The United States Embassy will host a reception at 1400 on 17 June 2009 at Dom Oružanih snaga BiH to honor all Bosnia and Herzegovina alumni of the International Military Education and Training (IMET) program. Ambassador Charles English and Deputy Minister of Defense Marina Pendes will address the IMET alumni. All media are invited to attend this event. We kindly ask you to arrive Dom OS BiH at 13:50. Since 1996, 268 BiH soldiers have attended professional military education courses in the US, at a cost of $11 million. The goal of the program is to train BiH non-commissioned officers and officers on US doctrine, and improve bilateral relations and interoperability between the US and BiH armed forces. The program also gives US military students an opportunity to learn from their BiH colleagues. Some of the courses BiH soldiers have attended include the US Army War College, the Sergeant Major Academy, the Command and General Staff College, English Instructors Course and the Explosive Ordnance Disposal Course. These courses contributed to the great success of the BiH EOD unit during 8 deployments to Iraq. In 2009, approximately 25 BiH officers and NCOs will attend courses in the United States. Naida Nakas