On Friday, February the 18th , the head of the Ministry of National Defence and the US Secretary of Defence L. Austin visiting Poland met with Polish and American soldiers at the 33rd Transport Air Base.

"The presence of US troops in Poland is proof the United States is indeed engaged in the security of Europe and also in the entire Eastern flank. And the fact that the soldiers of Polish Armed Forces serve shoulder to shoulder with the US troops increases our interoperability of the entire lands. (…)In Poland the US troops are located not only here in Powidz but also in Poznań and also in Orzysz. And we are very proud indeed than we can host US troops”  - emphasized the minister.

Currently, about 5,000 American soldiers are staying in Poland as part of NATO and bilateral cooperation with the United States. For several days, an additional 4,700 US troops have been deployed in relation to the security threat situation in our region. Polish and American soldiers cooperate during many military exercises and increase the level of interoperability within the NATO Battle Group.

The US Secretary of Defence expressed his gratitude the Poles for their military cooperation so far.

“First of all let me thank you the leadership of the country for being such a great host. The United States have consistently rotated in and out to train and have had the ability to take advantage of your excellent training facilities. We appreciate everything that you and your leadership have done to make it easy for us to rotate in and out and we value the opportunity to work alongside shoulder to shoulder with great ally. Seeing American soldiers airmen staying alongside Polish soldiers airmen is actually for me a common seen. In Iraq, Afghanistan – every place that we have been - we have served shoulder to shoulder with our Polish allies and so this is indeed a great picture but also reminds us of the strength of our partnership. We will continue work to build the product of partnership” – said Secretary Austin during a meeting with the soldiers.

The minister recalled that Polish-American cooperation has a long tradition and thanked the American soldiers for their service in Poland.

“Service between Polish and American troops has been going on for a very long time, for example in Iraq and Afghanistan. Everywhere where there was a security risk, we were there. I would like to thank the 🇺🇸 soldiers for their daily service  here, in Poland. And again personally I would like thank you Mr  Secretary of Defence for your personal involvement in the development of allied relations between Poland and the United States of America” – said the Minister of Defence. 

Secretary Austin thanked the American soldiers for their service in Poland and stressed the role of the joint service in strengthening the partnership between states.

“I wanna offer a word of thanks for all that you do to represent both of our countries so well. We can talk a lot what does it mean but seeing you in action, seeing you work together day in and day out it just proves the strengths of our relationship and you are what makes this work. Mr Błaszczak told me something that I have knew already.  That’s whenever we place an American soldier somewhere it demonstrates our resolve. It demonstrates our commitment to our partners and so I would say that you are the greatest ambassadors and I could not be  prouder of you. I wanna thank you for your sacrifices, for your commitment, for your professionalism. I am proud of all of you and it is great to see you” - said the US Secretary of Defence.

GALLERY>>Polish and American soldiers shoulder to shoulder ensure security on the Eastern flank