 Dawn breaks at 3 a.m. in the Latvian Forest British soldiers from the Royal Gherkar Regiment maneuver swiftly onto an objective in the final battle of exercise Saber Strike. It started March yesterday night from 2100 throughout the night we walked this wood line advancing through the dense forest and using the few hours of relative darkness offered by the Baltic summer didn't present any issue for this elite unit. Until midnight there's still light we have like one hour which normally work in the dark. We also been in Brunei and when we work in the Brunei jungle so we have not that much problem working in this normal wood line. The Gherkas are a British unit made up of Nepalese soldiers. They formed the spearhead of Viking Battalion an alliance featuring US, British, Finnish and Norwegian companies. In the final training scenario of Saber Strike Viking Battalion took the fight to the defending Baltic Battalion made up of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. Once contact was made the legendary warriors of the Gherkar Regiment took over. My men are they are very aggressive they have a very good fighting spirit and you know that we are Gherkas and we fight until the death. The intense firefight lasted for several hours. With the Gherkas seizing and holding a pivotal position atop a hill looking out on their target a Baltic held bunker. We hold this knoll quite long time but this is the war so there's only few guys left. Neither force gave ground easily despite heavy casualties on each side. The Gherkas were reinforced by their American allies who quickly took up firing positions. Finally after 12 hours the fight was finished. Both the Viking and Baltic Battalions achieved their objectives during the battle but more importantly both sides wrapped up the two-week exercise with successful training and some new partnerships. Air Force Staff Sergeant John Arschke, Autigé, Latvia.