On October 29 two-week multinational military drills „Sabre Strike" held in Adaži Training Area ended.
In the closing ceremony on October 29 conductor of „Saber Strike" US Lt Keith Sledd thanked participants for professional performance during the exercise. Defence Minister of Latvia Imants Lieģis also thanked troops for well-carried out tasks and wished success on multinational missions, he stressed that the exercise was the biggest training event hosted by Latvia since the country has joined NATO. Latvian military personnel who took part in „Sabre Strike" will be deployed to Afghanistan as soon as this December. By participation in „Sabre Strike" company of the Lithuanian Armed Force began the period of intense training before the mission in Afghanistan next autumn.
Military drills „Sabre Strike" began in Adaži Training Area on October 19. The exercise trained military interoperability procedures between the Baltic and US armed forces to prepare relevantly for participation in NATO-led ISAF operation in Afghanistan, and other multinational operations. In the first week of training troops drilled a wide spectrum of operations. During the following week they formed individual skills and in companies carried out tasks assigned by superior staff.
Performance of the Lithuanian company based on the 5th Territorial Unit of Vytis Military District of the National Defence Volunteer Force in the exercise was assessed positively. „The exercise was useful not only for the company command group that issued orders and supervised completion of tasks, but to all the volunteer servicemen. During the exercise Lithuanians conducted tasks together with the US platoon which was deployed to Iraq in 2009. US troops willingly shared with Lithuanians experience that could be useful in case of deployment to Afghanistan," said Capt Tadas Kavaliauskas who led Lithuanian company during the exercise.
„Sabre Strike" was hosted by the Baltic States for the first time by proposal of the United States' military command. The training event is planned to be held by rotation in each of the Baltic States. In 2012 the exercise is to take place in Estonia with a follow-up in Lithuania in 2013.
Prepared by: NDVF PR Officer 1st Lt Tomas Pakalniškis, cell phone 00370 657 61 271.
