The Baltic States' Tense History with Russia and their Partnership with NATO

DEFENDER-Europe is a series of U.S. Army Europe and Africa multinational training exercises within U.S. European Command's Large Global Scale Exercise construct. DEFENDER-Europe 22 demonstrates U.S. Army Europe and Africa's ability to conduct large scale ground combat operations across multiple theaters in support of NATO and the National Defense Strategy.
www.europeafrica.army.mil/Def...
U.S. Army Major Joe Bryant is the training officer for the 169th Field Artillery Brigade based out of Buckley Space Force Base, Colorado. MAJ Bryant enlisted in 1999 during his junior year of high school and completed Basic training the following summer. After high school, he attended the Valley Forge Military College in Pennsylvania. Upon commissioning as an Aviation Officer in 2002, he joined the Colorado Army National Guard and went on to complete his Baccalaureate degree in Micro-Biology at Colorado State University. He has completed three deployments to the Middle East with 2nd Battalion, 135th General Support Aviation Battalion. As an Aviation officer, MAJ Bryant began his aviation career in the CH47D Chinook before later transitioning to the UH60L Blackhawk. As an Active Guard Reserve Soldier, he has held multiple key roles throughout other units in the COARNG. Outside of the Army, he lives an active life with his wife, Ana, and son, Elijah. He is an avid mountaineer, hunter, & fisherman. Most recently, he has become a rated sailor and plans to explore the world on a sailboat with Ana and Elijah once he retires from the Army.
Produced by U.S. Army Capt. Remington Henderson, 169th Field Artillery Brigade
0:00 Intro
1:46 Estonia
2:28 LTC Jerad Hand | Maryland's Partnership with Estonia
4:48 Maarjamäe Memorial
5:53 Estonian Major Meelis Laanements | The History of Tapa Base
8:18 Lithuania
9:08 CPT Jeremy Whitmer | Pennsylvania's Partnership with Lithuania
10:01 Lithuanian Major Ricardas Kalinauskas
11:51 Saaremaa Island | Estonia's Largest Island
14:16 Timmo Saarestik | Estonian Defense League
16:49 Latvia
17:22 Major Ryan McCann | Michigan's Partnership with Latvia
18:05 Dr. Valdis Kuzmins | The Battle at More
23:13 Latvian Col. Sandris Gaugers | NATO's Enhanced Forward Presence Battlegroups
26:49 Estonia
27:09 LTC Erkki Roosnurm | Baltic Defense College
28:25 Conclusion | Lessons Learned
30:08 Credits
CORRECTIONS:
0:36 -- The first Reforger Exercise was in 1969 and the last was in 1993.
0:52 -- DEFENDER Europe started in 2020, however increased European exercises began in 2010.
9:08 -- Lithuania refers to their collective military as the "Lithuanian Military" not the "Lithuanian Army."
27:09 -- The Baltic Defense College & the Estonian Military Academy are different institutions at the same location. All Estonian officers commission through the Estonian Military Academy and some later attend the Baltic Defense College for advanced military studies. The Baltic Defense College is also open to foreign service members outside the Baltic States.
#defendereurope #defendereurope2022 #baltics #balticsea #nato #himars #m777 #m109 #estonia #latvia #lithuania #army #usarmy #airforce #usairforce

[@Trashste]

Usually when somebody covers us Baltics, most times they leave some of us out, misunderstand us, or simply lie about us. But this video genuinly suprised me. Best Baltic defense video I've ever seen, keep it up. Thank you for covering us.

[@Martlns]

To add, Latvians literally had relatives drafted into both armies. Even I had relatives that, brothers, who were unfortunately drafted in both armies, to fight against another. Both died. Both thought they are fighting for the freedom of Latvia but it was a lose-lose situation no matter who would have won.. If anyone wants to see what some latvians had to go through, you can watch Blizzard of Souls.

[@metalmiku]

It was same for all of us.

[@arunassl876]

Not only Latvians.

