AVIANO AIR BASE, ITALY, Feb. 24, 2022 -  Paratroopers from 2nd Battalion, 503rd Parachute Infantry Regiment, 173rd Airborne Brigade deploy from Aviano Air Base, Italy to Latvia as a United States' commitment to our NATO Allies and bolstered defense efforts within the European theater. Photo by SrA Taryn Onyon.   From SOT:  Russia’s war on Ukraine will give it better access to the Mediterranean and southward.  Latvia, Lithuania, and Estonia are between Russia and the Baltic, were occupied by the Soviets until 1990, and making war on them and absorbing them again would give Russia better access to the North Sea and westward.