Midshipmen walking to class at the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis.
Photo: Michael Slonecker/ Wikimedia
On September 11, 2020, the Superintendent of the U.S. Naval Academy (USNA), Vice Admiral Sean Buck signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between the Austrian Theresan Military Academy (TherMilAk) and the U.S. Naval Academy (USNA), which covers the exchange of TherMilAk cadets and USNA midshipmen. From the Austrian side the original of this MOU was already signed three weeks ago.
The short ceremony took place in the virtual presence of the Austrian Ambassador to the United States, Martin Weiss, the Commandant of the TherMilAk, Major General Karl Pronhagl, the Austrian Defense Attaché Major General Jürgen Ortner and Brigadier General Jürgen Baranyai, Head of the Training Division in the Austrian Ministry of Defense. The U.S. Ambassador to Austria, Trevor Traina and the U.S. Defense Attache to Austria, Colonel Marc Barlow, participated, too.
The first exchange of students is scheduled to begin in the Fall of 2021, and will include two to four students from the USNA who are going to Wiener Neustadt and two to four from the TherMilAk participating in the semester exchange program in Annapolis, MD. This marks the first such exchange between the two academies. This program offers an excellent opportunity for officers-to-be to get in contact with members of other Armed Forces and to learn about their training and, moreover, to get to know other countries and cultures.
In this context it should not go unmentioned that the TherMilAk has already been maintaing a very well-functioning exchange of cadets with the Military Academy of the U.S. Army in West Point for more than ten years and an additional agreement is in the works with the Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs, which will offer the basis for the exchange of Austrian and U.S. Air Force cadets as of the Fall Semester 2021.
The main building of the Theresian Military Academy in Wiener Neustadt, Austria
Photo: Peter Haas/ Wikimedia
The virtual signing ceremony.
Photo: Screenshot/ Embassy of Austria