CAMP ADAZI, Latvia — U.S. Army Soldiers from the 1st Battalion, 125th Infantry Regiment, 37th Infantry Brigade Combat Team of the Michigan Army National Guard recently conducted training with soldiers from NATO Multinational Division-North (MND-N) and Latvian Armed Forces during Exercise Baltic Viking.
During the Baltic Viking exercise, held June 1-13, Soldiers of the 1st Battalion, 125th Infantry Regiment (1-125 IN) improved their training proficiency and lethality by conducting live-fire and machine gun squad training alongside NATO allies in Latvia. This experience enabled soldiers to understand how other allied nations approach tactical situations, enhancing interoperability when collaborating in the field.
“Live fire today helped us create cohesion with our NATO allies through working with the Latvians and the Danes. We were exposed to different techniques and cultures, which helped us overall improve on our mission of being more lethal and ready to stand with NATO,” said U.S. Army Spc. Evan Redwine, an infantryman with C Company, 1-125 IN.
With the U.S. Army’s focus on returning to Large-Scale Combat Operations, preparing for trench warfare is essential for readiness in a near-peer conflict. Soldiers from the 1-125 IN trained on a comprehensive trench system that included firing, support and reserve trenches connecting dugouts and bunkers at a training range in Latvia. This system provided them with the most authentic terrain to evaluate their skills and apply lessons learned from modern trench warfare on the battlefields of current conflicts.
“We were entering the trench, practicing our breaching of it and then working on more maneuvers inside the trenches,” said U.S. Army Staff Sgt. Samuel Weber, a squad leader with C Company, 1-125 IN.
Exercise Baltic Viking is part of a larger Mobilization Exercise (MOBEX) conducted by the Michigan National Guard. The MOBEX coordinated the mobilization of more than 2,000 soldiers and airmen from both the Air and Army National Guard. About 225 soldiers deployed to Latvia, where they were received by NATO MND-N and the Latvian Armed Forces for training and integration. This demonstrates Michigan’s ability to respond to a crisis and deploy soldiers overseas on short notice when needed.
“We could not replicate this [experience] anywhere in the U.S. or at other training venues in the world. This event generated a tremendous amount of readiness and interoperability in a very short time frame,” said U.S. Army Lt. Col. Tad Reed, commander of 1-125 IN.
The U.S. presence in Latvia boosts combat readiness, ensuring U.S. forces can operate effectively alongside Latvian and NATO allies in diverse conditions.
“My experience with Baltic Viking was overall positive. We’ve done a lot of really good training,” Weber said.