ADAZI MILITARY BASE, Latvia - The official ceremony on the parade field at Adazi Military Base marked the closing of Exercise Saber Strike in Latvia, June 15.
The eight countries (Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Norway, Poland, Slovakia, United Kingdom and United States) participated in the exercise at Adazi together for the annual U.S. Army Europe-led multinational combined forces exercise which took place in the Baltic region. The participants from each country who performed the best received awards.
Key speakers included Maj. Gen. Leonids Kalnins, chief of defense of Latvia, and Maj. Gen. Neal Loidolt, commanding general of the 34th Infantry Division, Minnesota National Guard.
The exercise is a time for Allies to demonstrate their commitment to readiness against threats, Maj. Gen. Kalnins declared in his speech for the ceremony.
Maj. Gen. Loidolt stated the 2017 exercise held a particular focus for improving land, sea and air integration capabilities. An additional objective was to train with NATO's Enhanced Forward Presence Battle Groups.
Exercise Saber Strike afforded the multiple nations to demonstrate their professional expertise through their active participation in the exercise with the same goals, said Kalnins.
"Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen and Marines, your attendance at this ceremony marks the end of a very successful Exercise Saber Strike17 here in Latvia," said Loidolt. "Your individual skills were on display, as well as, your collective skills and you've demonstrated that we truly can operate together in a joint combined multinational environment. We've trained hard, trained to standard and trained safely."
The use of the Latvian training grounds and other training resources greatly supported Saber Strike 17.
"Thank you so much Latvia for the excellent training grounds and the support you have given us," said Loidolt. "All of the objectives in Saber Strike were accomplished here during the last weeks of training. Well done, thank you for your excellent performance."
Overall, 20 nations were involved in the exercise which spanned across four countries. The nations in the exercise included Belgium, Canada, Croatia, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Slovenia, Slovakia, United Kingdom and the United States.
The ceremony culminated by raising the flags of the each nation that participated in Exercise Saber Strike in Adazi, Latvia.
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