TY - JOUR AU - BUSHYHEAD, John PY - 2022/12/26 Y2 - 2024/03/29 TI - 2002 Georgia Train and Equip Program (GTEP): Reasons and Effects on Political and Institutional Defense Transformation JF - Journal in Humanities JA - HUM VL - 11 IS - 2 SE - Articles DO - 10.31578/hum.v11i2.499 UR - https://jh.ibsu.edu.ge/jms/index.php/SJH/article/view/499 SP - AB - <p>Abstract<br>Having risen from the ashes of the Soviet Union, Georgia was a country in desperate need of support and development. As one<br>of the former Soviet republics, Georgia was now not only a newly independent country but a country with its own new Army.<br>The Georgia Train and Equip Program (GTEP) began in 2002 and involved United States Armed Forces and Georgian Defense<br>Forces. It was designed to train and equip a few Georgian battalions using small unit tactics to fight terrorism. I examine in<br>more detail what GTEP was.<br>To help the reader fully understand the reasons and effects of GTEP, I identify the role Georgia’s geo-strategic location played<br>in the implementation of GTEP and Georgia’s role in the struggle for spheres of influence between the West (NATO and the<br>United States) and Russia. Accordingly, in this article I examine the Geo-political environment surrounding the country of<br>Georgia as Russia was determined to keep Georgia close politically and militarily and NATO at a distance. Concurrently, the<br>West desired to reduce the Russian sphere of influence which incorporated much of the former Soviet Union. At the same time,<br>the United States and NATO desired to expand NATO to Russia’s border. Conflict was inevitable. In addition to spheres of<br>influence, Georgia was and is uniquely positioned geographically to play quite a significant role in the Global War on Terror<br>(GWOT).<br>Accordingly, several additional points of stress existed between Russia and Georgia including The Pankisi Gorge, Abkhazia<br>and South Ossetia along the threat of the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction (WMDs). The Pankisi Gorge is located<br>within Georgia. Chechnya borders the Pankisi Gorge and due to the terrain, the boarder is quite difficult to control which<br>enabled terrorists and criminal groups to exploit the area.<br>Through this study, one may see the effect GTEP had on Georgian political and institutional defense transformation. One may<br>also see Georgia’s reasons for political and institutional defense transformation and how they compare to the U.S.’s reasons for<br>the region.</p> ER -