United States Army CHIEF Warrant Officer Michael Barnes, Food microbiologist and CHIEF of Veterinary Services, 46th Medical Detachment in Bahrain, visits the Green Market in Almaty, Kazakhstan, to inspect food sources prior to the start of CENTRASBAT 2000. Barnes and his staff are responsible for ensuring the safety and hygene of food and water sources for all CENTRASBAT 2000 participants. The Central Asian Peacekeeping Battalion exercise CENTRASBAT 2000 is a multi-national peacekeeping and humanitarian relief exercise sponsored by U.S. CENTCOM and hosted by the former the Soviet Republic Kazakhstan in Central Asia. Exercise participants include approximately 300 U.S. troops including...

The original finding aid described this photograph as: [Complete] Scene Caption: United States Army Chief Warrant Officer Michael Barnes, Food microbiologist and Chief of Veterinary Services, 46th Medical Detachment in Bahrain, visits the Green Market in Almaty, Kazakhstan, to inspect food sources prior to the start of CENTRASBAT 2000. Barnes and his staff are responsible for ensuring the safety and hygene of food and water sources for all CENTRASBAT 2000 participants. The Central Asian Peacekeeping Battalion exercise CENTRASBAT 2000 is a multi-national peacekeeping and humanitarian relief exercise sponsored by U.S. CENTCOM and hosted by the former the Soviet Republic Kazakhstan in Central Asia. Exercise participants include approximately 300 U.S. troops including personnel from U.S. CENTCOM, from the U.S. Army's 82nd Airborne Division, Fort Bragg, North Carolina, and 5th Special Forces Group, Fort Campbell, Kentucky, and approximately 300 Kazakhstan soldiers. Other participating nations include: Uzbekistan, Kyrgystan, The United Kingdom, Turkey, Russia, Georgia, Azerbaijan and Mongolia. The objective of CENTRASBAT is to strengthen militarytomilitary relationships and regional security, and to increase interoperability between NATO and partner nations. CENTRASBAT originated in 1996, and was concepted to form a battalion of soldiers from the former Soviet Republics of Kazakhstan, Kyrgystan and Uzbekistan to serve as a key component in developing a regional security and cooperation structure. The exercise will test U.S. and Central Asian units combat readiness and ability to conduct peacekeeping and humanitarian operations, as well as develop and build cooperative relationships between the respective states and assist in laying the foundation for future peacekeeping and humanitarian operations. Subject Operation/Series: CENTRASBAT 2000 Base: Almaty Country: Kazakhstan (KAZ) Scene Camera Operator: TSGT Jim Varhegyi, USAF Release Status: Released to Public