On August 27 US Army Europe Command Sergeant Major David Davenport paid a visit to Division General Stasys Raštikis Lithuanian Armed Forces School.
The meeting was attended by Sergeant Majors of the Lithuanian Armed Forces military units: Sergeant Major of the Lithuanian Armed Forces Sgt Maj. Arūnas Birbalas, Sergeant Major of the Land Forces Sgt Maj Osvaldas Žurauskas, Sergeant Major of the National Defence Volunteer Forces Sergeant Sgt Maj Darius Masiulis, Sergeant Major of the Joint Staff Sgt Maj Dainius Snarskis, Sergeant Major of the Logistic Command Sgt Maj Virginijus Molis, Chief of Lithuanian NCOs Sgt Maj Bronius Basalykas.
Delegations of Latvian and Estonian Armed Forces Sergeant Majors and Polish Armed Forces NCOs School delegation arrived to meet US Army Europe Command Sgt. Maj David Davenport.
The goal of the visit was to get familiarized with NCOs School, non-commissioned officers career development, and training system in the Lithuanian Armed Forces, discuss cooperation opportunities and trends, paying a particular focus on partnership among the United States, Lithuanian, Latvian and Estonia Armed Forces.
"In the Lithuanian Armed Forces non-commissioned officers are trained in the NCOs School of the Lithuanian Armed Forces School, so this visit was a great opportunity to present the training model of the Lithuanian Armed Forces non-commissioned officers not only to US Army Europe Command Sgt. Maj. David Davenport, but also to our close neighbours and allies, to share the experience. In order to best implement this training system a wide range of opinions and discussion are necessary "- said the Chief of NCOs School Sgt., Maj. Bronius Basalykas.
Since 2013 non-commissioned officers career courses were suspended, as it was aimed to equalize training of non-commissioned officers among NATO and partner nations. On 10 October 2013 NATO countries and Partner Nations (total 13 countries) have approved and issued Non-Commissioned Officer Professional Military Education, Reference Curriculum. In accordance to these recommendations specifications of non-commissioned officer carrier I-III courses training requirements were developed and approved on 30 December 2013. The next step in updating NCOs training was organization of courses according to new training programs, which are currently being developed. In fact, a unified NATO and partner countries recommended four-stages non-commissioned training system 3+1 will be applied, therefore P1-P3 will be trained at national level, and P4 will be trained at the international level.
From June 2 2014 NCOs School of the Lithuanian Armed Forces School started training of P1 course, and later this year the course P2 will be held.
S5 senior executive Irena Skuodienė, Lithuanian Armed Forces School.
