Photos: In Estonia, and a small world, Colorado’s National Guard plays a key role in annual military exercises and the defense of Northern Europe

By Hart Van Denburg
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Heavy traffic: A pilot with the Maryland Air National Guard’s 175th operations group parks his A-10 Thunderbolt on the tarmac at at Kuressaare Airport on Saaremaa island in Estonia, Tuesday, May 23, 2022, as a US Air Force special forces fuel management airman monitors a “hot refuel” from an MC130 transport plane visible behind at left. Behind at right, A C-17 transport from the Maryland National Guard taxis for takeoff.

With a wary eye on neighboring Russia, Estonia has been proudly and defiantly independent since 1991, and part of the EU since 2004.

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A European Union flag flies across the street from the Alexander Nevsky Cathedral in the Old Town section of Tallinn, Estonia, May 20, 2022. The Orthodox Church was designed by Russian architect Mikhail Preobrazhensky and built between 1894-1900.
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A cyclist pedals on cobblestones past Olde Hansa, a restaurant in Tallinn, Estonia’s Old City, on Tuesday evening, May 24, 2022. This original part of Estonia’s capital city dates officially to the 11th century, although remains of fishing villages in the area are thought to be 5,000 years old.
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The flower market outside the Viru gate to Tallinn's Old City.
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A police vehicle watches over the front of the Russian Embassy in Tallinn, Old City, on Tuesday evening, May 24, 2022. Critics of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine have festooned a fence outside the embassy with banners, posters and photographs protesting the war.
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A painting of Soviet ruler Joseph Stalin looks down from the ceiling of a room in Vabamu Museum of Occupations and Freedom in Tallinn, Estonia, May 20, 2022. Estonia has historically been a contested land, at various points ruled by, among others, the Danes, the Swedish, the Russians and Soviets, Nazi Germany, the Soviets again before winning independence in 1991.
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Remains of a previous occupation: At the small and abandoned Soviet-era Ämari Pilots’ Cemetery southeast of Estonia’s capital city of Tallinn, some graves are marked with fighter jet tailplanes, May 20, 2022.
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A vintage photograph of a couple deported from Estonia to a labor camp in the former Soviet Union at Estonia’s Vabamu Museum of Occupations and Freedom in Tallinn, Estonia, May 20, 2022.
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People gather to watch the sun setting over the Baltic Sea from a vantage point in the Old Town section of Tallinn, Estonia, May 20, 29022.

On Saaremaa Island, NATO allies perform annual exercises as a show of force, to build tactical coordination and to reassure Estonia the West is committed to its defense.

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A West Virginia National Guard C-17 military supply transport jet lands at at Kuressaare Airport on Saaremaa island in Estonia on May 22, 2022. Colorado Springs native Capt. Jill Sanning was among three pilots who flew the plane from Dover Air Force Base in Delaware.
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Colorado Springs native and West Virginia National Guard pilot Capt. Jill Sanning on the flight deck of her C-17.
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West Virginia National Guard deployment offer Joanna Voss, right, tracks resources around the world, keeps an eye on arms aboard a C-17 military transport jet from her unit after landing at Kuressaare Airport.
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Estonian-American Airman Sven Wichman completed his mandatory one year service in the Estonian Army, then returned home to the U.S. and joined the Maryland Air National Guard. Here he speaks in Estonian with an Estonian military media crew at Kuressaare Airport.
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Members of the Oklahoma National Guard tow armaments off a West Virginia National Guard C-17 transport at Kuressaare Airport on Saaremaa island in Estonia on Monday. May 22, 2022.
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Members of the U.S. Army’s 14th Field Artillery Regiment based out of Ft. Sill, Oklahoma, prepare to leave base in M142 HIMARS rocket launch vehicles on the coast Saaremaa island of Estonia on May 21.

The Colorado National Guard was behind the planning and command of a live-fire rocket exercise in which Estonian forces communicated with and controlled the launch from vehicles operated by troops from Oklahoma.

