I welcome everyone,
It is a great honor for me to visit your base here in Helmand, meet you and tell you how proud of you we are for what you do, for what we are all accomplishing here together. It is a great honor for me to convey regards to you all on everyone’s behalf from your homeland.
Georgia has always had distinguished officers and soldiers throughout the centuries. We have it in our blood – the fight, endurance, being distinguished, protection of homeland, and exporting the fame of our country to different fronts.
Traditionally, our officers were among the many renowned armies.
I will never forget what Otto Von Habsburg who served in Spain together with Georgians in the 30s, told me a few years ago. He used to say that among their armed forces the bravest officers back then were the ones from Georgia. Back then, no one in Europe knew where Georgia was. When he would ask where they came from Georgians would respond: you would not know and remember anyway, we are just an ancient Christian nation, where the myth about “Golden Fleece” comes from.
The bulk of Georgian soldiers had previously demonstrated an outstanding courage in the fight for the independence of Poland. The fact that Poland was saved from the Bolshevik aggression in 1920 is a direct result of the contribution and merit of those Georgians, who then fought under the leadership of the Polish Marshal Plsutski. They constituted the core of the Polish army for decades, including General Sumbatashvili, who led the General Staff of the Polish army.
Georgians led other strong armies as well, including those of Persia, the Ottoman Empire, and Russia. A famous Georgian was the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of the United States Armed Forces, hence the chief of the strongest army in the world. This was General Shalikashvili.
In a nutshell, Georgians have it in their blood – the fight and fame.
Even here, in Afghanistan, there are villages remaining where the Georgians, the “Gurjis” as they were called lived, not only in the current and previous centuries, but in Middle Ages as well. They were considered to be the bravest fighters against the Soviet soldiers during the Russian occupation.
The Soviet armies had their hardest fight against them. That is why it is the continuation of our great tradition. Though, there is a difference from the time when we led the Persian armies, Russian armies, Polish Army and Spanish armed Divisions. And this difference is principal.
We did not have a Georgian state then, did not have the personality and our statehood identity on the world map.
Hence, we were only doomed to use our skill in service of other countries’ well being, shed our blood, and give life. While from this our own country, practically did not benefit at all.
You are representing the armed forces of an independent Georgia today.
What you are doing today is the direct enhancement of Georgia’s position and the Georgian Army and the creation of very solid ground for Georgia’s future.
I visited the chief of your battalion Alexander Tugushi in Washington not long ago, after he was badly injured. He is an officer of incredible courage.
This is what genuine Georgian courage is all about. He has not moaned even once and as the American doctors said, he has never lost his bravery, even during the worst time for him.
He has never lost the ability to love life and fight for it.
He has never lost optimism.
When I went to see him, he told me that the only and the greatest wish he has is a fast rehabilitation and to return to the Georgian armed forces in any form.
I spoke to the famous General Patraeus while in Washington and later in Munich. He was head of the Afghanistan and Iraq operations and he is now the head of the Central Intelligence Agency.
I also spoke with the head of the European Command – Admiral Stavridis. I also met with several Generals who are heading the Afghanistan operations…
The most astonishing fact about these meetings was that today’s most decorated and famous senior officers, who are leading hundreds of thousands of soldiers, know the names and merits of our soldiers.
They named up to 10 first and last names of our soldiers, who they fought with in Iraq and Afghanistan – this was truly incredible for me.
Back in the day, Oto Von Habsburg was telling me about Georgian officers while mentioning their first and last names. In Poland, people know the names of those Georgian soldiers who sacrificed their lives for Poland.
They would not remember us if we were not the best. If you were not special they would not have been able to tell me your names.
General Patraeus told me that there is something in Georgians, aside from training and distinguished discipline, something that cannot be conveyed in words. This is what a soldier should generally have and what the Georgian soldiers have today.
By the way, this is very rare among various armies of the world. I remember the letter of an American operation commander that the President of the United States showed me. The officer was telling the President that the Georgian contingent was the best among the other contingents he had served with in Iraq (aside from the American contingent).
