KARSAVAS, Latvia -- U.S. Army Soldiers, U.S. Marines, and Latvian National Guard came to the Karsavas Vidusskola School, The service members visited the school to brief them on their role in Latvia, the military and play sports in Karsavas, Latvia Oct. 21, 2016.
U.S. Army Paratroopers assigned to the 2nd Battalion, 503rd Infantry Regiment (Airborne), 173rd Airborne, U.S. Army Soldiers assigned to 92nd Civil Affairs Battalion, 95th Civil Affairs Brigade, U.S. Marines assigned to 2nd Battalion, 8th Marine Regiment, U.S. Marines assigned to Marine Forces Europe and Africa, presented their presentations and answered questions to help the students understand how the Latvian and U.S. military operate together and have a similar mission.
"We ride on an airplane for a few hours, then we jump out and that is what we do for work," said U.S. Army 1st Lt. Tyler Rauenzahm, Paratrooper with the 2nd Battalion, 503rd Infantry Regiment (Airborne), 173rd Airborne. "We recently did jump into Latvia to come support our NATO allies by training with them."
"Projects like this show that we are not just here to shoot at the ranges. It shows we care about their civilians as well as their soldiers, " said U.S. Army Spc. Manuel Reyes, a native of Caracas, Venezuela, Paratrooper assigned to Chosen Company, 2nd Battalion, 503rd Infantry Regiment (Airborne), 173rd Airborne Brigade.
Following the presentations, the U.S. Soldiers, Paratroopers, and Marines played basketball and soccer sports with the students in a friendly competition.
"Projects like this show Latvians that this is a partnership and more than just on the battlefield," said U.S. Army Sgt. First Class Raymond Mendoza, assigned to 92nd Civil Affairs Battalion, 95th Civil Affairs Brigade.
The U.S. Army and Marine Corps are participating in exercise Silver Arrow. Silver Arrow is a two-week long Latvian led exercise, which joins foreign Armed Forces units, in order to develop relationships and leverage Allied and partner nation capabilities preserving peace through strength. The exercise is part of Operation Atlantic Resolve, a U.S. led effort being conducted in Eastern Europe to demonstrate U.S. commitment to the collective security of NATO and dedication to enduring peace and stability in the region.
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The 173rd Airborne Brigade, based in Vicenza, Italy, is the Army Contingency Response Force in Europe, and is capable of projecting forces to conduct a full range of military operations across the United States European, Central and Africa Command areas of responsibility within 18 hours.
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U.S. Army Europe is uniquely positioned in its 51 country area of responsibility to advance American strategic interests in Europe and Eurasia. The relationships we build during more than 1,000 theater security cooperation events in more than 40 countries each year lead directly to support for multinational contingency operations around the world, strengthen regional partnerships and enhance global security.
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