GEORGIA: U.S. Military experts arrive for two month training programme of Georgian troops in anti- insurgency techniques

Record ID: 629331

  • Title: GEORGIA: U.S. Military experts arrive for two month training programme of Georgian troops in anti- insurgency techniques
  • Date: 1st May 2002
  • Summary: SLATE INFORMATION
  • Embargoed: 16th May 2002 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: TBILISI ,GEORGIA
  • Country: Georgia
  • Topics: International Relations,Defence / Military
  • Reuters ID: LVA1VF8XHL2IL2FL6YOOE2729446
  • Story Text: U.S. military experts that have arrived in Georgia said that the main aim of the two months training programme will be to train the staff of the Georgian arms forces first and then the troops.
    The 18 instructors are in the former Soviet republic of Georgia as part of a U.S. plan to train Georgian forces in anti-insurgency operations.
    "We're going to do some training for the ministry of defence staff and the land force command staff. And then the next step will be training the troops without moving further down the road." said Major Otis McGregor, of U.S Airborne division outside the Sheraton Metechi hotel in Tbilisi.
    McGregor is one of the first 18 military experts that arrived in Georgia on Monday night (April 30). The aim of the instructors is to help the impoverished former Soviet state's rag-tag army fight Islamic extremists as part of the U.S.-led campaign against terror.
    They add to the growing U.S. military presence in parts of the old Soviet Union, notably Central Asia, since the September 11 terror attacks in the United States.
    The U.S. experts in Georgia are preparing the ground for some 200 military instructors that Washington promised to send to the country, riven by separatism since independence in 1991.
    U.S officials say the "train and equip" programme is aimed at helping Georgia flush out Islamic militants widely believed to have bases its lawless Pankisi Gorge.
    "The training will be a little over two months. And the programme instruction is based on some American military schools in the United States and military schools and national Defence University, the Command staff college and senior service college." said McGregor.
    Russia says Pankisi gorge harbours fighters from rebel Chechnya, just to the north, and initially bristled at the prospect of yet more U.S. troops in its traditional zone of influence.
    Georgia's armed forces are in a poor state, badly-trained and sometimes mutinous, and have been defeated in two separatist wars since independence.
    " The primary emphasis right now is on giving the training equipment to the soldiers with regards to weapons and ammunitions so that they have the equipment that the need to conduct the training that we have agreed upon to train." said captain Kelly Smith.
    "Then some other things become available, the residual things that get developed in the course of the training , we hope to leave for the government of Georgia." he added.
    Georgia spends just $17 million a year on defence, a fraction of the $64 million the Pentagon says it is to spend on what it sees as a modest training programme for Georgian forces.
    The U.S. will provide Georgian troops it trains with uniforms, small arms, ammunition, communications equipment, training and medical gear, fuel and construction materials.
    Georgia says some 2,000 soldiers and officers will go through the programme, the equivalent of around four battalions of infantry and border guards, plus staff training for land forces command and defence ministry personnel.
    "The are great soldiers, a lot of drive and want to do the right thing, want to train , want to get out there and serve their country" said captain Kelly Smith.
    Field training is expected for about three to four weeks over the summer covering manoeuvres, construction of defensive sites, and offensive operations.
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