Love Lithuania so much. I’m American who mostly lives in Bosnia cause it’s cheap but I recently finished a month living in Vilnius and after visiting 59 countries I am shocked to say that Lithuania is one of my favorite countries in the entire world. The vibes of Vilnius and Kaunas are so clean, peaceful, modern, and positive. Other cities I visited were nice too (saw the whole country by train, a cheap and easy way to take day trips) but Vilnius and Kaunas are magical for some reason. Just hope the Russians are never able to ruin them again. Everything a Russian touches turns to crap.

Lithuania's determined journey to NATO took 11 years.

I really love how you cover military topics in Lithuania. There has been a huge transformation of the LT Armed forces since around 2014 and the only way is forward. Lithuania is on course to have one of the most modern and well armed militaries among small countries in Europe which makes me, and I bet many other Lithuanians, sleep better at night.

I see a lot of videos about Lithuanian Armed Forces, comparing things like preparation, inventory, training, etc but I think a really crucial "ingredient" is missing in those videos and that is Lithuania's national personality trait of "stubbornness" 😆 If you've analysed our history and how determined and passionate we were about 'sticking it' to the threat from the East it would become clear that even a less prepared or worse equipped Lithuanian would probably fight better against the orcs than a more prepared and better equipped American. That and the fact that we know our region and our enemy almost intimately. Psychology matters a lot when it comes to combat and not only in things like keeping a calm and collected mind, but also in things like a shared national consciousness when it comes to the enemy that has harassed us for centuries.

I am actually more amazed about the fact that the LAF has a podcast

I'd say that we didn't upgrade our military. We created our military from almost zero. After USSR we had nothing and straight away started to copy Western military ideas and standards. I guess it's easier to create something form a scratch than to change soviet system to Western system.

Taliban was scared shitless of Lithuanian special forces on dirt bikes nicknamed "Hell's Angels" in Afghanistan.

Lithuenia has a huge army for it's size in terms of equipment It's easy to look at nearly 2000 armored vehicles as small force but if you divide it by 2.8 million population and multiply it by 140 population of Russia you will get you will get over 100 000 You can see Lithuenia has almost double the armor per capita than most states

Those Lithuanian infantry look sharp deploying from Black hawk helicopters.

I think if we ignore the infamous "coup of volunteers" military incident in the 1993, the Lithuanian armed forces have spotless reputation and commitment to the safety of the country.

Like (Lietuva Vilnius)

“As equal” began in 2006-7 after joint missions in middle east. A lot of learning happened and all the training provided by western european military schools shined. As for actually being equal - thats out of the question. No nato member is equal to american military. They are quite literally NATO itself, they have decades worth of real combat experience. Uk feels like a 16yo cousin (to an adult usa army). Not equal but very much respected, always on the just side, never ambiguous, plays with cards open, very strategic, never whimped out from spitting facts. Cocky, packs a punch, but not at full strength today. French have a lot of “sway” like the uk, but they are not aligned with anyone else. Always at 30 degree angle to everyone else, as they are in every other aspect. Often ambiguous, secretive. Germany, which should be the core and backbone of european military power, is primarily a bundestag (parliament) with a few muskets and some tanks in a locked garage. Potential is there, but the government and russian money is smothering it.

00:16 Just a perspective: Lego or a barbie doll was given ONLY on a special occasion, think jubilee birthdays (birth, 5, 10, 15). Appliencies only no name, made in Turkey or China (i had a teba oven f.e.). Mcdonalds was considered to be a posh restaurant and the *only* international clothing brand to open stores was United Colors of Benetton. Clothes from there was unachievable for most of us while I had a friend who was decked from top to bottom in those. Needless to say she had MANY barbies and a huge @ss Lego box. Needless to say I was white envy why my parents were succeeding despite having respectable jobs. My friends parents were selling their crafts to Westerners while living in Lithuanian prices thus affording all those posh things. While my parents sold a car to buy an old western computer. NOBODY would believe in this when visiting Lithuania in 2020's (somewhat believable if visited in early 2010's). The evolution in just my lifetime is immeasurable in all 3 Baltic states considering where we started. Side note, a story my dad told me. He once met an old acquaintance from university times in the 90's. Note that, my Dad had to to travel back and forth Vilnius-Kaunas for work everyday and could barely afford groceries, but he took pity on that friend as he saw a university professor with SO worn out shoes that not all homeless people would wear nowadays. Times were tough, we owe Boomers respect for their achievements and resilience. For gen-Xers too but they were about to graduate and their era was the 2000's, a slightly easier period.

Never.

NATO Allies can not see Lithuanian Armed Forces as equal, because Lithuania is lacking in numbers of soldiers, equipment and weapons. Lithuania got only two brigade level units, and these are not fully armed and ready. Lithuanian has small Air Force, without jet fighters. Air Defense is not numerous, only short and very short range, with poor AD radar systems. Naval forces also are small and weak. Land Forces has not any tanks and new trucked IFV. Artillery is not numerous. Supporting troops are lacking equipment, especially heavy gear. Some armored, wheeled vehicles and light forces are not enough to successfully defend alone Lithuania. Therefore limited Lithuanian Armed Forces are not equal. They need Allies help and more own units, weapon systems, and better infrastructures.

I just don't like that the Lithuanian Politicians are provoking Russia. Lithuania as a small country would benefit from being neutral, but it's hard when you're part of EU and NATO there is a certain Agenda. I don't like how the International Politics are evolving in relation with the conflict in Ukraine.

this is one of the most intersting channels ive seen covering about stuff in lithuania, keep up the good work!