When our soldiers were in trouble, our friends showed up and didn’t leave.
An essay by LTG Mark Hertling, US Army, (Ret.)
SOME MIGHT WONDER WHY these American soldiers were training in Lithuania in the first place. It’s because the Lithuanians are our allies, and we train with each other. I’ve been to the training area where these four soldiers were practicing. In fact, I visited all three Baltic states in 2012—Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania—as part of a defense engagement program. Each country was serious, professional, and proud to be a part of NATO. While in Estonia, I visited the grave of a young soldier, Sgt. Andres Nulamae, who had been assigned to our command in Baghdad. The Baltic soldiers were some of our best, and they sacrificed alongside us. Because that’s what allies do.
But something about Lithuania struck me when I visited over a decade ago. Like other European nations, I was often treated to a cultural program after an official visit ended. Lithuania was no exception. In Vilnius, a young woman maybe in maybe her early twenties gave me a guided tour of their capital. During a discussion she told me how, as a small girl, she watched her father stand with thousands of others in the city square in 1991 as Lithuanian civilians stared down the Soviet military in their pursuit of freedom and independence. Her father was lucky not to have been one of the 14 civilians killed—instead, a Soviet tank crushed his foot, and friends carried him home. His wife pleaded with him not to return to the protests, reminding him of their two young children. But he responded, “I must go out there because I have two children who must be free from the Russians.” That story left a mark on me. Lithuania’s fight for freedom isn’t distant history; it’s a living memory that shapes their national character and their commitment to sovereignty, just like Ukraine’s. It’s recent and raw. My guide’s voice didn’t tremble as she told me the story—but I got emotional listening to it.
The memory of 14 unarmed Lithuanians giving their lives to face down Russian armor in the cold days of January 1991 lives not just in their history books but in their bones. It’s why Lithuania practically beat down NATO’s door before being allowed to join in 2004. And it’s why they’ve contributed forces to U.S. operations in Iraq and Afghanistan, supported allied deployments in their own country, and welcomed our training rotations with professionalism and warmth. It’s a big part of the reason they’re among the most generous supporters of Ukraine, even as the United States is faltering.
TODAY, LITHUANIA ALSO FINDS ITSELF in a position of immense strategic importance—and danger. Along with Poland, it flanks the Suwałki Gap, a narrow corridor running between Poland and Lithuania that separates Belarus from Russia’s heavily militarized exclave in Kaliningrad. In military terms, it’s a choke point. In political terms, it’s possibly the next target. If Putin ever decides to further test NATO’s resolve, Lithuania is a likely victim, not because it’s weak—but because it’s essential. Seizing the Suwałki Gap could cut off the Baltic States from land reinforcement, isolating them and presenting the world with a fait accompli. It’s the kind of gamble a cornered autocrat like Putin might take.
That’s why our soldiers—infantry, armor, artillery, and yes, wrenches—train with other nations in Lithuania. Deterrence isn’t just a strategy; it’s a presence that builds trust. It’s the sound of tank engines firing up in the early morning, the sight of NATO armor crossing a frozen training range, and the knowledge that if a bolt shears or a track throws, there’s someone there who knows exactly what to do.
The recovery operation that followed this recent tragedy speaks volumes about the strength of our alliances. Over the course of six difficult days, American, Lithuanian, and Polish forces worked side by side to recover the Hercules from the peat bog. It was a grueling, multinational effort involving logisticians, mechanics, and engineers. The terrain was waterlogged, deep, and unforgiving—but they kept at it. That’s what allies do. They show up when it’s hard.
There is a quiet cost to readiness, and these soldiers—those who sacrificed their lives during training and those who stayed with it during recovery operations—paid it in full. Because alliances are not just pieces of paper. They are people who roll up their sleeves and go out to do the hard jobs. Allies are built on shared values, common purpose, and the kind of moral clarity that leads a Lithuanian father to walk back into a square facing Russian tanks, not despite his children—but because of them.
