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Tbilisi (AFP) March 2, 2011 Georgian president Mikheil Saakashvili and his five-year-old son donned military fatigues for a training session on Wednesday in an unusual attempt to promote the armed forces. Local television showed pictures of Saakashvili going for a morning run with troops at a military base in the ex-Soviet state, watched by his equally camouflage-clad son Nikoloz. They then went for lunch in the soldiers' canteen, where Saakashvili gave an televised interview as the five-year-old ate his food. "It's a great honour to serve with you guys because we are all soldiers for our motherland," Saakashvili said. "This is not for television publicity. It is because the army needs discipline and a special spirit." Saakashvili has two sons with his Dutch wife, Sandra Roelofs, who accompanied him on the campaign trail during his successful bid for re-election as president in 2008. Georgia is a staunch ally of the United States with hopes to join NATO, and has deployed 950 troops to serve with NATO forces in Afghanistan. Six Georgian soldiers have been killed there in recent months, and the most recent casualty was buried on Tuesday, Saakashvili said. "These sacrifices must be a basis for our armed forces to become even stronger," he said. The country has been trying to rebuild its military after defeat in its brief war in 2008 with neighbouring Russia, which strongly opposes Georgia's NATO ambitions.
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