ADAZI, Latvia -- More than just providing skilled Soldiers, the Latvians are "all in" when it comes to helping to train the alliance.
The Adazi training area, which occupies approximately 100 square kilometers in southern Latvia, is a capable fires-and-maneuver training center that Latvia's Chief of Defense continues to build upon in order to incorporate instrumentation and a cadre of observer/controllers-trainers.
The construction of new barracks and additional motorpool space that will support future NATO training is also underway in Adazi.
It is against this backdrop of robust partnership that the U.S. Army Europe Office of the Inspector General visited Latvia for the first time, Sept. 22-24, to engage with the Latvian IG on a series of topics.
While certainly not the oldest of the organizations in Latvia's Ministry of Defense, having been created in 1995, the Latvian IG is an integral component of the Latvian Armed Forces that directly contributes to readiness.
Both countries' inspectors general are more alike than they are different. Both conduct three primary functions: assistance, inspections and investigations. Both serve as the "eyes and ears" for their respective commanders.
After a day of meetings designed to find areas where the two organizations could work and train together in the future, IGs from both countries travelled to the Adazi Training Area.
Col. David Carstens and Sgt. Maj. Chris Fludd, command IG team for U.S. Army Europe, had the opportunity to meet with the commander of the Latvian Land Forces Brigade, Latvian Col. Martins Liberts for a briefing and discussion about Adazi capabilities and the ongoing training between U.S. and Latvian Soldiers.
Following this, the USAREUR IG team accompanied by Mr. Martins Nilsons, deputy director audit and inspections for Latvia's inspector general, conducted a series of combined sensing sessions in the field with Soldiers belonging to the 173rd Airborne Brigade, who have been in Latvia since June 2015.
The Soldiers are in Latvia as part of Operation Atlantic Resolve, and were in the middle of a multi-national training exercise. The 173rd's "Sky Soldiers" were highly motivated about the opportunity to train alongside the Latvians and hundreds of other NATO allies deployed to Latvia.
By the end of the week, both the U.S. and Latvian inspectors general had pledged to conduct combined inspections within the year, focused on areas of mutual readiness concern.
Additionally, a professional exchange network was established to share IG regulations, policies, and checklists as a means of learning from one another and combining resources.
Even before the visit, it was obvious that the partnership between the U.S. and Latvia was rock solid. Now that partnership extends to their respective inspector general offices.
Since entering NATO in 1991, Latvia's commitment to the alliance has been demonstrated as much by actions as words. Latvia deployed numerous ground forces to Afghanistan, Iraq, Bosnia-Herzegovina and Kosovo as well as smaller contingency operations in Mali and Liberia.
Additionally, the country recently pledged to increase its defense spending to 2% of its GDP by 2018: a huge commitment towards increasing defense readiness.
Latvia has good reason to prepare its armed forces for any contingency. Its shared border with Russia is a daily reminder of that country's hostile actions in the Ukraine. Not only geography but history plays a major role in Latvia's flexed military muscle. Stalin's annexation of Latvia in 1940 followed by 10 years of partisan resistance and another 40 years of communist oppression are all too real reminders of the potential threat.
While not the largest of our NATO allies, the Latvian Armed Forces focus their military priorities on producing "Smart Soldiers" prepared to meet many of NATO's low-density military requirements. These include JTACs, Emergency Ordnance Disposal, and Special Operations Forces.
As a testament to their proficiency level, Latvian JTACs are among an elite group of just eight other countries who are certified to call in U.S. air support in combat. Additionally, Latvian EOD was instrumental in training Afghan EOD forces during years of deployments to Afghanistan.
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