[@AmericanTough]

American here..thank you for covering this topic. I've wanted to learn more about our allies in north eastern Europe for some time now. I'm so happy we have smart dedicated partners like the 3 Baltics. I know that the Col. had doubts about NATO.. but I can tell you as an American, our commitment to all NATO partners remains iron claud. We will absolutely come to their defense. Though it's always smart to prepare no matter what. Love from America! 🇺🇸

[@240pixel]

As ex Lithuanian infantryman now serving in the 10th Mountain division of the US army I just found this video very impressive, between the research and production quality this is 10/10 from me. Thank you Sir!

[@vanfja]

In any other country that would be considered treason, but for the Baltics, it seems we never learn and always serve some other external power with our military men.

[@240pixel]

Funny enough there are quite a few guys from Russia too. Once you become a citizen of another country nothing is stopping from joining the military. Especially when those countries are allied. Wasn't so easy for the Russian folks.

[@vanfja]

@@240pixel The Russians are doing it to gain citizenship that’s really the only reason. It’s an old method for illegals to do. They have been doing it since the 90’s.

[@MeediaArtur]

@@vanfja Nothing wrong serving in an allied military force nowadays. Gain some good experience and education for your home country whenever you decide to come back. We have many high ranking officers that have served and gotten their education from NATO allied countries.

[@vanfja]

@@MeediaArtur Except they send you to be occupiers in Iraq and Afganistan. Yes I saw the Ukrainians and Latvians in Afganistan in Iraq. You are just a tool to occupy a different land. maybe you gain experience, but you will morally be the same as those who occupy your country.

[@rickcasares7534]

This is by far one of the greatest military public affairs productions I have EVER seen. Fantastic work!

[@kaspa444]

As a Lithuanian that was born right at the time of the collapse of the USSR I wanna thank you for an excellent coverage of the region and its importance and place in the modern day geopolitical environment. The trauma of the Soviet occupation of the Baltics is very much alive in our collective memory and we really appreciate your time and effort in educating the rest of the world of what it means for us to live nowadays in a free and democratic societies that can chose their own path and who to ally with. Freedom is priceless and we are willing to defend it no matter what it takes because we remember way too well what it means when your grandparents were exiled to Siberia, property stolen, culture erased and language banned. We tried staying neutral during WW2 but that just lead to Soviet occupation of the Baltics for the next 50 years and this is not to be repeated ever again, we want nothing to do with modern day Russia but in order to have peace you have to be prepared for war. Seeing what has happened to Ukraine and Russias imperialistic ambitions you have to be ready because if they are not stopped in Ukraine, next will be Moldova, Baltics or Poland. Thanks god we are in NATO and thank you personally the American people for standing with us and standing for your values and democracies around the world. Together we are strong and God bless America!

[@MelbaOzzie]

Unfortunately, the Communists now renamed "Democrats", control Washington. Just as they will betray Ukraine, they will betray the Baltic States.

[@exlibrisas]

Came here from your Reddit post. Thank you for this doc, very interesting to see outsiders speaking of us (Balts) and presenting their commentary. And also: what a great quality!

[@donuttyme]

This was really enlightening. I didn’t realize the significance of Estonia and the surrounding countries when it comes to European security cooperation. Great video!

[@carolbryant1080]

Excellent video! Educational, informative, worth viewing!

[@TheChip4]

This is crazy. I didn’t know the National Guard partnered with foreign countries like this

[@kendrahenderson4107]

What a comprehensive video with an excellent overview of the challenges of interoperability and the history of military excellence in the Baltic states! Great interviews with some very important military officers as well!

[@davidmathony9321]

Wow, I am baffled by the quality and professionalism of this video. The camera, the narration, the visual effects are all top notch.This is better then most big budget production companies do it for television.

