Latvian soldier receives posthumous U.S. honor

Take note – story published 6 years ago

A street in the Alpena Combat Readiness Training Center, Michigan, U.S., has been named after Sergeant Voldemars Ansevics, a Latvian soldier who died in the line of duty while participating in the international military operation in Afghanistan in 2009, according to sargs.lv, the military news portal of the Latvian Defense Ministry.

The inauguration ceremony of Voldemars Ansevics Avenue at the U.S. military base was attended by Latvian Chief of Defense Lieutenant General Leonids Kalnins and the commander of the Alpena Combat Readiness Training Center, Lieutenant Colonel James Andrew Roberts.

Sergeant Ansevics of the 1st Infantry Battalion of the Latvian Land Forces was killed on May 1, 2009, when Taliban insurgents attacked the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) Observation Post (OP) Bari Alai in Kunar Province, Afghanistan.

The street named after Ansevics was opened in the U.S. army base in Michigan because Latvian soldiers served together with the Michigan National Guard on the US.-Latvia Operational Mentor and Liaison Team (OMLT) of the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) in Afghanistan.

Meanwhile in the U.S. Latvian national guardsmen are training alongside Danish forces to which they are attached in exercises dubbed 'Northern Strike 17'. The National Armed Forces have produced this promotional video to show them in action.


Northern Strike 17  unites approximately 5,000 Army, Air Force, Marine, and Special Forces service members from 20 states and three coalition countries during the first couple weeks of August 2017 at Camp Grayling Joint Maneuver Training Center and the Alpena Combat Readiness Training Center, both located in northern Michigan.

"The exercise strives to provide accessible, readiness-building opportunities for military units from all service branches to achieve and sustain proficiency in conducting mission command, air, sea, and ground maneuver integration, and the synchronization of fires in a joint, multinational, decisive action environment," according to an official description.

 

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