#Latvia

The hungriest beast of them all on TFB is our Photo Of The Day. It consumes hundreds of images every month, and it has been starving for over 9 years. Sometimes these images find themselves, and sometimes we have to dig them out, but we hope they give you a diverse experience from the world of firearms. Our POTD will take you places far away, and today we’re visiting Camp Ādaži in Latvia. Above you see Spanish soldiers with their Heckler & Koch G36 rifles in various configurations.

Welcome to our Photo Of The Day! Each day, we feature a stunning photograph that captures the beauty and diversity of our world. These snipers went a long way to conceal themselves. How would you rate their ambition and success? I think these soldiers might be difficult to spot with a thermal as well, and I’m not sure I’d like to give it a try. What we see are U.S. Army snipers with the 1st Battalion, 506th Infantry Regiment “Red Currahee,” 1st Infantry Brigade Combat Team, 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault), supporting 3rd Infantry Division, as they conducted sniper field training at Camp Adazi, Latvia, during September.

The world is hungry for visual storytelling, and TFB’s Photo Of The Day does its best to keep the feed live. The Latvian National Defense Academy (NDA), also known as the Latvijas Nacionālā Aizsardzības akadēmija in Latvian, is an educational institution dedicated to providing military and security education and training in Latvia. It serves as the primary institution for the professional development and education of military officers, non-commissioned officers, and civilian personnel in the Latvian National Armed Forces.

Photo Of The Day: Start your day with this collection of images from Riga, Latvia. We have a soldier assigned to the Fleet Anti-Terrorism Security Team Company Europe (FASTEUR), aiming an M110 Semi-Automatic Sniper System during an embassy security drill at the U.S. Embassy, January 2023.

There’s a lot of action in today’s Photo Of The Day, with the CZ Bren 2 at the playgrounds of NATO’s enhanced Forward Presence Battle Group Latvia. Almost three years ago, the Czech Army decided they will be using CZ Bren 2 as their standard-issue rifle, and here they let their NATO friends try it out to the fullest.

Welcome back to our Photo Of The Day! If you haven’t shot the back-to-basics VZ-58 rifle, I can tell you that it sends the brass just as pictured here – kind of straight up, and with brute force to a place far, far away. Don’t try to bump fire one with a cap on, because the cap will only catch the flying brass and direct it to your face. Don’t ask me how I know, and follow us for more advice like this.

With the current situation, things must be rather tense in the Latvian Army, and today we get a look at the second basic military training course for reservists. They’re using the Heckler & Koch G36, without any optics. Typically Latvia uses the G36V which lacks the integrated reflector sight.

Photo Of The Day – Established in 2014 this is TFB’s way to show carefully selected photographs on a daily basis. As a bonus, you get a short story and hopefully, you’ll learn or see something new. Today the Heckler & Koch G36, a standard-issue rifle for the Spanish Army, is on offer. Note that these rifles do not have a red dot mounted. The pictures are from Camp Ādaži in Latvia, very close to the capital Riga.

Photo Of The Day, with pictures of the CZ Bren from the sky as well as the ground. The pictures are from the NATO enhanced Forward Presence Battle Group Latvia where the Czech Republic contingent prepared for a two-day small arms shooting competition for the Battle Group. Soldiers from all nations at Camp Adazi participated to compete and compare shooting skills. Day one included a pistol stage and day two the rifle stage we see here.

The number of internet users worldwide will soon reach the five billion mark. Great photos can spread like wildfire, but the story and the necessary context sometimes gets left behind. Not in TFB’s  Photo Of The Day, where we will always accompany the images with a background and credits to the maker – Sgt. Hannah Hawkins in this case.

The FN F2000 is the standard issue rifle for the Slovenian Armed Forces. The Slovenians have bought a total of 14,000 rifles and their version of the rifle is called the FN F2000S. Since FN Herstal has now stopped the production of this model this seems like both the first and the last large-scale adoption of this rifle by a European and NATO member country.

It was really hard to select a featured picture for today’s Photo Of The Day since they’re all amazing examples of NATO snipers. The variety of equipment, firearms, lasers, mounts and optics is pretty huge, but what’s really interesting to see is army snipers picking up the “craftmanship” used by Precision Rifle Series shooters and in competitions. I guess it works!

Photo Of The Day and we have a pleasant mixture of firearms from various NATO countries taken at the NATO enhanced Forward Presence Battle Group Latvia.  Above you have a great image of the SA80 A2 Individual Weapon, with a trigger-happy British soldier.

Photo Of The Day and we are back to the excellent pictures from the NATO enhanced Forward Presence Battle Group in Latvia. We get a look at soldiers working together to mount a strong defence against an opposing force during the exercise Silver Arrow. Silver Arrow is part of the larger Namejs 2021, designed to test the skills and interoperability of the multiple NATO partners. Above you can see a soldier shooting his Heckler & Koch G36 from a prone position.

Photo Of The Day – The word photograph is a combination of Greek words and means “drawing with light”. The word was invented by Sir John Herschel, over 180 years ago. I suppose that at the time he had no idea that there would be photos “drawn with light” of a machine gun, yet here we are. These photos are from the Latvian Army and their exercise Namejs 2021. Location: Riga.