U.S. Gen. Carter F. Ham, the U.S. Army Europe commander, pins the U.S. Army achievement medal on select Latvian soldiers for their service in Afghanistan. Hamm was at the Adazi Training Area in Latvia to visit with troops at exercise Saber Strike 11, a multinational military training exercise with the Baltic states. (Brendan Stephens/U.S. Army)
WIESBADEN, Germany — A multinational training exercise in Latvia designed to prepare units for upcoming deployments to Afghanistan wraps up Friday after almost two weeks.
Soldiers from U.S. Army Europe, the Pennsylvania National Guard and other stateside-based elements joined troops from Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia and Poland for the training, dubbed Saber Strike 11.
The exercise included urban patrol operations, cordon and search, convoy operations and base defense aimed at training the participating countries to operate effectively together.
Europe-based troops included the 172nd Separate Infantry Brigade Combat Team from Grafenwöhr, the 16th Sustainment brigade out of Bamberg, along with USAREUR and the Kaiserslautern-based 21st Theater Sustainment Command headquarters.
