File:82nd Airborne Division soldiers march into parade grounds carrying M240 machine guns, September 2000.jpg

English: Members of the U.S. Army's 82nd Airborne Division, under the direction of Battalion Commander Lieutenant Colonel Rick Bloss (Not shown), march into the parade grounds carrying 7.62mm M240 Machine Guns and prepare for the start of the CENTRASBAT (Central Asian Peacekeeping Battalion) 2000 opening ceremonies on Sepember 13th, 2000. CENTRASBAT 2000 is a multi-national peacekeeping and humanitarian relief exercise sponsored by United States Central Command (U.S. CENTCOM) and hosted by former Soviet Republic Kazakhstan in Central Asia, Sep. 11-20, 2000. 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 300 Kazakhstan soldiers. Other participating nations include: Uzbekistan, Kyrgystan, United Kingdom, Turkey, Russia, Georgia, Azerbaijan and Mongolia. 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. CENTRASBAT 2000 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.