Do you ever get to Estonia?
The pic is from Erna Retk 2005. Erna Retk, or Erna Raid, is an annual military competition held in Estonia, sponsored by the Erna Society. The Erna Society commemorates an Estonian assault battalion that served in World War Two alongside the German
Wehrmacht and the Finnish Army.
Most of the teams come from various Estonian military units, but this year's field of 29 included teams from
Belgium,
China,
Denmark,
Finland,
Germany, Great Britain, Hungary,
Italy,
Sweden and the
United States.
Homefield advantage helps - this year's winners were a team from the Estonian Army's
Scoutspataljon (Scout Battalion), followed by a team from the
Luurepataljon (Recon Battalion) and one from the
Military Academy. A
female team came in second to last, but beat the Italians.
There's a fair mix of weapons, uniforms and gear. Besides the Belgians with their FNs, the Americans with their M-4s, the Danes with their C8A2s, the Finns with their M-95s, etc., the Estonians alone displayed a variety.
These guys, from one of the two Scoutspataljon teams, have Israeli Galils and what looks like British style DPM. Other
Estonians have what looks like Polish camouflage. These
guys, who have both US and Polish cammies, are from the Estonian reserve officers' team.
These guys with the G-36s and US woodland BDUs are from the Luurepataljon.
A gallery from the opening ceremony is
here. One from the beach assault is
here. Each of the pics opens to a much larger image.
Several galleries of smaller photos from the various events are
here.