BIAŁYSTOK, Poland — U.S. Army Soldiers with 2nd Battalion, 69th Armored Regiment, 2nd Armored Brigade Combat Team, 3rd Infantry Division, joined multinational troops with NATO’s enhanced Forward Battle Group Poland for a tour of Polish cultural sites in Podlaskie Voivodeship in northeastern Poland on October 20-22 to learn about the history of the region and the country by greater extent.
The tour, sponsored by the Polish National Foundation (PNF), allowed NATO troops and Task Force Marne Soldiers to explore diverse cultural sites and monuments in northeastern Poland. In turn, the tour helped give troops a new perspective on their deployment to Poland and connect with the country where they currently serve.
Cezary Andrzej Jurkiewicz, PNF board member, spoke [in Polish] about the goal of the PNF tour.
“Our main idea is to show [Soldiers] the history of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth that was a multicultural, multinational country,” Jurkiewicz said. “To understand our history, based on all this multicultural and multiethnic diversity, would be helpful for [Soldiers] to understand our perspective towards our neighbors and ourselves.”