projects,” the Minister of Defence added.

He stated that Estonia wants to deepen the cooperation with the Maryland National Guard in both the training of the members of the Defence Forces and in cyber defence.

Major General Adkins attended the reception held on Tuesday to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the cooperation between the Estonian Defence League and the Maryland National Guard.

Yesterday Major General Adkins visited Saber Strike, the joint exercise of Estonian, Latvian, Lithuanian and US units for the defence of the three Baltic States. Maryland National Guard aircraft participate in Saber Strike.

Adkins also met with President Toomas Hendrik Ilves, Major General Riho Terras, Commander of the Defence Forces, and Brigadier General Meelis Kiili, Commander of the Estonian Defence League.

Estonia’s cooperation programme with the Maryland National Guard began in 1993, when the US Ministry of Defence assigned US states to support former Soviet republics. In the 1990s and early 2000s, many members of the Defence Forces and the Estonian Defence League were trained by the Americans in crisis management, mine clearance, military medicine and other fields. The latest additions to the cooperation projects are chopper pilot training and cyber defence.

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