U.S. Army Col. Vernon Simpson, the commander of

U.S. Army Col. Vernon Simpson, the commander of Multinational Battle Group-East and the North Carolina Army National Guard’s 30th Armored Brigade Combat Team, reviews the MNBG-E Armenian Army contingent at an Armenian Independence Day ceremony, Sept. 21, 2015, at Camp Bondsteel, Kosovo. After Armenia declared its independence from the Soviet Union on Sept. 21, 1991, it established NATO relations by joining the North Atlantic Cooperation Council in 1992 and the Partnership for Peace program in 1994. Armenia first contributed forces to NATO’s Kosovo Force peace support mission in 2004, which it continues today as part of MNBG-E. (U.S. Army photo by Sgt. David Marquis, Multinational Battle Group-East)