embassy events 2009

C-130 Air Wing Specialists Visit Poland

17 February 2009

Illinois Air National Guard C-130 Air Wing specialists pose for a photograph with U.S. Ambassador to Poland, Victor Ashe.

Colonel Cory Reid, Commander of the 182nd Mission Support Group, Illinois Air National Guard, visited Poland February 9-14, 2009. Colonel Reid met with representatives of the Polish Air Force to discuss future State Partnership Program Events between the Illinois Air National Guard and the Polish Air Force. Reid traveled to the Powidz Air Base where he discussed future cooperation initiatives with 33rd Air Base personnel. The Illinois Air National Guard is comprised of approximately 3200 Air National Guard members. Since 1993, the Illinois National Guard and Polish Armed Forces have participated in a partnership program that provides for the sharing of ideas between two nations.

Regionally, Poland receives the most U.S. Foreign Military Financing (FMF) assistance funding and is also the sixth largest FMF recipient in the world. To date this includes over $285 million in direct FMF grants and more than $3.9 billion in FMF loans. Additionally, Poland has received more than $31 million dollars under the Combined Education Training Program (CETP) which includes: the International Military Education Training (IMET) Program; Military to Military (M2M) Program; State Partnership Program (SPP) and Combating Terrorism Fellowship Program (CTFP). Poland utilizes U.S. support to help transform and modernize the Armed Forces of the Republic of Poland.