The Minnesota–Croatia National Guard Partnership is one of 22 European partnerships that make up the U.S. European Command State Partnership Program and one of 65 worldwide partnerships that make-up the National Guard State Partnership Program. The partnership began in July 1996 and has progressed from small unit exchanges to deployments as Operational Mentoring and Liaison Teams (OMLT) in support of Operation Enduring Freedom (OEF). The partnership continues to support overseas contingency operations; assist in the development of disaster preparedness and consequence management, and support the EUCOM Commander's Security Cooperation Objectives (military transformation, interoperability, civil-military operations, and regional military-to-military and civil security events).