Of course our enemy has occupied a part of our homeland and of course our main goal is to finally free Georgia.
We often hear the question: what are our armed forces doing in Afghanistan? A new battalion is being added to them now. Why are they risking their lives? Why did many Georgian soldiers lose their lives? Why were so many Georgian soldiers wounded here and why do you keep being here every day – representing your country?
Exactly because our country is in a desperate need for defense and armed forces. If we want to have serious armed forces capable to wage war, then we must be in Afghanistan.
Do we want the support of our allies, including further training and equipping our armed forces? – We must be in Afghanistan then.
Do we want to preserve the reputation of Georgia and establish our place in the democratic world? – I am proud to go to various forums and meet, for example, the leaders of Australia and Great Britain as well as other large democratic countries and listen to their gratitude for what you are doing here.
They treat the Georgian delegations with special respect because of what you are doing here.
This is a guarantee of international protection for us. This is a guarantee of a better day for our existence in the future.
If we or any other country wants to have serious armed forces capable of fighting their contingents they should participate in such a mission or must be preparing for participating in a mission.
You will gain invaluable experience here.
We have recently reached an agreement through which the United States will help us strengthen our defense capabilities; not only through administering operations as it was in the past, and not only through involvement in anti-terrorist measures and coordination, but defending the territory of our country, Georgia, in the future.
This is a completely new level of readiness for our armed forces.
You know that the Russians have prohibited the draft of Georgian officers in their military with the exception of one or two teaching facilities. They did not draft Georgians into the military during the Soviet times.
The Soviet leadership uniformly decided to kill the Georgian military tradition after the Second World War. They knew that they would never kill the fighting spirit in Georgians and sooner or later we would want independence; sooner or later we would want to create our independent army.
Restoring this tradition now is a historic business.
This is not a business of one, two, or ten years – this needs tens of years.
And all of you are serving this business by being here and gaining experience.
Because you were here we were given more support and help and I was very proud to visit the Naval Academy near Washington where I met 4 Georgian officers. They are on their way to becoming marines, hence the soldiers that we will definitely need in our armed forces.
We will certainly have people in West Point and other famous academies of the world.
We will absolutely develop a Georgian academy in Tbilisi, Gori, and other military schools. We have recreated the cadet schools and the reserve system based on new principles.
I want to mention that since 2008 four times more people enlisted in the reserve than before 2008 and our enemy thought that Georgia had broken its backbone. They enlisted because defending Georgia is not only the business of a small army, but an honorable duty of every Georgian.
By the end of spring we will have more than 100 thousand trained, well equipped reserve officers, who will know exactly how to help the armed forces in case of another attack on the territory of Georgia.
This is precisely what all of us are creating together without fuss, bragging, and other political declarations. We are doing it quietly, every day, through hard work.
We did much in order to equip our armed forces in recent times.
New samples of Georgian martial technology have been created, which has never happened before. We are testing our first martial machine – Lazika this week. You know that we have produced an armored transport “Didgori”; we are producing machine guns, other technology that the rest of the world has a very small production of.
That is how we have started from a scratch and developed a production in a short amount of time to help our armed forces with local resources.
Of course we continue to work with our partners because any attempt of isolating Georgia and collapsing it has failed completely.
Guys, this is also your merit.
There are people who do not understand why you are here. This does not concern your family members, because they understand everything well.
I understand the nervousness and pain, especially of those who have lost family members here or had them returned wounded.
I understand the feelings of your family members – mothers, fathers, sisters, brothers, spouses and children. All of them cannot wait to see you back home, but they never ask why you are here.
I don’t think anyone is satisfied by the fact that you guys are risking your lives elsewhere, but despite this, the entire Georgian society understands well the reason of you being here.
If any politician does not understand this, this is not only judged by the current generation, but in the future, the next generations which will live in a unified, stronger, and relieved country.
This is exactly what you guys are creating by being here and what our fighters have created by shedding their blood.
I want to once again thank each one of you.
Our homeland values you and we love you deeply.
I would like to wish you safe completion of your work, going home on time, and future successes.
I once again thank you for everything you have done up so far.
Thank you!