Canadian allies give their first impressions of life in Latvia

Now, Canada's military has taken stock of where it finds itself in a couple of interesting short video clips posted to social media.

In the first video, armored vehicle technician Cpl Cedric Crowe gives his first impressions, while in the second, Lt Cdr Ajiri Ikede talks about life in an impressively-equipped field hospital.

In a pleasant break with the current trend among armed forces promotional videos, there is no thumping rock soundtrack, no explosions, no drone footage and no people crawling through the dirt with determined looks on their faces -- just professionals talking quietly and intelligently about their jobs.

However, if you do want a big bang to wake you up, here are Canadian engineers detonating a mine in the Baltic Sea during last year's Open Spirit exercises. This year's Open Spirit is currently taking place off the Latvian coast, so if you go to the beach, don't be surprised if you hear more 'Yee-haws'.