On June 10 multinational Exercise "Saber Strike 2012" was officially opened in Latvia, Adazi Training Area. Military personnel from five countries - Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Canada and the USA.
Opening addresses at the ceremony were delivered by Chief of Defence of Latvia Maj Gen Raimonds Graube, Commander of the Exercise in Latvia Brig Gen Juris Zeibārs,Commander of Land Force's Infantry Brigade Col Dzintars Roga, supervisor of tactical field operation Gunārs Kauliņš and Commander of the 21st U.S. Administrative Battalion LT Col Donna K. Fanning.
"I would like to invite you to exhaust this Exercise as an invaluable opportunity to draw experience, especially as training for multinational operations", Lt Col Donna K. Fanning said.
During the first week of the Exercise the training audience will practice conducting a spectrum of tasks characteristic to regions where multinational operations typically take place: train to provide base protection, patrol in inhabited areas, conduct convoys, apply counter-EOD actions, etc. On June 11 a joint Lithuanian-U.S. company conducted a base defence operation with air support.
Lithuanian personnel currently involved in "Sabre Strike 2012" will be deployed to the mission in Afghanistan as the 16th shift of the Provincial Reconstruction Team. The majority of them serve with the 8th Territorial Unit of the Didžiosios Kovos Military District of the Lithuanian National Defence Volunteer Force. They begin active pre-mission training in "Sabre Strike 2012".
By PIO for PRT-16 1st Lt Indrė Sejonienė. Title photo by Gatis Diezins. Other photos by Indrė Sejonienė.
