Picture Of The Day – we got to the Republic of Latvia, located in the Baltic region of Northern Europe. It’s a small country with only about 2 million inhabitants.

Today we listen to Lieutenant General Leonīds Kalniņš (Chief of Defence of Latvia), and his words:

The main skill of every soldier – it’s accurate shooting…

In the picture, you can see a U.S. rifle, caliber 7.62 mm, M14.

Latvia has an unknown number of M14s, provided by the U.S. in the 1990s under a military assistance program.

Latvia also has about 20,000 Ak 4 (Heckler & Koch G3) in wartime reserve. They purchased from Sweden.

Note the Schmidt & Bender rifle scope. I think it is a 3-12×56 PMII.

The rifle is somewhat old, but together with the optics, they form a really good platform for long-range shooting.

“During the weekend, I met with participants of the National Guard exercise “Sniper 2019” at the military training ground “Mežaine” in Skrunda. Competitive spirit, challenging mental and physical challenges give excellent results in tactical preparedness of national guards”

Translated from the Twitter below:

The main skill of every soldier – it’s accurate shooting, and it’s great!

The Latvian Army soldiers, national guards and our allies, as well as the State Border Guard unit “Sigma” and the State Police Special Task Force Battalion.

Source:

Galvenā ikviena karavīra spēja-tā ir precīzi šaut, un to lieliski @Latvijas_armija organizētajās snaiperu sacensībās nodemonstrēja karavīri, zemessargi un mūsu sabiedrotie, kā arī Valsts robežsardzes vienība "Sigma" un Valsts policija Speciālo uzdevumu bataljons. pic.twitter.com/4Ray9fcP8O

— Ģenerālleitnants Leonīds Kalniņš (@LeonidsKalnins) August 11, 2019