On 14-17 April 2009 the General Jonas Zemaitis Military Academy of Lithuania Cadets Asta Jankauskaite, Paulius Venclovas, and the Chief of Staff (Cadet Battalion), Major Stasys Zakaras, visited the Royal Danish Military Academy (Academy), where they participated in a one-week exchange programme. Other participants included cadets and military officers from Germany, the Netherlands, and France. All participants had a possibility to get acquainted with the methods of Danish officer training and to see the Academy’s halls.

Besides, these halls can be also visited by civilians because they are the Palace of Danish King Frederick IV. The main event of the congress was the 60th anniversary of NATO, celebrated together with all Academy’s cadets and other high-ranking officers representing NATO countries. The meeting began with a solemn formation at the Formation Square where the Academy’s Commandant greeted all participants and wished for successful further work. Later all participants took part in lectures-seminars that lasted for the entire day. The following topics were discussed: the law of NATO, peace strategies of NATO, challenges faced by leaders during high intensity stabilisation operations, etc. The lectures were delivered by Lt Gen Carl W. Eikenber, Lt Col Jo Bowen, Maj James Coote, and others. The topics of the seminars could be chosen by participants themselves, including those that we were interested in and would promote a discussion. During this event we received much interesting and useful information about NATO activities, its development, missions, and leadership, including the significance of the leader, challenges faced by the commander in peace time and in war time; also, we learned why one or another decision was made.

Next day we visited a military unit and observed how the Danish Queen’s Guard Hussar Regiment was serving. We had an opportunity to see how horses are looked after and trained, how the entire formation looked like before going to meet the Queen; also we learned about the service, aims, and tasks of the Hussar Guard Regiment.

All delegations would spend their evenings together at the Danish Cadet’s Club. Our discussions would include a variety of topics. Later we would come back to our hotel. The last day, when all major tasks of the exchange programme had been implemented, we had an opportunity to have a closer look at the City of Copenhagen and its society.

That one-week exchange programme was very informative; we learned a lot about the professional officer training of other NATO member states, the structure of the Danish Armed Forces and its military units, how the military service is conducted; also, we got experience and advise about commanding from high-ranking officers of other countries. And the most important fact is that all discussions, both official and non-official, were conducted in English; therefore,  there was an excellent opportunity to improve our English language skills.