Sgt. David Snyder, gunner assigned to Bravo Battery, 1st Battalion, 119th Field Artillery Regiment, Michigan National Guard, watches Pfc. Jevgenijs Gubinskis, Latvian Land Forces, change the gunner's site controls on their M777A2 howitzer during training near Adazi, Latvia, March 24, 2015. The Michigan National Guard 1-119th FA is working with their Latvian counterparts as part of Operation Summer Shield XII, a multinational NATO training exercise whose participants include U.S. active duty Army, Reserve, and National Guard, U.S. Marines, and units from Latvia, Lithuania, Germany, Luxembourg, and Canada. Michigan and Latvia have worked together in the State Partnership Program for 23 years. (U.S. Army photo by Staff Sgt. Kimberly Bratic, Michigan National Guard/Released)

The Michigan National Guard celebrates their 20-year partnership with Latvia with a look back at how the partnership started and and some milestones along the way.

Michigan National Guardsman Master Sgt. Santos Feliciano and Latvian National Armed Force 1st Sgt. Marteen Kupcs pose with workers from a rubber plantation in Liberia, Jan. 16, 2013. Michigan and Latvia are partners in the Department of State and DoD State Partnership Program and Liberia is Michigan's newest partner. The soldiers were there to assist with noncommissioned military officer development and other core military discipline and civil defense initiatives. While driving from one site to another, the soldiers spotted the workers and pulled their vehicle over to talk to them. Establishing relationships with the local community is a key factor in assisting partner countries, especially a country such as Liberia that is recovering from years of civil war.

A Latvian National Guard soldier prepares a MK19 grenade launcher at a site in Adazi, Latvia on April 14, 2009 as Michigan Army National Guardsman Sgt. Robert Gustafson looks on. The Soldiers are preparing to deploy to Afghanistan as an operational and mentoring liaison team with the Afghanistan National Army. This is the second deployment for the joint Michigan-Latvian OMLT. Michigan and Latvia are paired in the Department of State and the Department of Defense State Partnership Program which is administered by the National Guard Bureau and executed by the state adjutants general. The program is a key U.S. security cooperation tool, facilitating cooperation across all aspects of international civil-military affairs and encourages people-to-people ties at the state level.

Michigan Governor Rick Snyder is briefed on close air support techniques by a combined Michigan National Guard and Latvian Armed Forces Joint Terminal Attack Controller team at the Camp Grayling Air Gunnery Range, Mich., on Aug 11, 2013 during Operation Northern Strike, 2013. Operation Northern Strike is a National Guard Bureau sponsored, combined arms live-fire exercise held in northern Michigan. During ONS, participants from all branches of the U.S. Armed Forces, 16 states, and coalition partner nations, Latvia and Canada, contributed to provide requirements-based training. The exercise emphasized doctrinal elements of the Theater Air Control System and Army Air-to-Ground System with additional emphasis on the integration of Joint Fire Support, Air Operations Center and Maritime Control operations.