 From Soldiers Radio and Television, this is the Army Today, a daily feature from around the globe. The Arab nation of Kuwait is geographically small, about the size of New Jersey. But the importance of this modern Muslim Persian Gulf country to America's strategic interests is huge. Kuwait needs the United States as a guarantor of its security. From the U.S. perspective, we derive a lot of benefits from this relationship. A relationship begun early in the 20th century, bolstered when oil became the wealth of the nation, further paved with diplomatic and military partnerships, an alliance strengthened by the onset of Operation Desert Shield and Storm, the U.S.-led response to the Iraq invasion of Kuwait. And 10 years later, Kuwait became the linchpin that enabled the massive movements of Operation Iraqi Freedom. Because our focus has been so heavily on Iraq for the last 10 years, and passing troops through Kuwait, preparing them there to conduct operations in Iraq, we've had far less interaction with the Kuwaiti armed forces in the last six years than we would have desired. And that's what we were able to restore at the end of Operation New Dawn. Today, Kuwait remains a cornerstone in America's strategic presence in the Middle East, a region where internal transitions are changing the status quo. And Kuwait, once again, is a critical ally, providing access for U.S. forces to train and maintain a military presence within their borders. Without that, I think the DOD would find it very, very difficult to do a lot of the things that our armed forces need to do in order to have a deterrent presence in the region. Gil McCabe, Kuwait. That's the Army Today from Soldiers Radio and Television.