Remarks by Ambassador John E. Herbst
at the Award Ceremony for "Developing the Armed Forces of a NATO Partner" Course Graduates
Kyiv, October 28, 2005
Good afternoon, Minister Polyakov, General Tsytsurskiy, ladies and gentlemen,
It gives me great pleasure to take part in a ceremony of such significance for Ukraine's future.
We are here to congratulate these recent graduates of a four-week course that covered foundational and critical aspects of running the Armed Forces of a NATO partner and potential NATO Ally.
This graduation is important for two reasons: First, the fact that Ukraine, specifically 1st Deputy Minister of Defense Polyakov, requested this course and that the General Staff and Ukrainian Armed Services selected quality officers to attend and released them from their duties for the entire four weeks of the course, demonstrates vision and willingness to take the difficult steps to make the senior structures of the Ukrainian military establishment truly NATO-compatible.
Second, the active participation of the 31 graduates of this course demonstrated a solid understanding of the concepts taught. The 31 officers who graduate today comprise a significant increase to the pool of graduates from traditional, less intensive courses that have been held in the United States and the countries of our NATO Allies. Now it is up to the Ministry of Defense, General Staff, and Service Headquarters to make good use of these graduates and their new knowledge.
The United States believes that as Graduates, you are part of the future of Ukraine's military participation with NATO, quite possibly as an Ally. According to your instructors, you all demonstrated an exceptional level of understanding new concepts by actively participating in the various staff-exercises and presentations that were part of the course. Your hard work and dedication over these four weeks speaks volumes about your competence and desire to utilize these new concepts in reforging your military.
I would like to thank all the people, who made this course a reality. It was a high-quality program, coordinated in a very short time. In a matter of a few short months this course was developed and financed through the Office of Defense Cooperation at the U.S. Embassy, coordinated by the U.S. Center for Civil and Military Relations, including speakers brought in from institutions such as the NATO School at Oberammergau and the U.S. Joint Warfighting Center.
I look forward to hearing more of how you graduates, you leaders of Ukraine's future, use the knowledge you've gained during this course, and that you will continue to expand upon it in the future.