The parade, which will be attended by approximately 1,500 soldiers, national guardsmen, policemen, border guards, firefighters and cadets, will be reviewed by President Edgars Rinkēvičs or the first time.
The Student Infantry Battalion of the 1st Riga Brigade of the National Guard, which this year has been entrusted with carrying the flag of the Latvian Army, will walk at the front of the military parade.
Soldiers representing allies from Albania, Canada, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Iceland, Italy, Lithuania, Montenegro, Poland, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain and the USA will also participate in the parade with the flag group. This year, a Ukrainian flag group also participates in the parade for the second time.
The music accompanying the parade will be provided by the National Armed Forces Headquarters Band, the Naval Band and the National Guard Band.
Subject to the prevailing weather conditions, the parade will conclude with a flyby performed by helicopters and planes, including fighters from Spain and Italy currently on rotation with the NATO Baltic Air Policing mission.
The parade can be watched live on Latvian Television as well as here on LSM. For full LTV listings over the Independence Day weekend, see here.
The National Armed Forces invites citizens to capture the national holiday events in photos and videos on social networking sites using the hashtags: #18November; #militārāparāde and by tagging the social media accounts of the Latvian Army: @Latvijas_armija and @esmukaravirs.
