Tiny Macedonia has been a steadfast member of the US-led Iraq coalition. On February 21 the Macedonian government confirmed that it would send another 12 army officers to Iraq. At the present time Macedonia has 32 troops in Iraq. There's more to Macedonia's deployment than doing the US a political favor. Macedonia sees the Iraqi deployment as an opportunity for its troops to work with professional Western military forces and "learn the ropes" in a combat environment.