[@algijura]

Thank You from from Baltic Wall

[@lasma.a]

This was a really nice video to see as a Latvian. I'm glad to know that we're not alone 😊

[@artursbondars7789]

Thanks for assistance and for interest of exploring Baltic countries! Military is only one component of state defence. This sentiment of not giving up, of perseverance and of not fearing death is also shared with general society, it's part of our traditional culture. As we may tolerate various Russia's and Belorussia's hybrid attacks and most of our allies indifference to that, we will not tolerate any violation of our sovereignty and any direct attack by beligerent powers. Russia will pay dearly, if they will overstep all of our red lines, or our countries borders. If they will not behave, we will dismantle Russia again, as we did that in past, like with Russian Empire and Soviet Union. All these past three decades our allies and partners was warned about the threat posed by Russia and by dealings with authoritarian states, our warnings was received with deaf ears and by blind eyes and we were constantly smeared by giving such warnings. This attitude and indifference of our allies and partners will be long remembered in our societies. As we go further, some of this relations, we have, will be reevaluated and strongly judged, at least here in Baltics. Also we will not sit idle anymore, when some of our so called allies threatens our security by dealings with Russia and other authoritarian regimes for that matter, we will not allow and not tolerate other countries and any entity trading away our sovereignty, as it was done in last century variously. Definitely we will not relay on blunt hope alone anymore, hoping that someone will come and help us. Rephrasing one of our late presidents - we are in our place and here we will stay! We will be standing strong against darkness, if need be even alone!

[@rfcdgaf]

Everyone deploying to latvia for the efp should watch this

[@raymore544]

Great video soldier very insightful on a strategic region

[@ehunyadi]

Excellent video! Very informative, and great production!!

[@alaskapollock8750]

Thank You for the video. God Bless America!

[@biffbayberry8070]

This gives awesome insight into the mindset of former Soviet satellite states and why they have vowed that the Russians will never dominate them again. Well done!

[@herptek]

Not even satellite states in this case, but formally annexed parts of the Soviet Union. From the Baltic point of wiev this was an illegal occupation. Not only did the whole communist project lose credibility, but the whole Soviet country fortunately collapsed.

[@antonmumu9227]

Wow! I can't believe how good the video is. This needs way more views

[@eksiarvamus]

While Saaremaa islanders do have strong insular-regional identity, such "not an Estonian, but islander" mentality isn't exactly common. They obviously speak Estonian natively and even the Saare dialect is mostly extinct as younger generations speak Standard Estonian with perhaps just a minimally differing accent and a few island-specific words.

[@yoloswaggins7121]

Yeah it's possible to have an identity within an identity. I've never heard of Saaremaa islanders but from what you said I'm guessing it's similar to how Texans have a strong Texan identity but they would never reject their American identity

[@Kenruli]

Estonian language is so interesting. I recognize the language very easily bcs is sounds so strongly like finnish but I can hardly understand it in the end.

[@martso9288]

Thank you for keeping our homes safe. My regards to you and your families.

[@marksullivan2230]

This is an excellent presentation. Highly recommended!

[@eruno_]

thank you for the informative video

[@mortigoth]

Surprising interesting and positive video. 👍

[@TeArk]

Thank you. (LT).

[@evimba]

What a great documentary! Thank you!

[@happyelephant5384]

Cool content

[@fbgiles]

Outstanding! Well done video from a fantastic Officer from a darn good unit.

[@pvmbeatz]

Great video! Greetings from Tallinn.

[@HJJ135]

Great video!

[@coreymurphy9826]

20:11 Very interesting! Really enjoyed this video

[@bmwracer67]

Well researched and well made video

[@billdone3162]

Awesome map animations!

[@janculits]

Thank you for doing this

[@jonaszukas3249]

Thank you dear USA.

[@laurabeeeeeeee]

Great video ! Thanks

[@anhton6869]

Very informative and great production!

[@emcuks11]

Great video, very well made and researched

[@joemama-xn7yr]

4:53 bro really said maazamei that was too wrong

[@bobapbob5812]

Unfortunately there is a strong fifth column in these countries.

[@darshangandhi2917]

Thank you for this video, very informative 👏

[@ginterszurovskis6559]

thank you

[@captaindonut9075]

Am a Lithuanian. And there is one thing we don't share with Latvia and Estonia. Lithuania was the only Baltic state that didn't have a SS unit composed of local people.

