According to
United States European Command,
Immediate Response is an annual, bilateral security cooperation exercise conducted between U.S. and NATO and coalition partners. It is a longstanding Joint Chiefs of Staff-directed exercise focused on interoperability training and theater security cooperation, and is designed to promote understanding and cooperation between military forces of the United States and our allies.
The 2008 exercise was reportedly conducted jointly by the USA and Georgian Armed Forces at the
Vaziani Military Base
The Vaziani Military Base is located about twenty kilometers outside Tbilisi at Latitude 41.6947 Longitude 45.0467, Georgia.
Structure
The main base is spread over 10,000 hectares.
The Vaziani airfield—location: —has strategic importance as ...
between 15 July and 31 July.
[Kerdzevadze, Tea]
"International Large-Scale Military Exercise ‘Immediate Response 2008’"
, '' Georgia Today'', 2008-08-01. Retrieved on 2008-08-20. Planned by the
United States European Command and financed by the
U.S. Defense Department
The United States Department of Defense (DoD, USDOD or DOD) is an executive branch department of the federal government charged with coordinating and supervising all agencies and functions of the government directly related to national secur ...
at a cost of $8 million. Georgian servicemen totalling 1,630 participated, including representatives of the Joint Staff, Land Forces Staff, IV Brigade, the 41st and 42nd Battalions and Engineer Battalion Company. From the USA, 1,000 military servicemen took part in the exercise including the United States Army Europe,
3rd Battalion 25th Marines
3rd Battalion, 25th Marines (3/25) is a reserve infantry battalion in the United States Marine Corps. The battalion was first formed in 1943 for service in the Pacific Theater of Operations during World War II, taking part in a number of signifi ...
, 1st Battalion, 121st Infantry Regiment,
Georgia Army National Guard (Atlanta, Georgia) and 5045th Garrison Support Unit. Azerbaijan, Armenia, and Ukraine each had 10 servicemen participating as well.
[
On July 21, Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili was personally present and addressed the servicemen, saying:
]
“The main task of Georgian officers and soldiers is training. This international exercise is a unique case as we have the possibility to hold trainings along with the representatives of the best army in the world for a month. I think that we have created a new military school in Georgia in recent years. Believe that what all of you have learned now will remain in our country and will be shared with the future generations. That is why we have to train theoretically and practically as this is a precondition of victory. The main thing is to get acquainted with independent decision-making and free thinking.”[
]
These exercises were held less than a month before the outbreak of the 2008 South Ossetia war
The 2008 Russo-Georgian WarThe war is known by a variety of other names, including Five-Day War, August War and Russian invasion of Georgia. was a war between Georgia, on one side, and Russia and the Russian-backed self-proclaimed republics of Sou ...
.
Almost concurrently, Russia conducted its own military exercises in the north Caucasus (including North Ossetia
North is one of the four compass points or cardinal directions. It is the opposite of south and is perpendicular to east and west. ''North'' is a noun, adjective, or adverb indicating direction or geography.
Etymology
The word ''north'' is ...
), called Caucasus Frontier 2008
Caucasus Frontier 2008 were military exercises conducted by Russia starting July 5, 2008. The active phase was during the second week of July.
They were held in several regions of the Southern Federal District, including Chechnya, North Ossetia, ...
."Russia begins active stage of Caucasus 2008 military exercise"
''RIA Novosti
RIA Novosti (russian: РИА Новости), sometimes referred to as RIAN () or RIA (russian: РИА, label=none) is a Russian state-owned domestic news agency. On 9 December 2013 by a decree of Vladimir Putin it was liquidated and its asse ...
'', 2008-07-15. Retrieved on 2008-08-20.
References
{{commonscat, Immediate Response 2008
Military of Georgia (country)
Military exercises involving the United States