On a night twenty-five years in the making, members of the Michigan National Guard gathered with counterparts from the Latvian National Armed Forces, Aug. 12, 2018, to celebrate mutual success, remember fallen friends, and reaffirm a bond that transcends language, culture, and geography. Latvia’s Ambassador to the , Hon. Andris Teikmanis, headlined the official portion of the ceremony, held at Camp Grayling’s historic officer’s club, along with Lt. Gen. Leonīds Kalniņš, Chief of Defense, Latvian National Armed Forces, and Maj. Gen. Gregory Vadnais, Michigan National Guard Adjutant Gen


On a night twenty-five years in the making, members of the Michigan National Guard gathered with counterparts from the Latvian National Armed Forces, Aug. 12, 2018, to celebrate mutual success, remember fallen friends, and reaffirm a bond that transcends language, culture, and geography. Latvia’s Ambassador to the , Hon. Andris Teikmanis, headlined the official portion of the ceremony, held at Camp Grayling’s historic officer’s club, along with Lt. Gen. Leonīds Kalniņš, Chief of Defense, Latvian National Armed Forces, and Maj. Gen. Gregory Vadnais, Michigan National Guard Adjutant General. Northern Strike 18 is a National Guard Bureau-sponsored exercise uniting service members from many states, multiple service branches and a number of coalition countries during the first three weeks of August 2018 at the Camp Grayling Joint Maneuver Training Center and the Alpena Combat Readiness Training Center, both located in northern Michigan and operated by the Michigan National Guard. The accredited Joint National Training Capabilities exercise demonstrates the Michigan National Guard's ability 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, together with the synchronization of fires in a joint, multinational, decisive action environment. (Air National Guard photo by Senior Master Sgt. Sonia Pawloski)


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Keywords: alpena, crtc, exercise, force, guard, joint, national, northern, ns18, strike