recent odc activities 2008 

Polish Military Officers Meet with Secretary of Defense

30 April 2008

(see large photo)

Visit with Secretary Gates, from left to right: Colonel Tadeusz Mikutel and Major Krzysztof Cur (current Air University students from Poland); General Nasiadka, Chief Radio-Engineering, Air Force; Airman Anna Zyska, escort officer, U.S. Air Force; General Anatol Wojtan, Deputy J-5, General Staff;  General Stephen R. Lorenz, Commander, Air University, Maxwell Air Force Base; General Ireneusz Bartniak, Chief, Airmobile Forces, Land Forces; Honorable Robert Gates, U.S. Secretary of Defense; Sergeant Major Mariusz Piwonski, Sergeant Major of the Polish Land Forces; General Janusz Bojarski, Director of Personnel, Ministry of Defense; Lieutenant Colonel Tomasz Kowalik, Specialist, J-5; General Staff General Leszek Cwodzinski, J-7, General Staff; Lieutenant Colonel Ray Wojcik, Deputy Chief, Office of Defense Cooperation, U.S. Embassy; General Janusz Bronowicz, Chief, Tank and Armored Forces, Land Forces; Miss Julie Patygula, DVOT Program Coordinator and escort officer, U.S. National Defense University.

U.S. Secretary of Defense Robert Gates visited with senior Polish leaders at Maxwell Air Force Base, Montgomery Alabama.  The Polish officers participated in a Distinguished Visitor Orientation Tour (DVOT) which included visits to several military bases and institutions across the United States.  Poland’s DVOT was led by General Janusz Bojarski, Director, Personnel Department, Ministry of Defense and escorted by Lieutenant Colonel Ray Wojcik, Deputy Chief, Office of Defense Cooperation, U.S. Embassy and Miss Julie Patygula, U.S. National Defense University.  The DVOT program is funded by the International Military Education and Training (IMET) program and coordinated by the U.S Embassy’s Office of Defense Cooperation and the U.S. National Defense University in Washington, DC.  At over $25M since 1995, Poland is the largest recipient of IMET funding in Europe.  Poland uses the IMET program to assist in its military transformation.