Dayton, Ohio’s Downtown Heliport (and Former Music Venue) | Ronny Salerno
Governor Mike DeWine and Congressman Mike Turner announced that The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) is coming to Dayton, Ohio for their Preliminary Assembly spring session in 2025.
What is NATO?
NATO is an international organization that is made up of 32 countries' militaries with the goal of preserving peace throughout the world. The purpose of this alliance is to exchange information and work together to avoid a world war.
NATO was founded in 1949 as a defense against the Soviet Union, and it originally only had 12 countries involved (including the U.S.), but now has grown to that 32 country number.
Their headquarters are currently in Belgium.
The Parliamentary Assembly was created in 1955 to provide a unique specialized forum for members of parliament to discuss and influence decisions on Alliance security. However, the Assembly is not institutionally connected to NATO.
“The Assembly is institutionally separate from NATO, but serves as an essential link between NATO and the parliaments of the NATO nations,” the NATO Parliamentary Assembly website reads.
Why Dayton?
The Assembly will take place over the course of Memorial Day weekend next year, from May 22 to 26, 2025. There will be over 600 officials from around the globe in Dayton during the duration of the assembly.
The last time a NATO meeting was held in America was 30 years ago in Orlando, Florida.
The reason for the choosing of Dayton is because it is the 30th anniversary of the Bosnia peace treaty that was created at Wright Patterson-Air Force Base.
The Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe describes the treaty as, “... the peace agreement reached at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base near Dayton, Ohio, United States, in November 1995, and formally signed in Paris on 14 December 1995. These accords put an end to the 3 1⁄2-year-long Bosnian War, one of the armed conflicts in the former Socialist Federative Republic of Yugoslavia.”
Dayton is meant to represent and celebrate the anniversary of the creation of the peace treaty. Governor Mike DeWine commented on the Dayton destination in a recent statement.
“We are thrilled to have these dignitaries here in Dayton. We want to show our visitors what ‘hometown USA’ looks like and celebrate the past that took place here in Dayton,” DeWine said.
Wright State student opinions
With Wright State University’s proximity to the air force base. and all of these leaders coming, there are some students who are worried about how the NATO assembly will affect them.
One concerned student is computer science major Lipi Akter.
“I assume that they are mainly going to base [since] it is a military thing. I’m just worried that it will disrupt the flow of traffic here. I mean, that time is already really stressful and I don’t think it’ll be any better with all those people here too,” Akter said.
Fortunately, spring semester classes will have ended before Memorial Day weekend, though there may be some disruption to local traffic anyways.
Other students, like Rosemond Appiah, a public health major, are excited for the assembly.
“It's a big deal that it is here. It isn't everyday that you have NATO just to show up to your hometown. I just hope that things are done during the assembly and they enjoy themselves here,” Appiah said.
Students can expect Dayton to be active next year while the NATO assembly is happening.
