Mark Pekela, the United States ambassador to Latvia, fields questions from U.S. Army paratroopers from 1st Battalion, 503rd Infantry Regiment, 173rd Airborne Brigade, during a May 22, 2014, visit to the U.S. Embassy in Riga, Latvia. The paratroopers were participating in a cultural day where they met with Latvian citizens, learned the history of the city, and toured the U.S. Embassy. The paratroopers have been in Latvia since early April when more than 600 paratroopers with the 173rd Airborne traveled to Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Poland as part of an unscheduled land-forces exercise to demonstrate commitment to NATO obligations and sustain interoperability with allied forces.