Baltic Defence College Leadership visit US Marine Corps University, US Joint Forces Staff College and Allied Command Transformation

After visiting the Pentagon and US National Defense University on March 2, Brigade General Gundars Abols, commandant of the Baltic Defence College and Dr. James Corum, Dean of the Baltic Defence College, met with the President of the Marine Corps University Major General Neller. The Marine Corps University includes the Marine Corps Staff College and the School of Advanced Warfighting Studies and the Marine War college. The directors of all these major schools of the Marine Corps University met with the Baltic Defence College leaders. For years the Baltic Defence College and US Marine Corps schools have enjoyed a close relationship with Marine Corps faculty members as regular visitors and lecturers at the Baltic Defence College. General Abols and Dr. Corum discussed how the partnership between the two institutions could be deepened by faculty exchanges, and joint academic research.

On 4 March Brigade General Abols and Dr. Corum visited the US Joint Forces Staff College in Norfolk Virginia met with Brigadier General Marvin Smoot, USAF, and commandant of the Joint Forces Staff College in Norfolk Virginia. The BDCOL leaders had the opportunity to meet with faculty leaders of the Joint Forces Staff College and discuss cooperation between the Baltic Defence College and one of America’s premier institutions for joint education.

The visit by the Baltic Defence College leaders concluded on 5 March when the Baltic Defence College leaders met with Major General Stephen Layfield, US Army, Commander of USJFCOM’s Joint Warfighting Center and Director of the Training Directorate, Director of the Joint Training Center. The leaders discussed US and Baltic Defence College cooperation on issues that included sharing advanced distance learning courses. USJFCOM’s Joint Warfighting Center the Training Directorate today supports BALTDEFCOL students with distributed advance learning capabilities via their courses posted on the Joint knowledge online website, one of the US military’s major vehicles for specialized education. During the visit various training and the Director of the USJFCOM’s Joint Warfighting Center and the Training Directorate demonstrated the newest developments in advanced distance learning and discussed the possibility of future US and BALTDEFCOL cooperation.

Towards the end of their visit Brigade General Gundars Abols, and Dr. Corum, visited the former duty post of Brigade General Abols, the Allied Command Transformation HQ in Virginia.

Brigadier General Abols, and Dr. Corum met with Lieutenant General Karlheinz Viereck, the newly appointed Deputy Chief of Staff for Joint Forces Training from the Supreme Allied Command Transformation (SACT) in Norfolk, Virginia. The Baltic Defence College leaders then visited the Joint Education and Training subdivision where they met with Brigadier General Kurt Pedersen, the chief of this subdivision.

During these talks the Baltic Defence College representatives discussed closer cooperation in the future between BALTDEFCOL and HQ ACT. The Baltic Defence College leaders discussed current projects of the JETE (Joint Education and Training). The Baltic Defence College leaders briefed ACT on the results of the last Baltic Defence College High command Studies course, which is accredited by ACT.

In summary, during their US visit the Baltic Defence College leaders were able to deepen the existing relationships with NATO and US institutions. The American military education institutions were clear in their commitment to maintain their strong support of the Baltic Defence College.