Posted on 04/01/2025 10:00:17 AM PDT by McGruff
The fourth and final missing U.S. soldier whose armored vehicle sank in a swamp in Lithuania last week was found deceased Tuesday.
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said Tuesday that the incident is "another stark reminder of the selfless sacrifice of our brave military men and women who risk their lives around the world every day to keep us safe."
U.S. Army Europe and Africa said earlier today that "Police working dogs from the Lithuanian Armed Forces began work yesterday afternoon and NATO ally Estonia joined the recovery efforts early this morning."
"Two Estonian recovery dogs, Tilt and Maik, and their handlers flew from Tallinn, Estonia. They arrived on scene at 2:00 a.m. and began searching at 7:00 a.m. this morning. Handlers have positioned the dogs in a U.S. Navy Rigid Inflatable Boat to locate any trace scents below the surface," it added.
(Excerpt) Read more at foxnews.com ...
“The Swamp” put our soldiers into Lithuania to die in “The Swamp”
Still no identification of the deceased soldiers being reported?
Claims and speculation about U.S. troop involvement have circulated. A March 30, 2025, New York Times investigation revealed a deeper U.S. role in coordinating Ukrainian military operations, including targeting assistance from a base in Wiesbaden, Germany, and providing battlefield intelligence. Some interpreted this as indirect evidence of closer involvement, but it does not confirm U.S. troops physically fighting Russians in Ukraine.
Posts on X and other platforms have alleged the presence of U.S. special forces or volunteers leading squads or engaging in combat, but these remain unverified assertions without official corroboration from credible sources like the U.S. Department of Defense.
Additionally, there have been reports of American volunteers—private citizens, some with military experience—fighting alongside Ukrainian forces. For example, a January 2025 CNN report noted over 20 Americans missing in action in Ukraine, with casualties increasing as foreigners filled gaps in Ukrainian defenses. These individuals are not active-duty U.S. troops but rather volunteers, distinct from official military deployment. Confusion often arises between these volunteers and claims of formal U.S. troop involvement. The situation is further complicated by Russia’s recapture of territory in Kursk by March 2025, following a U.S. intelligence-sharing cutoff, as reported by Al Jazeera. This suggests heavy reliance on U.S. support, but not necessarily troop presence. Without declassified documents or official statements beyond what’s currently available, any assertion of U.S. troops directly fighting Russians remains speculative rather than confirmed. Always approach such claims critically, as they often serve political or propaganda purposes on either side of the conflict.
Not yet. I am sure the families already had a feeling; but the official notice is probably being done today.
My Son in Law is in Poland with the Army and we speak to him nearly every day; his kids face time him daily. If that stopped suddenly…it would be noticed.
My heart breaks for these families. Army stuff is dangerous.
Did it break through frozen ground? I don’t understand why they couldn’t exit the vehicle before it completely sank in the muck.
I don’t understand that either. The story is strange.
If an armored vehicle sinks in water and it is buttoned up you are going to die because the weight of the water will seal the hatches from being opened. God Bless to their families for their tragic loss.
They shouldn’t have even been over there. Four good American kids wasted in support of the neocon proxy war with Russia project.
Kudos to the rescue dogs, too.
Spot on.
That is not a U.S. Navy Rigid Inflatable Boat. It’s just a standard “Inflatable Boat, small”.
It’s a horrible situation.
Some bogs can feel solid enough to walk on, with thick layers of moss and even small trees growing on top. However, beneath the surface, they hide deep, waterlogged layers, making them risky for anything heavy.
The latest I found from a Lithuanian site:
Fourth US soldier found at Pabradė training ground
https://www.lrt.lt/en/news-in-english/19/2526612/fourth-us-soldier-found-at-pabrade-training-ground
Let’s pray for their families.
Much of the region there is swamp land. They drove a very heavy vehicle at night into deep, soft mud and it sank quickly. This is why the recovery operation took so long...they had to use heavy equipment to pull it out on the same deep soft mud.
I am so sorry for these 4 soldiers, they never had a chance
I hope it's some comfort to the late soldier to learn he isn't dead but merely deceased.
Thanks.
The soldiers went missing on March 25 while operating an M88 Hercules armored recovery vehicle, the Army said, and the next day, their 63-ton vehicle was found submerged in about 15 feet of water and mud in a training area.
“Most likely, the M88 drove into the swamp,” and the vehicle “may have just gone diagonally to the bottom,” Lithuanian Defense Minister Dovile Sakaliene told ABC News via phone last week.
There was a suggestion in an earlier thread that it may have slid off a dirt road or embankment and into the pond where it sank.
The stories give no clue to the ‘how’ and ‘why.’ Just the tail-end of the ‘what.’
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