We remember the fallen not only to mourn them, but to remind ourselves of the kind of ally we aspire to be. The kind that shows up, holds fast, and never lets the mission fail.
https://www.thebulwark.com/p/why-we-train-with-allies-lithuania-poland-hercules-accident
Comment: I didn’t print the first half of General Hertling’s essay. It’s a marvelous tribute to the kind of soldiers we lost in that Lithuanian bog… the wrenches as he put it. I didn’t know many wrenches during my career, but I knew the spoons that General Hertling also mentioned. The ones who cooked and served up that marvelous SOS on a cold morning, the ones who made sure we had hot coffee and soup on the DZ in the middle of the night. The Army would not run without the wrenches and spoons keeping the men and machines of war running. At least that was the case when I was in. Contractors have since replaced a lot of those wrenches and spoons, but not all. And we lost four of them last week.
The part of General Hertling’s essay that I did print explains the meaning and significance of having true military allies. It’s something I’ve experienced as both an Infantry and a Special Forces Officer. I’ve even experienced it as an intelligence officer. I value those allies… so I guess that makes me just another sucker and loser.
TTG
Lithuanian soldiers in the many thousands gave their lives for the 3rd Reich. Also killed almost all their Jews.
drifter,
The first part of your statement is pure bullshit. Germany was never able to form a Lithuanian SS unit. They did arm a Lithuanian Territorial Army which only fought the reinvading Soviet Army, refused to follow German orders and largely took to the forests with their German weapons to form a large part of the Lithuanian Freedom Army. However you are right about killing almost all their Jews. Lithuanian police units were enthusiastic and efficient in carrying out Nazi plans to eradicate the Jews from Lithuania.
Germany did however form ethnic Russian SS units: The 1st and 2nd SS Cossack Cavalry Divisions, the 29th Waffen Grenadier Division der SS “RONA”, plus Russian volunteers mixed in with Byelorussians, Poles & Ukrainians in the 30th and 36th Waffen SS Grenadier Divisions.
Drifter – amazing the country’s still there. Took a hell of a battering over the centuries. From all sides, ending up under the old Soviet Union after WWII. You’ll recollect TTG’s article not long back on the Forest Brothers. Stalin didn’t exactly handle the Lithuanians with kid gloves.
Soon as they could they ran for cover under the NATO umbrella. Wise. The Bear’s all saintly and Westphalian at the moment but who’s to say whether it’ll stay like that in the future? If I lived in Lithuania I’d want security guarantees nailed down tight.
Not just to protect from Russia. As ever the Poles have their beady eyes on them and the new Germany we’re seeing emerging could easily go all Fourth Reich on them if things went that way in the Heimat. Stranger things have happened in the past and most certainly did in that region.
The demographics are a mess and have been for some time. Nothing unusual in the West, that, but with so small a population the effect is more dramatic particularly since much of the population loss has been from the young. Like I think all the old Soviet dominated countries after the collapse there was the giant sucking sound as what there was of the Lithuanian economy was exposed to the greatly superior German industrial colossus; but there have been heroic efforts to right the economy after the stagnation of the Soviet years and that might possibly get some of those younger Lithuanians back.
I hope it does. The language and culture is unique (the language is a pig to learn and is just about the oldest in Europe now Irish is virtually dead) and there is still a strong sense of national identity. A lot there worth saving as this tiny population struggles for cultural survival in a world so hostile to anything but featureless homogeneity; and where distinctive cultures, where they do survive, are more for the tourists to gawp at rather than for living in.
I absolutely detest the habit so many have had, and some still have, of seeing these frail border countries purely in the context of the big East-West conflict we’re seeing play out right now. Seeing them as no more than pawns on the Grand Chessboard. Cherish them and their uniqueness, I say, rather than watching them getting trampled underfoot as the big boys fight their futile wars.
EO,
I appreciate your comment and especially your thought that these small countries should be cherished for their uniqueness and not sacrificed on the Grand Chessboard to the Great Powers.
Years ago, I thought there would be a place for Novorossiya on that Chessboard. Russia could have allowed that new country to flourish by supporting its rebuilding and growth. They could have silenced the guns. The farce of Minsk II would have been forgotten and Kyiv would have lost the Donbas (or a good part of it) forever. But Moscow abandoned the people of Donbas and allowed it to descend into a Hellish world of a 1930s Soviet Union.
