"During the actual exercise, the Special Forces command element coordinated with conventional forces to provide Quick Reaction Force assistance." [4]
On October 11 Polish Army Lieutenant General Mieczyslaw Bieniek, recently appointed Deputy Supreme Allied Commander Transformation of the NATO command in Norfolk, Virginia, visited the NATO Joint Forces Training Centre in Bydgoszcz in his homeland to meet with Afghan generals and among other matters discuss "the situation in Afghanistan, current NATO-Afghan cooperation and its future challenges." [5]
A week later the Polish government extended the deployment of its 2,600 troops in Afghanistan. "The current mission was supposed to end on 13 October but at the government's request the president decided to prolong it until 13 April 2011." [6]
As the U.S.-based Polish NATO commander was in Poland, Polish troops were training at the Marseilles National Guard Center, 65 miles from Chicago, with the Bilateral Imbedded Staff Team A7 which will deploy to Afghanistan in January and which "trains through the State Partnership Program with members of the Polish military both here and in Poland to build relationships with coalition members." [7]
F-15C fighter jets of the sort currently deployed in the Baltic skies arrived at the Campia Turzii Air Base in Romania on October 21 for Operation Golden Lance, "a large-scale exercise involving more than 150 U.S. Air Force personnel, 10 fighter aircraft and dozens of pieces of support equipment."
The commander of the 493rd Fighter Squadron in charge of the war games stated, "We're excited to bring our F-15C capability to demonstrate our air superiority skills, train with a formidable NATO ally and integrate our services on offensive counter-aircraft training missions."
A major objective of the air combat maneuvers is to provide the U.S. Air Force with yet more opportunities to face off against Russian MiG-21s.
The two nations' air forces "already share a common link," as Romanian air force units from the Campia Turzii Air Base "have performed the Baltic Air Police mission the 493rd FS is currently performing elsewhere in the world." [8]
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