Tennessee National Guard to Aid Bulgaria in Anti-Terrorist Training

Bulgarian Defense Minister Gen. Angelov (left) with Tennessee National Guard chief Gen. Haston at the Euxinograd residence on the Black Sea coast. Photo by Defense Ministry

Bulgaria's Defense Ministry and the Tennessee National Guard have agreed on an accelerated program for anti-terrorist training of Bulgarian military officers.

This development has emerged from a meeting of Bulgarian Defense Minister Gen. Anyu Angelov with Major General Terry M. Haston, who is in charge of the US Army National Guard in Tennessee, in Bulgaria's Varna on Tuesday, which was announced by the Defense Ministry on Wednesday.

Angelov and Haston have discussed the support that the Tennessee emergency situations agency has offered Bulgaria for the creation of a NATO crisis management center on Bulgarian soil. The Tennessee National Guard is set to appoint a liaison officer for the purpose.

The Angelov-Haston meeting also focused on the upcoming joint drills of the Tennessee National Guard and the Bulgarian Army at Bulgaria's joint-use facility, the Novo Selo Training Ground, in June 2013.

As part of the Bulgarian-US military cooperation and partnership, since 2003, Bulgaria is paired with the state of Tennessee (which is similar to Bulgaria in size and population) under the State Partnership Program of the US Department of Defense.

The Bulgarian Defense Ministry said that in the recent years its cooperation with the Tennessee National Guard has focused on joint operation command, landed forces, and military police.

It noted that Tennessee National Guard units have participated in a number of military trainings and humanitarian support operations in Bulgaria, the last one being in May 2012, focusing on military police.