The DoD response to a request from the new Latvian Republic through the JACC for assistance building a National Guard called "Zemessargi", "Land National Guard," to distinguish it from the previous "Aizsargi", "National Guard," which had served the German occupation army until its dissolution by the Soviets in 1945, developed from suggestion to real beginning between January and November, 1992. Learning by some means that the JCTP would need a Guard unit, John B. Conaway, Chief of the National Guard Bureau, wrote to Colin Powell offering the services of the United States National Guard. Having already taken the initiative to develop a Guard solution to the impasse, he had been waiting for some such opportunity as this.