NATO prepares mountain shooters of seven countries in Georgia

The joint training of mountain riflemen from Armenia, Belarus, Georgia, Lithuania, Poland, the US and Ukraine continues near the town of Sachkhere in the west of Georgia, where the Mountain Training School for military personnel has been stationed since 2004. The Ministry of Defense told Vestnik Kavkaza that after three weeks of training, 25 fighters of the military specialized mining and rifle units will pass examinations on rope movement, rapid climbing over the rock,climbing down natural or artificial walls, a  12 m hike across rough terrain  with an emergency rise to a height of 1200 m.

This time, the exercise program does not include firing and combat training for the use of forces and equipment assigned to the mines and rifle divisions. The Sachkher base operates under the 'license' of NATO. In 2010, the school received the status of the NATO Education and Training Center under the Partnership for Peace program. In 2004, the Defense Ministry's base was modernized with financial and technical assistance from one of the leading NATO countries - France, which still patronizes the facility and oversees the majority of exercises conducted there, along with specialists from the United States. Tbilisi says that frequent military exercises from various countries in the Sachkhere base have no political background. The base is in demand due to its proximity to both the mountains and transport communications.

                            

The commander of the Sachkhere Mountain Training School, Vice-Colonel Ivane Tskhadadze said, speaking to Vestnik Kavkaza: "We have been accepting foreigners since 2010. At the same year our school received the status of a NATO program. In fact, the Sachkher base is the base of NATO".

According to Tskhadadze, all instructors of the base were trained by highly qualified French specialists, using a special NATO program, including in France. "We also cooperate with the mountain training schools of Norway, Switzerland and Germany, where our instructors improve their qualifications," the vice-colonel said, adding that the training program at the Sachkher school consists of three stages, each for several weeks. The most difficult of them is the third stage, implying the conquest of the summit at a height of 5 thousand meters.

"Many countries have great interest in the Sachkher training base, since our instructors are experts of the highest class. In addition, the countries sending their military personnel to us for training pay nothing. All expenses, including accommodation, are incurred by the Defense Ministry of Georgia. The NATO program aims to develop military cooperation with friendly states, so that we could adapt to each other by the time NATO's doors will be open up for us," he told Vestnik Kavkaza.