NATO Regional Command (Southwest) Afghanistan

Regional Command Southwest is responsible for international security operations in the Helmand and Nimroz Provinces in southwestern Afghanistan. Along with the Afghan government and security forces, six other nations contribute to RC (SW) to bring security to the region. Those nations include the United States of America, the United Kingdom, Georgia, the Kingdom of Denmark, the Kingdom of Bahrain and the Republic of Estonia. U. S. Marine Maj. Gen. Richard P. Mills, the commander of RC (SW), made history by being the first U.S. Marine to command a NATO regional command in combat. Mills was the commanding general of the I Marine Expeditionary Force (Forward), which is a Marine Air Ground Task Force largely manned by Marines from Camp Pendleton, Calif.