[@chairpersonofthecharlotteh5646]

I've read that they tried to make a Lithuanian SS division, but it didn't have local support. I've read about some of the crimes comminted by germans in Lithuania, and it makes total sense why nobody wanted to voluntarily join them. In Estonia germans were saints compared to the russians (unless you were one of the couple thousand jews living here), mostly because nazi ideology saw us as more nordic or germanic or whatever. So the nazi regime saw more support / compliance from the locals than in any other occupied european nation, I believe.

[@viktornarbut2905]

200.000 žydų kas išgalabijo? 🤣🤣🤣

[@shrekas2966]

​@@viktornarbut2905Aš. Ateis laikas ir tau, nebijok.

[@felixg3]

What an excellent video with deep respect for the local history of the NATO partners! That’s what distinguishes us from them.

[@raymore544]

Dang these are well produced entertaining content too bad the algorithm wasnt kind to you youre videos are much better than channells with lots of subs but very unique you actually was amo g the teoops and was a good to see it thru warrior eyes

[@alexandarvoncarsteinzarovi3723]

When growing up as a young boy I was always under the hope, if not false hope, that our great-grandparents and grandparents wars would not be our wars, I'm Romanian but from a very mixed family lineage, my great grandfather on my mother's was German with Polish ancestry, Strom Trooper in WW I, he was only one of the handful few the survive the war, he was wounded more than once, he lived long enough to rebuild his life after the war and retire to farm here in Romania, he would, later on, marry Austro Hungarian Romanian woman, my great grandmother and had 4 kids1 son and 3 daughters, he converted from Catholic to Orthodoxy, might be wrong there, from what I know, he never spoke of the war, was a very quiet man, well spoken, well mannered, never angry or sad, he did not really believe in God or was ever man of faith according to his daughter, my grandmother, but believed in the better things in life, he died, on the spot in his rocking chair on the porch when news of the war reached him, just died, there, no causes no nothing, intersting thing, he knew the Kaiser personnaly and was part his retinue when he was exiled before retiring, he was cremated after passing away, but there is no grave stone for him, the commies destroyed that little cemmetary they had, Both my grandparents fought in WW II, 1 in the artillery crops and the other an MG engineer, my grand uncle, the only son of my great grandfather was drafted into the German Army in WW II, he further enlisted in the SS at gunpoint, he survived the war, by being a bookkeeper and knew the dirt of several Nazi officers, he never married but there a last will and testament of all his belongings in Main addressed to me, he also found about several other cousins of his that served in Kaiserliche Marine, Kriegsmarine, Luftstreitkräfte, Luftwaffe, Royal Navy, RAF, USMC, US Navy, Polish volunteer forces, turns out I have a large gene pool,

[@alvidasvenckus6896]

Aciu❤

[@azekuka3478]

not a bolt but a cog

[@Diablo-jt4tv]

Americans, Canadians and all of the friendly nations are welcomed on my land.

[@CarlCOts]

The Baltic people allways knew that no matter times or rulers Russia will allways be a agressor!

[@jmoz]

Up the NATO

[@MrKuti89]

Thank you for an Estonian. Slava Ukraina

[@dustinrichards5110]

My grandfather was born in Lithuania in 1940, his dad fought the Russians, was captured and imprisoned, then the Nazis rolled through and pushed out the Russians, they released the prisoners and put them to work in factories in east Germany. My great grandfather worked in a machining factory for a few years until the Allies eventually broke through and the Russians re-conquered Lithuania. My family fled because the Russians were beasts and would rape and beat the woman and children and torture and murder the men. The nazis, though horrible, treated the occupied citizens fairly. (At least in the Displaced Persons camp that my family was at). After the nazis fell and Russians moved through to Germany, my great grandmother forced my great grandfather to immigrate out because they feared the Russians brutality. They moved through to France and eventually to the US. My grandpa later served in the US army and became an engineer patenting many things. I’m so proud of where my family is today. He wrote an autobiography from his birth (with help from relatives) through to present day. He is still with us and going strong. 💪

[@raptor_il89lv]

💪🇫🇮✊️🇪🇪✊️🇱🇻✊️🇱🇹✊️🇵🇱✊️🇺🇦💪 great wall like in Game of Throne😂 we not let those nightwalkers pass🤬💪👊

[@tracywright6908]

idk, choose between "the lesser of two evils" and Genocide? America should familiarize themselves with Latvian history which began around 9000 BC.

