Adjutant General of Ohio National Guard Visits Hungary

Maj.-Gen. Mark E. Bartman, the Adjutant General of the Ohio National Guard arrived in Hungary at the invitation of Gen. Dr. Tibor Benkő, Chief of Defence. A special occasion for the official program of the American guest staying in Hungary between 20th and 23rd September was that he took over his new position in March this year, and this has been his first visit to Hungary. The American general was accompanied by US Ambassador Colleen Bell and US Defense Attaché Donald R. Baker, who met with Minister of Defence Dr. István Simicskó for the first time.

At the bilateral discussion, the partners talked about the possibility of further expanding the scope of cooperation between the Hungarian Defence Forces (HDF) and the Ohio National Guard which has been going on for more than two decades, and some issues regarding the measures taken by the government and the HDF during the migration crisis. In the State Partnership Program, there has been an outstanding cooperation with the Ohio National Guard since 1993, which culminated in the tasks of the HDF Operational Mentoring and Liaison Team (OMLT) in Afghanistan between 2009 and 2013.

Both sides continue to consider it a responsibility to maintain and strengthen cooperation in the future. To achieve this, they jointly assessed the current state of foreign missions and the joint responses to be given to challenges presented by hot spots. Besides, they discussed the experiences and further possibilities of operating the Volunteer Reserve System, a new capability of the Hungarian Defence Forces.

At the meeting, Dr. István Simicskó spoke highly of the material and spiritual support that the United States of America provides for the Hungarian Defence Forces. The Minister of Defence emphasized that Hungary considers the United States of America a key strategic partner.

Defence cooperation – with special regard to cooperation in the field of special operations – is an outstanding field of Hungarian–American relations. This year, in addition to regular and very intensive expert-level cooperation, several high-level Hungarian–American meetings have already taken place with the participation of US Ambassador Colleen Bell since she was appointed in January.

Photo: Mária Krasznai-Nehrebeczky