Karavīrs: an awesome music video about special forces from the Baltic

@DefAviation ES 8·13·2019 · 6:03 0

As lately I am talking a lot about Latvia in this blog, YouTube has included in my suggestions some videos of that Baltic country, including one that I bring you today.

Jānis Pīnups: a Latvian soldier for whom the Second World War finished in 1995
A NATO report about the landing of the Spanish Marine Corps in Latvia

In November of last year, the Latvian rock band Refleksija published a music video titled "Karavīrs" (Soldier), dedicated to the NBS SUV, that is, the Nacionālo Bruņoto Spēku Speciālo Uzdevumu Vienība (Special Task Force of the National Armed Forces). Usually known as SUV, it is an elite military unit founded on September 19, 1991, after the recovery of Latvian independence. It was initially formed as a Battalion attached to the Latvian Security Service. In 1994 it became dependent on the Naval Forces, in the style of the US Navy SEALs, and in 1999 it became an independent unit of the Armed Forces, in the style of Poland's special operations units. Very little is known about SUV operations, since their missions are secret. Despite having very small armed forces (they do not reach 15,000 troops), Latvia has participated in missions such as EUTM Mali, Operation Resolute Support in Afghanistan (where Latvia maintains 40 soldiers today: there have died four soldiers from that country), Operation Sophia in Libya and Operation Inherent Resolve in Iraq and Syria.

The Refleksija music video talks about the son of a member of the SUV, who finds his father's green beret (in Latvia, as in other countries, it is the distinctive garment of the special forces). In the video various images of SUV operators appear during combat training in enclosed spaces, and also images of the hard tests that applicants have to pass to be part of this unit. As a curiosity, in the video appears an ancient Latvian warrior covered with a wolf's skin, a warrior that appears on the emblem of the SUV, on the Aka or Double Cross, a symbol formed by four intersecting stripes that in the Latvian culture represents the Earth and the sun, experience and knowledge. The Aka is the best known SUV symbol. Their operators wear it in his beret and in the patch of his right arm.

I show you below the lyrics of the song in Latvian:

Māt, tava šūpuļa dziesmas
Dzied, kas nededzis liesmās
Nededzis dedzināts.

Māt, kļavas zied, koki runā
Tiecas mākoņiem tuvāk
Debesis remdināt.

Es gribu lietu just un rasu rīta saulē
Un ik dienu teikt paldies, jo mirklis īss
Tu mani sauci cauri klusumam un taurēm
Kad aizgāja dēls, mājās pārnāca kaŗavīrs.

Māt, zaļo sētsmietu sētās
Rīta zvaigznes krīt rētās
Uzplēš, klusē un krāj.

Es gribu lietu just un rasu rīta saulē
Un ik dienu teikt paldies, jo mirklis īss
Tu mani sauci cauri klusumam un taurēm
Kad aizgāja dēls, mājās pārnāca kaŗavīrs.

Māt, Tavas sirds melōdijas
Cauri klusumam vienas
Tur kur dvēseles stāj.

Es gribu lietu just un rasu rīta saulē
Un ik dienu teikt paldies, jo mirklis īss
Tu mani sauci cauri klusumam un taurēm
Kad aizgāja dēls, kaŗavīrs.

Es gribu lietu just un rasu rīta saulē
Un ik dienu teikt paldies, jo mirklis īss
Tu mani sauci cauri klusumam un taurēm
Kad aizgāja dēls, mājās pārnāca kaŗavīrs.

And here the (approximate) translation into English:

Mom, your cradle songs
Singing, unburned in flames
Burned unburned.

Mother, maples bloom, trees speak
Looks closer to the clouds
Heaven soothe.

I want to feel the rain and dew in the morning sun
And every day to say thank you because the moment is short
You called me through the silence and the horns
When the son left, a soldier came home.

Mother, in the green yard fences
Morning stars fall in the scars
Tears, silences and collects.

I want to feel the rain and dew in the morning sun
And every day to say thank you because the moment is short
You called me through the silence and the horns
When the son left, a soldier came home.

Mother, the melodies of your heart
Through silence alone
Where souls come.

I want to feel the rain and dew in the morning sun
And every day to say thank you because the moment is short
You called me through the silence and the horns
When the son left, the soldier.

I want to feel the rain and dew in the morning sun
And every day to say thank you because the moment is short
You called me through the silence and the horns
When the son left, a soldier came home.