Thirty Latvian army and National Guard personnel will travel to Michigan in the United States to participate in GuardEx 2005, an international tactical field exercise set June 12-25.

This is 10th year Latvian soldiers will participate in the exercise, according to the Latvian National Guard, or Zemessardze. Since 1995, a total of 260 guard members have trained at Camp Grayling in north central Michigan.

Before traveling to Michigan, the soldiers got training in how to use the M-16 assault rifle as well as in basic U.S. Army tactics, topography and first aid.

The cooperation between Latvia and Michigan began with the U.S. federal government’s introduction in 1993 of the National Guard State Partnership Program, according to the Michigan Department of Military and Veterans Affairs.