Connections

The presented article underlines the priority of education and considers the role of Professional Military Education (PME) in enhancing defense capabilities and preparing the military leaders who are able to make strategic decisions and solve complex problems. It emphasizes a PME as a cornerstone of the military build-up. The authors examine the main char­acteristics of PME and underscore its importance for increasing the in­teroperability between the NATO allies and the South Caucasus nations. Taking the broad meaning of interoperability into account, the authors attempted to bring to the fore the critical need for increasing the intellectual interoperability with outside expertise. Further, the authors point out the importance of the Defense Education Enhancement Program (DEEP) as a new system for improving PME and building better-integrated forces in the South Caucasus. At the same time, this article identifies factors that will lead towards the enhancement of the relations amongst the South Cauca­sus nations themselves. The goal is to consider how the South Caucasus countries can more effectively address the challenges in PME and to for­mulate suggestions and recommendations. Comparative analysis, synthe­sis, inductive, and deductive methods have been used to produce conclu­sive outcomes and recommendations for the countries in the region.