Five members of the Papua New Guinea Defense Force had the opportunity to visit the Wisconsin National Guard as part of the Defense Department’s State Partnership Program, administered by the U.S National Guard Bureau last month. Coordinator of the Wisconsin National Guards State Partnership Program, Major Jessica Kelly stated that the intent of the visit was to build upon the medical introductory exchange that took place last year and that the visit was amazing. It was in March last year that members of the WNG set foot here in the country to observe how our Defense force medical services operated. In return, PNGDF medical personnel this year had the opportunity to visit the 135th Medical Company Area Support in Waukesha, which is the Wisconsin Military Academy at Fort McCoy and the 115th Medical Group at Truax Field in Madison. “This exchange was unique in its ability to incorporate both Army and Air National Guard representation.” The PNGDF Personnel that took part in the exchange were Maj. Louisa Wanma, the PNGDF military hospital’s second-in-command and a medical lab scientific officer, Capt. Philomena Marai, a registered nursing officer serving at Lombrum Naval Base on the island of Manus. Capt. Ryan Manzin, the commanding officer of the PNGDF preventative health platoon and an environmental health officer. Lt. Job Barnabas; a mental health nurse, and Warrant Officer Jerry Aihi an experienced community health worker and the officer in charge of combat medical training for soldiers and recruits at the PNGDF Goldie River Training Depot. During their visit to Wisconsin, the PNGDF officers learned and exchanged practices and techniques on the fundamentals of medical training, suicide prevention, behavioural health, medical readiness, combat medic resiliency training, tactical trauma assessment, massive haemorrhage control, wound management, shock recognition, fractures, care under fire, and preventative medicine. It was a positive trip, with the PNGDF reporting that they had learned a lot in their visit. Maj. Wanma pointed out a key difference in the medical training between the Wisconsin National Guard and Papua New Guinea adding that it would be interesting if they come, and WO Aihi shows them what he does when he improvises. Manzin explained that the Wisconsin National Guard has more resources and dedicated support for its training. Maj. Kelly said additional takeaways from the visit included adding more academics on mental health and how to build resiliency within the force, as well as drug and alcohol preventative medicine and recovery medicine. “We learned that Papua New Guinea is starting to emphasize and incorporate more conversations on mental health and whole health concepts.” Upcoming State Partnership Program engagements with Papua New Guinea include Wisconsin National Guard legal representatives participating in a legal exchange hosted by the Defense Institute for International Legal Studies and a disaster response exchange and exercise hosted by the U.S. Army Pacific to support the PNGDF in building disaster response capacity within the country. The State Partnership Program has been successfully building relations around the world for 30 years and now includes 88 partnerships with 100 nations. The Wisconsin National Guard has a State Partnership Program relationship with Nicaragua as well as Papua New Guinea.