EO and TTG:
People living in Europe have competed for territory for thousands of years.
https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLZlQy6FlDBO1ypReq5m5OKOo_pcScdtDe
I think there may be value in this view, from 1796:
https://speakola.com/political/george-washington-farewell-address-1796
Your thoughts?
Keith Harbaugh –
I had thought he was speaking of relations between America and France. Wasn’t he? But the France of Lafayette and the France of Robespierre’s Reign of Terror were two different countries. There was nothing in the latter for which we could have had a “passionate attachment”.
Keith – yes, a great speech. I thought so when I first read it and still think so.
Sapient observations on foreign policy too. George Washington knew a thing to two about foreign policy, that’s for sure. He’d not have given house room to Brzezinski, I’d guess, Nor would he have been that enthusiastic about the exploits of Nuland and her successors in Ukraine. Nor those of Trump and Biden in Gaza.
So what happened over the past couple of decades or so with American foreign policy? The connection between those elevated sentiments and a bunch of witless psychos roaming the planet causing the deaths of millions is unclear to me.
Maybe the writer of that other so often quoted speech explains it:-
She has seen that probably for centuries to come, all the contests of that Aceldama (field of blood), the European world, will be contests of inveterate power, and emerging right.
Wherever the standard of freedom and Independence, has been or shall be unfurled, there will her heart, her benedictions and her prayers be. But she goes not abroad, in search of monsters to destroy. She is the well-wisher to the freedom and independence of all. She is the champion and vindicator only of her own.
She will recommend the general cause by the countenance of her voice, and the benignant sympathy of her example. She well knows that by once enlisting under other banners than her own, were they even the banners of foreign Independence, she would involve herself beyond the power of extrication, in all the wars of interest and intrigue, of individual avarice, envy, and ambition, which assume the colors and usurp the standard of freedom.
The fundamental maxims of her policy would insensibly change from liberty to force. The frontlet upon her brow would no longer beam with the ineffable splendor of Freedom and Independence; but in its stead would soon be substituted an Imperial Diadem, flashing in false and tarnished lustre the murky radiance of dominion and power. She might become the dictatress of the world. She would be no longer the ruler of her own spirit.
I get the perpetual struggle of these bloodland regions. Unfortunately being part of NATO and the EU isn’t all that much of an upgrade anymore. Sure, you get treated a little better but you also get invaded with illegal aliens who have no loyalty to your culture. Most of it seems from Belarus but the EU will dump illegal aliens on you if you start trying to project more nationalism along with other financial penalties to include being flat out couped. The degree of freedom gained at this point in time is marginal at best.
TTG – cutting across all politics – as Heifetz did himself – Lithuania’s greatest musician. I can say that with confidence because when other great performers heard him they said they might as well give up!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vhOaS_Cy8_8&ab_channel=OfficialJaschaHeifetz
.
Meanwhile, some music that may entertain you:
The finale of Tchaikovsky’s Symphony #5, in a high tempo, dynamic, performance:
https://youtu.be/av0SFzcfRBE
The video is especially worthwhile because of how well it depicts the various instrumental choirs, as they become prominent.
It is also interesting to see how the conductor leads the orchestra.
One of the comments at YouTube to that video:
“You can’t get better than perfection.”
Seems appropriate.
Lithuania’s political and religious leaders joined thousands of people on Thursday to bid farewell to four American soldiers who died during a training exercise in the Baltic nation. President Gitanas Nausėda and other dignitaries were among those who stood in respect as hearses carried the bodies of the four young Americans to Vilnius airport before being flown to the United States for burial. Many of the onlookers were in tears …. Schoolchildren accompanied by teachers waved Lithuanian and U.S. flags to honor the soldiers, who died in an accident along NATO’s eastern flank, a region that is on edge due to Russia’s aggression in nearby Ukraine.”
President Bone-Spurs did not attend nor did he send a message. He was too busy having lunch at Mar a Lardo with the Saudi LIV Golf League.
Video:
https://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/lithuanians-bid-farewell-4-us-soldiers-died-training-120440899
I didn’t know of the Lithuanians turning out to honor our fallen. What a disgrace Trump is to our nation and to our soldiers. He just cannot think of anyone other than himself.