First time published

[120mm]

I'm a little anxious about this, but I was invited to speak at the CSI conference along with notables such as LTG David Petraeus, last year. The odd thing is that it was "accidental". I'm kind of embarrassed to show it to the world, but here it is:

http://www-cgsc.army.mil/carl/downlo...6Symposium.pdf

As an aside, I got to have some one on one time with LTG Petraeus, as we are both "coffee hounds" and had some interesting discussions over the coffee urns.

Oh, btw, I'm the Drew Schumann writing about Romanian military equipment development since WWII.

[SWJED]

A Transformational Approach to Security Assistance: The Case of Romania by Major Drew L. Schumann - US Army Reserve:

The future possibility exists the United States will find itself in a major conflict in Central-East Asia and/or the Middle East and will be unable to call upon traditional Western European allies or Russia for assistance. To protect against having to wage unilateral wars, with the resultant lack of power projection platforms near that theater, it is crucial that the US seek a close relationship with Eastern European nations through security assistance. Security assistance represents a diplomatic, military and economic tool for fostering strategic partnerships.

The United States should not deal with Eastern European nations as a homogenous “bloc”. Each Eastern European nation has individual interests and theories of diplomacy, as well as national pride and industrial policies. It is necessary to pursue policies bilaterally. It would make sense to approach individual Eastern European nations and provide security assistance that would help with their long-and intermediate-term needs, all the while steering Eastern European nations to common military equipment and doctrinal architecture for their long-term security needs...

[Stan]

120mm,
Well Done !

The United States should not deal with Eastern European nations as a homogenous “bloc”. Each Eastern European nation has individual interests and theories of diplomacy, as well as national pride and industrial policies.

You may have been the very reason our ODCs have done so well in the Baltics ! In the beginning, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania were in EUCOM's and DSAA's eyes more or less the same; former east bloc. They were only trying to make the Baltics work and play together. That was 95. Today they do indeed work together, but our ODCs have refined our approaches around an individual country.

Regards, Stan