Maine Trains Montenegrins in Tactical Procedures
Story and Photos by Sgt. Angela Parady
Christmas, while most
Mainer’s were still
to help their Montenegrin
partners.
As part of the state
partnership, Maine and
Montenegro work together
to help build the newer
nations military capacity,
and help them become
NATO and European Union
members. During the most
recent visit, they discussed
how to improve the basic
military tactics, troop leading
procedures.
1st Lt. Kody Peckham,
a combat engineer with the
251st Engineer Company
(SAPPER) traveled with the
team. During the weeklong
visit he worked side by
side with the Montenegrin
military to teach them the
way the U.S. handles military
operations.
“Their system was
actually very similar to
how we do ours, but just
not as structured,” he said.
“They don’t use their non-
carry out the missions. They
would act depending on the
mission they received. There
was no exact, time tested
method to the execution.”
So the Maine team
worked to help them create
a new standard for missions.
They spent a full day in the
classroom, discussing the
steps one must take when
receiving a mission.
They showed them
how to incorporate the
NCO’s, which are still newer
in the Montenegrin military,
and how to conduct pre-
mission checks. Together,
they discussed what was
going well in the training,
and what they could improve
on to make things even
better.
“The next day, we
pitched them a mission,”
said Peckham. We picked
leadership from the class
and let them plan out the
missions the rest of the
day. The next day, they
carried out the mission, from
beginning to end, and we
watched and observed.”
The learning and
training doesn’t end just
because Peckham and the
others had to return to
Maine. The Montenegrins are
planning to send a team to
visit this summer, and put
their learning to use during
annual training events with
the Guardsmen.
Peckham said that his
group was welcomed with
open arms and minds. This
introduct