24 Albanian military completed training at the OCS of New Jersey Guard
- Published: Friday, 12 September 2014 13:59
24 young Albanian officers were commissioned after successfully completing a pilot program at the Officer Candidate School (OCS) of New Jersey Guard in the USA.
At the ceremony organized on this occasion attended Deputy Minister of Defence, Mr. Dritan Hila, Chief of General Staff of the Armed Forces, Major General Jeronim Bazo, the US Ambassador in Tirana, Mr. Alexander Arvizu, Commander of the New Jersey National Guard, Brigadier General Michael Cunniff, generals and directors of the Ministry of Defence and General Staff, defence attachés accredited in Tirana, representatives of the office of ODC and CUBIC, family members and relatives of the commissioned officers, etc.
In Albania, it is being held the Joint Albanian-British Exercise “Albanian Lion”. The exercise began on August 30 and will end on October 16, 2014.
The Minister of Defence, Mrs. Mimi Kodheli, during the NATO Summit in Wales, held a meeting with Mr. Derek Chollet, Assistant Secretary of Defence of the USA for international security affairs. During the meeting issues of common interest were discussed, with special emphasis on the security challenges the international community is facing lately.
The Minister of Defence, Mrs. Mimi Kodheli held a meeting with the Foreign Minister of Canada, Mr. John Baird. The meeting took place at the Air Force Command in Rinas. Minister Kodheli thanked the Canadian Minister for the contribution his country is making in the joint operation of sending aids to the Iraqi government. Mrs. Kodheli assessed that this contribution is very important at the moment when the whole Alliance is facing various threats to security and peace.
At the Special Forces Battalion, in Zall-Herr, it was held the welcome ceremony of the “Eagle-8” contingent, who served in the peacekeeping mission in Afghanistan. At the ceremony attended the Minister of Defence, Mrs. Mimi Kodheli, the Chief of General Staff of the Armed Forces, Major General Jeronim Bazo, the U.S Ambassador, Mr. Alexander Arvizu, and many other guests. In her speech, Defence Minister Mrs. Mimi Kodheli welcomed home the peacekeepers on behalf of the Ministry of Defence and all Albanians. “Your 8th combat mission, where you successfully served for a period of 6 months in the Kandahar region, concluded our engagement with combat forces in the ISAF mission, and for this, we all are grateful to you. The operation area of “Eagle-8” is regarded as the stronghold of terrorist activities in southern Afghanistan, where the Taliban forces have always been present and active.”
