National Guard, US Special Ops train together

The co-training of Special Forces personnel in the Special Ops planning, execution and information support procedures was the focus of a US-Cyprus small-scale army exercise.

SOFEX GUARDIAN-2023, co-organised from 1-28 June by the National Guard and the Armed Forces of the United States of America on the territory of the Republic of Cyprus.

According to a statement from the National Guard General Staff, the exercise scenarios included various types of individual and team weapons combat shooting, sniper, residential combat training, and personnel training in battlefield first aid.

The co-training phase was attended by the Chief of the National Guard, Lieutenant General Demokritos Zervakis; he congratulated the trainee sections of the Raider Command and the US forces for their efforts.

He stressed the importance of conducting joint training to increase the level of cooperation and understanding between the two countries’ armed forces and for the security and stability of the Eastern Mediterranean region in general.

“The exercise, which is part of the Bilateral Defence Cooperation Program between Cyprus and the United States, is considered particularly beneficial since it provides the opportunity for the National Guard’s special operations personnel to be co-trained with the equivalent personnel of the US armed forces, thus promoting the level of training, interoperability and highlighting the excellent relations between their armed forces,” the statement said.