Lt. Col. Monika Mertinaitė

Instructor, Defence Planning

Email: [email protected]

Telephone: 372 717 6007

Office: Room 218

Biography

Lt. Col. Mertinaitė was commissioned as an officer in 1996 after graduation from Vilnius Pedagogical University with a B.A. and M.A. in English Linguistics and basic military training in General Jonas Žemaitis Lithuanian Military Academy. During her career she has graduated from the University of Vilnius with an M.A. in Public relations (2003) and is a graduate of the Joint Command and General Staff Course at the Baltic Defence College (2004). She has also attended courses on Civil-Military cooperation, NATO defence planning, NATO resource management in the CIMIC Centre of Excellence and in the NATO School in Oberammergau.

She has also led Public Information Centres during Combined joint military exercises: Baltic Challenge 1998, Amber Hope 2001 and Amber Hope 2003. While serving as staff officer in the Lithuanian delegation to NATO, Lt. Col. Mertinaitė was elected as Dean of the Military Committee Working Group for Cooperation. She was also in charge of a number of projects, including a multinational project on the establishment of a Police Operational Mentor and Liaison Team for the International Security Assistance Force. She was also a member of the inter-governmental working group coordinating the implementation of Lithuania's strategy for participation in the international commitment to Afghanistan. Her military career has included:

• 1996-1998 – Staff Officer in Education and Public Relations Section, Ministry of National Defence
• 1998-2001 – Civil-Military Operations Planning Officer, General Staff J5
• 2001-2003 – Liaison Officer to the Multinational Staff, Lithuanian Armed Forces Command
• 2004-2007 – Staff Officer, Lithuanian Permanent Delegation to NATO
• 2007-2008 – Head of the Civil Military Cooperation Section, Chief of Defence Secretariat
• 2008-2011 – Chief, J9, Joint Headquarters
• July 2011- – Instructor, Defence Planning, Baltic Defence College

Areas of Expertise

• Small group instructor
• Civil-Military Cooperation

Languages

Lithuanian, English and Russian