[kellyhound]

NATO on Wednesday clarified comments that Secretary-General Mark Rutte made earlier in the day, when he suggested that four U.S. soldiers who went missing while training in Lithuania had died, even though the U.S. Army said their fate was not yet confirmed.

“The search is ongoing,” NATO said in a statement posted on X. “We regret any confusion about remarks SECGenNATO delivered on this today.

He was referring to emerging news reports & was not confirming the fate of the missing, which is still unknown.”

The U.S. Army said the Hercules armored vehicle the four U.S. soldiers were in during a training exercise had been found submerged in a body of water. It said recovery efforts were underway by U.S. Army and Lithuanian Armed Forces and civilian agencies.

The soldiers, all from 1st Brigade, 3rd Infantry Division, were conducting tactical training when they went missing.

Asked Wednesday evening by reporters if he had been briefed about the missing soldiers, President Donald Trump said, “No, I haven’t.”

During a trip to Warsaw, Rutte told reporters that he had received word of the deaths of the four soldiers while he was delivering a lecture, and that his thoughts were with their families and with the United States.

[kellyhound]

[DarthArchon]

Don't really know what happened there but my imagination's scenario is that these guy got stuck, tried to get out of it by going back and forth, just got even deeper in the mud. When they tried to get out, the door were impossible to open, because there's 400 pound of mud blocking them. They might have lost radio and not be able to ask for help. The vehicle kept sinking and co2 might have made the guys lose consciousness and died.

[kellyhound]

U.S. Navy divers are pushing through thick layers of mud in a flooded Lithuanian bog, where efforts are ongoing to excavate a submerged armored vehicle and locate four missing American soldiers, Army officials said Sunday.

U.S. military resources have poured into Lithuania, where the harsh terrain has complicated efforts to recover an M88A2 Hercules armored recovery vehicle stuck under some 15 feet of water and sludge.

Navy personnel began dive operations last night and are continuing to swim and dig toward the vehicle, the Army said.

Meanwhile, the Army’s 21st Theater Sustainment Command out of Kaiserslautern, Germany, is bringing in a specialized ramping system to help stabilize the area and enable the use of more heavy equipment.

“So not only are we dealing with the terrain, a lot of mud that is over top of the vehicle, but also the fact that it’s 70 tons that we’re trying to recover out of a swamp or bog,” Brig. Gen. John Lloyd, commander of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers North Atlantic Division, said in a statement.

Army soldiers are being joined by hundreds of other Lithuanian and Polish personnel, who also have brought in gear and manpower to assist in the effort ever since the M88A2 went off course in the early morning hours Tuesday on a Lithuanian training base.

[kellyhound]

The bodies of three soldiers were retrieved on March 31, followed by the fourth on April 1.

[Pyramid_Head]

Originally Posted by kellyhound ↗

The bodies of three soldiers were retrieved on March 31, followed by the fourth on April 1.

Damn, that's too bad.

[kellyhound]

The people of Lithuania paying their respect and bidding their farewell to the 4 deceased US soldiers in Vilnius.

[William May]

When these 4 soldiers came home, Trump went golfing.

Also, this vehicle is the LARGEST in the U.S. arsenal. It is capable of recovering an Abrams by itself. It can tow anything up to 180,000 lbs. weight. It is also the heaviest vehicle we have.

[kellyhound]

Duenez Jr. was an M1 Abrams tank system maintainer with over seven years in the Army. He arrived at Fort Stewart in February 2022 and had previously been deployed to Poland and Germany.

Franco was an M1 Abrams tank system maintainer who served in the Army for over six years. He arrived at Fort Stewart in 2019 and had previously been deployed to Korea and Germany.

Taitano was a M1 Abrams tank system maintainer on his first deployment. He served in the Army for nearly two years, and he arrived at Fort Stewart in October 2023, following his entry training.

Knutson-Collins was an artillery mechanic with over seven years in the Army. He arrived at Fort Stewart in February 2018 and was assigned to 1st Battalion, 41st Field Artillery Regiment.


The dignified transfer is considered one of the most solemn traditions in U.S. military protocol. Trump was present at only 4 of the 96 dignified transfers that occurred during his first term. However, dignified transfer attendance was also rare under former President Joe Biden. During his tenure, Biden attended 2 such ceremonies.