 Kentucky Army National Guard soldiers and one Kentucky Air Guardsmen proficiently trained in explosives met with Djiboutian soldiers to discuss and execute practical exercises as a part of the National Guard State Partnership Program, or SPP. The program has become a critical component of defense strategy and a model for security cooperation in the 21st century. It's very beneficial to share information with the Djiboutians. They have a lot of combat experience and Somalia and Ethiopia and the Eritrean conflict has provided them practical demining and IED experience that is different from ours in the United States. I think there's a lot that we can benefit from sharing the information to improve the survivability of troops on the ground. The Kentucky National Guard officially established a relationship with Djiboutian military forces to the state partnership program in 2015. However, this is not the first time the U.S. has interacted with the demining company directly. In the early 2000s, Marines assisted the country with demining techniques used to rid the land of explosive mines following the resolve of a 1990s civil conflict. While conducting routine route clearance as a part of an ongoing peacekeeping mission in the region, four of the company's soldiers have lost their lives to improvised explosive devices or IEDs in the last three years. Overall, unit morale has become a focus for the company commander as their mission continues. That sense of encouragement comes with confidence developed during joint force exchanges such as this. I feel very positive with this particular engagement. We've had additional individuals' requests to be included between yesterday and today and these opportunities are quite positive and I think we've had great interaction with the individual soldiers on the ground down to the lowest privates. Kentucky service members returned home excited for future missions to come. As Kentucky continues to develop its relationship with Djiboutian through the state partnership program, we will see more and more opportunities like this one that increases our overall national security and potentially produces life-saving knowledge our soldiers need to make it home safely. I'm Djibouti, Sergeant Jesse Elbowab.