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Colorado National Guard members watch a live-fire exercise involving M142 High Mobility Artillery Rocket System, HIMARS, vehicles on Saaremaa island in Estonia on Monday, May 22, 2022.
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U.S. Army Brig. Gen. Laura Clellan, foreground at left, Executive Director of the Colorado Department of Military and Veterans Affairs, and the 44th Adjutant General of Colorado, talks with Col. Chris McKee, commander of the 169th field artillery brigade from the Colorado Army National Guard, before a live-fire rocket launch demonstration from M142 HIMARS, or High Mobility Artillery Rocket System trucks, on a remote stretch of beach beside the Baltic Sea on Saaremaa island in Estonia on Monday, May 22, 2022.
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U.S. Army Brig. Gen. Laura Clellan, center, talks with members of the Oklahoma National Guard after a live-fire exercise involving M142 High Mobility Artillery Rocket System, HIMARS, vehicles on Saaremaa island in Estonia on Monday, May 22, 2022.
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A soldier from the 14th Field Artillery Regiment based out of Ft. Sill, Oklahoma, aboard a M142 HIMARS rocket launch vehicle on the coast Saaremaa island of Estonia on Monday, May 22, 2022.
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Members of the Oklahomas National Guard and a local fire fighting squad watch a live-fire rocket launch demonstration from M142 HIMARS, or High Mobility Artillery Rocket System trucks, on a remote stretch of beach beside the Baltic Sea on Saaremaa island in Estonia on Monday, May 22, 2022.
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Colorado National Guardsman, and partner in Boulder’s Trident bookstore, Ashkan Angha, center, on the coast of Saaremaa island of Estonia on Monday, May 22, 2022.
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U.S. Army Brig. Gen. Laura Clellan, foreground at left, watches a live-fire rocket launch demonstration from M142 HIMARS, or High Mobility Artillery Rocket System trucks, on a remote stretch of beach beside the Baltic Sea on Saaremaa island in Estonia on Monday, May 22, 2022.

Another goal: Practicing speed and agility in deployment, including "hot refueling." Air Force special forces land a cargo plane that becomes a temporary mobile gas station for fighter jets.

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A U.S. Air Force special forces fuel management team taps the under-wing tank of an MC130 transport plane as its engines run for a “hot refuel” of A-10 Thunderbolt attack jets with the Maryland Air National Guard’s 175th operations group at Kuressaare Airport on Saaremaa island in Estonia, Tuesday, May 23, 2022.
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A U.S. Air Force special forces fuel management team prepares fuel transfer lines running from the under-wing tank of an MC130 transport plane as its engines remain on for a “hot refuel” of A-10 Thunderbolt attack jets with the Maryland Air National Guard’s 175th operations group at Kuressaare Airport on Saaremaa island in Estonia, Tuesday, May 23, 2022.
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Heavy traffic: A pilot with the Maryland Air National Guard’s 175th operations group parks his A-10 Thunderbolt on the tarmac at at Kuressaare Airport on Saaremaa island in Estonia, Tuesday, May 23, 2022, as a U.S. Air Force special forces fuel management airman monitors a “hot refuel” from an MC130 transport plane visible behind at left. Behind at right, A C-17 transport from the Maryland National Guard taxis for takeoff.
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Lt. Col. Paul Kanning, an A-10 pilot with the Maryland Air National Guard’s 175th operations group, taxis in for a “hot’ refuel” on the tarmac at Kuressaare Airport on Saaremaa island in Estonia, Tuesday, May 23, 2022. The fuel is pumped from a tank on an Air Force transport plane straight into the A-10’s tanks while the engines of both plane remain running.
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Lt. Col. Paul Kanning, an A-10 pilot, taxis at Kuressaare Airport.

The harbor town of Kuressaare on Saaremaa Island, which hosts the National Guard, is like the rest of Estonia: contested land. Western forces will return next year for training.

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A U.S. airman sits on the loading ramp of a C-17 military transport, as A-10 jet fighters land at at Kuressaare airport.
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Children cover their ears and watch the spectacle of U.S. military aircraft taking part in Defender-Europe 22, a large-scale U.S. Army-led multinational military exercise, at Kuressaare Airport on Saaremaa island in Estonia, Tuesday, May 23, 2022.
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A quiet moment on the waterfront of Kuressaare.
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The moat and fortifications around Kuressaare Castle on Saaremaa. The castle dates back to the 14th century, and at various times was controlled by the Danes, Norwegians, Swedes, Germans and Russians.
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A boat leaves Kuressaare harbor on Saaremaa Island on May 21, 2022.
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Pilot Capt. Jill Sanning climbs aboard a C-17 military transport jet to Kuressaare Airport.
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A West Virginia National Guard C-17 transport leaves Kuressaare Airport on May 23.

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