Today, the units from the Regional Command North-East (RC N-E), Estonian Defence League (EDL), conducted a rehearsal of concept drill for upcoming simulated battles, that will be carried out in the upcoming days together with NATO Multinational Battlegroup stationed in Estonia.
“Today, we played though the upcoming operation so that the commanders of subunits and specialized units could understand the command’s intent and mission, as well the flow of the operation, and decision points in the plan,“ said Lieutenant Colonel Jaanus Ainsalu, the commander of the Regional Command North-East of the Estonian Defence League. „Members of territorial defence are tough fighters. Out morale is high and we know why we are here. What unites us in this voluntary organization can be summed up in one simple phrase – for Estonia until death!”
All light infantry companies of the RC-NE will participate the battles over the weekend, supported by various support units of the RC N-E, ranging from the sniper platoon to units providing indirect fire.
“Considering the current weather conditions and combat tasks, the training carried out in recent years has supported the achievement of the objectives set for this exercise,” said Master Sergeant Erik Abroi, company commander of a Territorial Defence company at the Viru district, RC N-E, EDL. “Cooperation with our allies has been smooth and in a very good atmosphere. Despite a small language barrier and some differences in drills, everything has gone well. We have conducted several practical activities with the French light infantry company, ranging from range shooting to urban warfare drills. We have learned from them the mindset of professional soldiers, and the essential individual soldier skills for light infantry, which enable maintaining combat readiness 24/7 in any situation, and in all weather conditions.”
The main activities of Exercise Pikne, conducted from December 2 to 15, are primarily located in North and North-East Estonia, as well in the Gulf of Finland. During the exercise NATO is practicing rapid deployment of its forces to a conflict zone, integrating them into a multinational battle group in Estonia, and coordinating their cooperation to counter threats on land, in the air, and at sea.
Nearly 2,000 participants from Estonia, Latvia, USA, France and United Kingdom are taking part of exercise Pikne. The first week of the exercise focuses on the deployment of units and interoperability training in various regions of North-Eastern Estonia. During the second week, a live fire exercise is conducted at Sirgala training area.
