Lithuanian government takes interest in U.S. reserves
Representatives of the Lithuanian government, its civilian soldiers and their employers received their first look at how the Pennsylvania Army National Guard (PANG) and other reserve components of the military work hand in hand with the soldiers’ employers. “This has been a great experience for us,” said Valdas Norkunas, spokesman for the Lithuanian Ministry of National Defense (MoD) during a recent visit to Fort Indiantown Gap (Gap). “I think this will be very helpful to us as we begin our program.”
In March, members of the Pennsylvania Employer Support of the Guard and Reserve (ESGR), including George Duell Jr., field committee chairman; William Campbell, executive director; and Larry Klink, program support specialist, traveled to the northeast European country to assist in the first phase of development of a similar program for their Lithuanian counterparts.
ESGR is a Department of Defense volunteer national organization that provides assistance to guardsmen, reservists and their employers.
Recently, Norkunas and Aurelijus Sapranauskas, chief of the Vilnius Region of the Confederation of Business Employers, Capt. Rimantas Jasinevicius and Capt. Andrius Almanis of KASP (the National Defense Volunteer Force), joined with state and national ESGR officials and Pennsylvania employers at the Gap as the organization hosted a three-day conference for those with civilian soldiers in their employ.
In addition to meeting the chief executive officers of numerous companies, the Lithuanian delegation was introduced to various members of the Pennsylvania Reserve and Guard military leaders and given tours of the Gap facilities.
Norkunas said that he was impressed with the positive tone of the employer representatives and those of the ESGR, with both expressing the need for cooperation.
“It was very exciting to see the people together acting as one team; they seem to understand each other without words,” he said.
The Pennsylvania Army National Guard was linked with Lithuania in 1993 as part of a State Partnership Program. Each state National Guard, said Duell, has a similar relationship with a foreign country with the Pennsylvania Guard over the years assisting with military training of the Lithuanian KASP.
As a member of NATO, the Lithuanian military began to deploy members of its reserve force to various international locations to assist with peace-keeping and security operations, and questions arose as to how Pennsylvania handled deployments with employers, families and its civilian soldiers, said Duell.
The national ESGR officials, along with the PANG leadership, agreed to dispatch a team to Lithuania to assist with the formulation of an employer/soldier liaison program.
“As an active member of NATO, the Lithuanians wish to emulate effective programs that function in the United States and they recognize the merits of establishing an employer support program,” said Duell.
“It is clear to the leadership in Lithuania that employers are, in fact, true partners in a nation’s defense and should be active participants in developing policies to ease mobilization of reserve forces from the workplace to active military status with minimum turbulence for employers of reserve members.”
Sapranauskas said that it was rewarding to see first hand what the U.S. ESGR representatives had explained to the Lithuanian delegation in March.
“It is one thing to know something from other people,” he said through Norkunas. “It is better to experience it.
“Everyday we discuss what we see here (and) what we hear here and during the process we try to project something we will do (when we return home). One thing is certain, we are ready and we will organize many common projects and events such as this (program at the Gap) with the MoD and our (employer’s organization).”
Norkunas, too, speculated a similar ESGR program in Lithuania would be successful.
“We spoke with many interesting people,” he said. “I think it will be very useful for us because we are just starting this process; we are just making the first step with our employers and organizations.
“Our MoD, representatives of our KASP and Mr. Sapranauskas will get our experience further for our colleagues in Lithuania and I’m sure we, too, will be successful.”
Duell, meanwhile, said that the Lithuanian reserve/employer organization will continue to receive support from the Pennsylvania ESGR.
“They have made great strides to date and I feel confident they will continue to grow their (reserve) program,” he said.