[@mimimishki]

"The Russians are coming. The Russians are coming. They’re right around. I’ve seen Russian soldiers! "

[@mrbrown9456]

Send them some toilet paper.

[@mimimishki]

@@mrbrown9456 NATA left all the toilet paper in Afghanistan

[@NetiNeti25920]

Great docu. Came here from Reddit. Based on my travels in Baltics in 2014-2016 during the Crimean takeover by Russia, I was surprisesd by how entrenched Russian money is in all 3 countries. For all the hate or Russia, their politicians sure love Russian rubles. What this docu ignores (of course its just a military viewpoint) is the total control of all 3 countries by Russian money. All the banks, real estate, hotels, restaurants, factories - have significant amounts of investments by rich Russians. Even the startups and companies, the stock markets - the front face is local Blatic person but behind the show is a Russian running and orchestrating everything. There is a sizeable Russian minority too and also mixed ethnicity families/children. It surely seems like just like all countries and all times in history, both sides are being funded by bankers. And in the end, normal people will bear the trauma and pain while bankers laugh all the way to eternity. May God Bless Everyone.

[@henrikonsap1918]

What are you high on? What you said is so ridicilously untrue its insane. Most of the banks and investments made in the Baltics are from the nordic countries especially Sweden not Russians smh.

[@dainiusm5436]

Russia 💩💩💩

[@krtolas]

Your oversimplification of history is baffling...

[@vanfja]

The Baltics and Poland made a big mistake trusting all their defence to Nato. Nato is just the imperial army of its strongest nation and is constantly used to sabre rattle. And if things really came down to survival, the west would sacrifice them just like they are sacrificing Ukraine down to the last Ukrainian, because hay, it’s “a good investment” as they have said. The Baltic states and Poland have always been screwed over by both sides. They need to form a defence alliance pf their own on top of Nato, so when Nato disintegrates, they will still have a strong defence.

[@mrbrown9456]

Good propaganda, Ivan.

[@hullmees666]

Baltics and Poland are already in an alliance. It's called NATO. and should some western countries betray us it doesnt mean all nato members would. and should they do that they would do that anyway whether there was a separate alliance or not. All potential allies are already in NATO (with the exception of sweden that will be remedied soon).

[@vanfja]

@@mrbrown9456 I know someone called Ivan. He is super pro Nato. So not sure what you are trying to say.

[@aidasmatulaitis5175]

Fake news

[@fuzer4047]

in which way?

[@firstdirst5519]

russak kolaburant kak i tvoi ded

[@Lithuanian_NAFO_lad]

Aš spėsiu tu esi lietuvis, kaip aš. Koki šuda tu blet mali?

[@gregtriplex5878]

Sucks propaganda. Russia no longer communist, but your put sovyet image in 2022 video. And why NATO still exist? For weapon business militery officer with factory? 😊

[@firstdirst5519]

not communists just terrorists now 🇷🇺🚽💩🐷

[@MrDadyD]

Maybe not, but Russian state under Vladmir Putin are using more and more soviet symbols, not to mention part of the old soviet national anthem. Not to mention the country is ruled by a tiny dictator that has invaded its neighbours (and prop up insurrectionist movements). NATO exist to defend its members from countries like Russia!

[@Lithuanian_NAFO_lad]

Because Russia has justified their existance with a single conflict.

[@cobrachannel100]

ruSSia is a kleptocracy these days. Not any better, perhaps worse than any other time in history. Barbarians and drunks.

[@nathanembry9245]

Nato is a joke and i wish Americ would leave asap. Afghan tribes=1 Nato=0

[@tamolamo4698]

Afghan tribes=1 Russia=0

[@alaskapollock8750]

rusian tribes is 00🤣🤣 не воруй унитазы и стиралки, когда нибудь я отдам тебе мои старые 😂😂

[@raymore544]

Gteat video pal nice to see the pain and anguish these poor countries went through under the damed russians