Danish Soldiers Sent to Latvia Placed in Toxic, Dilapidated, Gas-Ridden Tents
09:50 GMT 18.05.2023 (Updated: 10:17 GMT 18.05.2023)
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According to the Danish soldiers' trade union, the persistent problem of diesel-powered heat guns, which recently sparked criticism from the defense chief himself, has plagued personnel for decades, marring overseas deployments as far back as the 1990s.
Some 800 Danish soldiers stationed in Latvia since November as part of NATO's advanced presence in the Baltics have been living in tents polluted with toxic fumes, the Danish Defense Ministry has warned in a memorandum.
The tents of Danish soldiers at Camp Valdemar were heated with diesel-powered VA-M40-type heat guns throughout the winter, which has resulted in air pollution inside the tents and around them exceeding the limits of the Danish Working Environment Authority, the report revealed.
The ministry also admitted that the measurements were when "the weather was mild," which is why the heat guns were not turned up full blast. Therefore, there may be "significant dark numbers" associated with the test.
"It is clear that Danish soldiers must not live in tents with particle pollution. Neither when deployed nor when in training," acting Defense Minister Troels Lund Poulsen said in a statement. " I look at the matter very seriously, and I am waiting for us to uncover it and ensure that it does not happen again," he added.
The soldier trade union said they were happy that the problem was finally being clarified.
"It's a really, really bad case. But it's positive that the Armed Forces have finally become aware of it," its chairman Jesper Korsgaard Hansen told Danish media, recollecting the very same heat guns from his own deployments to Croatia and Bosnia in the 1990s. "We have all been deployed under these conditions, so you have to look far back in time to examine the consequences of this," he added.
The Defense Sanitation Command does not consider that the polluted tents entails a significant risk of developing diseases later in life, yet nevertheless, it recommended reconsidering the use of similar heat guns in the future.
This is not the first report of questionable conditions for Danish soldiers deployed overseas. Earlier, a trade union representative lamented about how the first team, when they arrived in Latvia, found themselves quartered in moldy, dilapidated tents. He also admitted a drastic lack of equipment.
"We lack everything from ammunition to underpants, to say the least. It is the saddest period I have been in the Armed Forces. And I've seen a little bit of everything for 20 years," the spokesman was quoted as saying back then.
"We lack everything from ammunition to underpants, to say the least. It is the saddest period I have been in the Armed Forces. And I've seen a little bit of everything for 20 years," the spokesman was quoted as saying back then.
26 April 2023, 12:10 GMT
Earlier this spring, the Danish Defense Ministry said it would allocate DKK 38 billion ($5.6 billion) to bolstering its military in order to get closer to NATO's spending target. Among other things, the money will be spent on gear, equipment, buildings, information technology, personnel and new investments. The ministry cited the "current geopolitical situation" which warrants "more resources."
The Danish military is admittedly plagued by severe staff shortages that forced the Nordic country to limit its Arctic patrols and curtail its overseas presence in Iraq starting from early 2024. Instead, more emphasis will be placed on its presence in Baltic countries. Furthermore, Denmark's military spending spree, which also involves mammoth aid to the Kiev regime in the Ukraine conflict, already resulted in unpopular measures, such as abandoning a cherished Christian holiday in order to replenish the state coffers.
