According to

United States European Command The United States European Command (EUCOM) is one of the eleven Unified Combatant Command, unified combatant commands of the United States military, headquartered in Stuttgart, Germany. Its area of focus covers and 51 countries and territori ...

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 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

and financed by the U.S. Defense Department 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, 1st Battalion, 121st Infantry Regiment, Georgia Army National Guard (Atlanta, Georgia) and 5045th Garrison Support Unit.http://www.muskogeephoenix.com/local/local_story_279000439.html. The reference to the 5045th 'General Support Unit' appears to be an error.

Azerbaijan Azerbaijan, officially the Republic of Azerbaijan, is a Boundaries between the continents, transcontinental and landlocked country at the boundary of West Asia and Eastern Europe. It is a part of the South Caucasus region and is bounded by ...

, Armenia, and Ukraine each had 10 servicemen participating as well. On July 21, Georgian President

Mikheil Saakashvili Mikheil "Misha" Saakashvili (born 21 December 1967) is a Georgian and Ukrainian politician and jurist. He was the third president of Georgia for two consecutive terms from 25 January 2004 to 17 November 2013. He is the founder and former chair ...

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 Future generations are Cohort (statistics), cohorts of hypothetical people not yet born. Future generations are contrasted with current and past generations and evoked in order to encourage thinking about intergenerational equity. The Moral agenc ...
. 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. 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.

References

{{commonscat, Immediate Response 2008 Military of Georgia (country) Military exercises involving the United States