Fresh group of Edmonton soldiers depart for Latvia
Roughly 100 Edmonton soldiers departed for Europe Sunday to join the Multinational Brigade Latvia's Operation Reassurance where they'll stay for the next six months as part of the biggest reinforcement of NATO's collective defence in a generation.
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'We're just super excited to finally get boots on the ground because we have been looking forward to this for such a long time, and we've worked so hard to train,' said Capt. Emily Stregger as the group prepared to fly out.
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NATO forces have been in the region since 2017 with the establishment of the Canadian-led combat-ready battlegroup that is hosted by the Latvian Mechanized Infantry Brigade and comprised of 14 contributing nations. Maj. Tim McHugh of the Lord Strathcona's Horse (Royal Canadians) said the group will be doing regular training while deployed, which takes on a different tone given their proximity to Russia.
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'I think just having them on the vehicles on a regular basis, having access to the training area, and knowing that there is the potential for a threat that exists in that area does increase the level of training, and it makes everybody a little bit more excited.'
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The group will be working with a variety of armoured vehicles, including the armoured engineer vehicle, which Stregger said is a variant of a Leopard II tank that has a bulldozer blade and excavator arm.
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'It's one of its own over there. So it'll be a very unique experience,' said Stregger.
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Of the roughly 100 soldiers headed to Latvia, McHugh guessed that maybe only 20 had been deployed previously, making it an entirely new experience for the rest. With so many being deployed for the first time, McHugh said part of his job will be keeping the soldiers grounded.
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'We're going over there to do our job, to focus on the job first. There's going to be bonuses, you know, being over there, getting to see another country and interact with other nations, but focus on our core mandate and our core task, which is fighting tanks, and being better at that, and integrating into our battle group and being a confident fighting force,' said McHugh.
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With the ongoing war in Ukraine and recent fighting between Iran and Israel having ramped up, military activity has been on the rise across the Atlantic. But McHugh said it doesn't change the mentality of the group heading into its deployment. Last deployed in Latvia himself in 2020, McHugh said the main difference for him is a growing Canadian presence.
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