WEBVTT

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Once we got off the ferry , we had

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another long drive down to Latvia where

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we finally got to see our M triple

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seven Howard C unit , the first

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battalion , 119th filled artillery

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regiment from michigan , the state

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partner of Latvia . This meant that

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again , we were able to talk to a unit

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that had interacted with their host

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nation for several years and again in

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an impressive display of

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interoperability . First 119th was

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receiving and executing missions that

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directly originated from Latvian

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command . Major Ryan McCann was the

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unit's operations officer and had been

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to Latvia several times over the years

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as part of their state partnership .

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While he personally didn't see all of

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the units growth , his team had been

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there when Latvia had nothing more than

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a small field artillery company and has

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followed its growth to a battalion

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sized element . Today , 14 to 15 we

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brought a battery over camp at the

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training area we're at now was about

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the third the size it is now they had

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company and battalion mortars and

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that's about the extent of their fire

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support experience . Now they've got a

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whole battalion worth of M one oh nines

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and you know , they're firing right

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next to us