The President of Georgia Mikheil Saakashvili visited Vasiani military base together with his younger son Nikoloz and attended the military exercise of the Armed Forces of Georgia "Vaziani - 2011". Lieutenant Colonel George Kalandadze, who was leading today's event, reported the President on the tactics and the process of the training. Mikheil Saakashvili congratulated Georgian soldiers with the 20th anniversary of Georgian Army and thanked them for the service they had provided. The President evaluated military readiness of Georgian soldiers and underlined the fact that the Government will do its best in order to support Georgian Army in fulfilling all missions, among them those, which are impossible to fulfill - any mission that our history or our life will challenge us with. The Minister of Defense attended training as well.
"I would like to congratulate for the successful completion of the military exercise. Today we have witnessed once more that in spite of the effort of our opponent forces to demolish our Armed Forces, demoralize our combat personnel - our officers, our soldiers, our corporals, our sergeants we managed to maintain their combat spirit and strength, but also managed to continue and hasten the modernization process recently. We don't have any illusion, who our enemy is. Of course, the rival is hypothetical in each exercise. But all of us know very well who intervened in Georgia, who occupies Georgian territories, who has further aggressive plans towards Georgia. You all know quite well that you are the main defenders of Georgia. Of course, when a country is in trouble and under attack, each citizen becomes a soldier; each citizen becomes a protector of his motherland. But you are the major front and decisive
line of our defense, the most important guarantor of the country's future. That's why we continue full support to our Armed Forces, modernization in maximal rate and we will achieve Georgian Armed Forces to be very well trained, equipped with high standards and ready to carry out all tasks and overcome all challenges that we face to.
I would like to express gratitude once more and continue working in this way. I know that Georgian Armed Forces have undergone a range of serious reforms recently. I keep an eye on this process and work on its improvement enduringly. Of course, each month, each week, each day should be innovative for development for Georgian Armed Forces for the welfare of our people", the President of Georgia stated.
The goal of the field exercise is to improve the interoperability of the combined forces in defensive combat and streamline the command and control in the subordinate units.
About 700 soldiers from artillery, aviation, tank, engineering and infantry units participated in the training and different types of military equipment - self-propelled anti airs defense systems, Grad type equipment, SU 25 helicopters and unmanned aerial vehicles.