North Carolina Air National Guard security forces visit Botswana

Three members of the 145th Air Transport Wing of the North Carolina Air National Guard surrendered in Botswana at the end of June to work with their counterparts in Botswana. The National Guard State Partnership Program, established by the Department of Defense and sponsored by the United States Africa Command.

The Botswana Defense Force (BDF) and the National Guard of North Carolina have been state partners for over 70 years. "

" It was great to work with the BDF Air Force, "said the 145th Sgt of Airlift Wing Staff. Eric Stitt, a five-year veteran of the squadron security force. "They were eager to work and learn the best practices from our team and we learned a few things ourselves."

Air Force security forces from North Carolina are responsible for protecting and defending the air base. . They also have capabilities similar to those of the military police and interact and collaborate frequently with local, state and federal authorities.

This latest mission to Botswana is part of the State Partnership Program of the National Guard or "SPP". The SPP is in its 25th year of existence and the program has led thousands of National Guard and Partner State engagements around the world. The program now has 74 partnerships with countries around the world.

The National Guard has two partnerships with the state; Botswana and Moldova. Moldova is a small country in Eastern Europe between Ukraine and Romania and has been a partner of the National Guard for 22 years.

"I have an overseas deployment to the UAE in 2015 and this is my first SPP mission". "In Botswana, we had clbad sessions in the morning, then we moved to the airfield to do what was discussed in clbad, it was a great experience."

This particular commitment of the SPP is a point starting on which anticipate largest exercise sponsored by the US multi-state AFRICOM in 2019 called Upward Minuteman 2019.

"NCNG Botswana SPP commitments will only increase over the next 24 months," said Sgt. 1st clbad James Andrews, NC SPP Coordinator of the National Guard. "The level of professionalism and pride of their defense mission [BDF] is clearly visible: our strong relationship and our ability to learn from each other are what make this program successful."