New York National Guard Adjutant General, Maj. Gen. Raymond Shields, talks with Brazilian Army General Gerson Menandro Garcia De Freitas, before a state partnership signing, on the USS Intrepid, Manhattan, N.Y., March 14, 2019. The State Partnership between the NYNG and Brazil is a National Guard joint security cooperation program executed by the state adjutants general in support of combatant commanders and U.S. chiefs of mission to help achieve security cooperation objectives and Department of Defense policy goals.