In some ways, the National Guard Bureau’s State Partnership Program – which pairs National Guard elements with partner nations worldwide – started with a tuba.
“The Latvian military band needed a big tuba,” said retired Maj Gen John Conaway, the 22nd chief of the National Guard Bureau (NGB) and “father” of the State Partnership Program (SPP). “And we hauled a tuba over there.”
The trip with the tuba was part of the early planning stages for the program, which turns 25 this year.
“We delivered that tuba to the Latvian band and they were amazed to get it,” said Conaway. “That started the program with the first, initial visit.”
That first visit led the way to a program that now has 74 partnerships with countries throughout the world. But it all started with three: Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia.
“We were received in grand fashion in all three places,” said Maj Gen Conaway, referring to that initial trip. Where it would go from there, he added, was then still unknown.
“We didn’t know what was going to happen,” he said. “But, we had the visit. That was the start.”
That first visit was the result of a simple directive from GEN John Shalikashvili, then-commander, Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers, Europe (NATO), who would subsequently be appointed chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff in 1993.
“He called me up and said, ‘we’ve got to help these new emerging democracies [in the Baltics],’” said Maj Gen Conaway, adding that, after additional planning with Pentagon officials, he formed a small team and they started working with the State Department. That led to meeting with the presidents of Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia, as well as military officials in those countries.
“It looked like they wanted our help, and we started talking about putting liaison officers from the National Guard on orders with them,” said Maj Gen Conaway. “Our role was to help make the transition [to democracy] as smooth as we could.”
