 Last week the Army in Europe co-hosted the 19th annual conference of the European armies with the Italian land forces in Italy. The conference welcomed nearly 40 senior land forces commanders from all over Europe as well as the recently appointed U.S. Army Chief of Staff General Raymond Odierno. He tells us about the benefits and the importance of maintaining the U.S. military presence in Europe. Everything is about relationships. It's about establishing strong relationships with our partner armies in Europe. It's outreach to new partners, specifically those in the Eastern Boc, Old Eastern Boc, that are now working very closely with us. It gives us some familiarity. It gives us a capability to work with them. So as we again work together on operations, it becomes much easier. But it also creates a basic understanding of our cultures, of our military cultures, and how we want to integrate ourselves as we move forward.