When war broke out in Ukraine, the head of the Fashion Chamber of Latvia, Dita Danosa, did not hesitate to become an army reservist and exchanged her usually elegant clothes for military uniforms.

“I really felt like I can’t be passive and just watch TV,” the 49-year-old told AFP at the Mezaine military training area in western Latvia.

“So I decided, yes, the National Guard is the right place for me.”

Since Russian troops invaded Ukraine in February, Baltic states like Latvia – which borders Russia – have been concerned about what Moscow might do next.

This fear has led to a four-fold increase in volunteers like Danosa for the army’s reserve force, known as the National Guard, or Zemessardze in Latvian.

“When the war started, all European values ??were in jeopardy,” Danosa said, breaking the silence between the volleys of two bullets.

While Latvia’s EU and NATO membership reassured her, Danosa said she felt threatened “because Russian aggression is unpredictable and we don’t know what can happen.”

Dressed in full battle dress, including a magazine belt, she recalled that Latvia had an “occupation history”. The former Soviet republic regained its independence in 1991.

Mezaine’s location is symbolic. During the Cold War, the Skrunda-1 radar station was located here, whose two large installations were intended to alert the Soviet Red Army in the event of a missile attack from the west.

Today, the site is used, among other things, for the training of urban guerrillas.

Established in 1991, the National Guard is the largest component of the armed forces in the country of 1.85 million people.

It consists of around 9,600 volunteers and is divided into four brigades. The national army now has around 6,000 professional soldiers.

Welcoming the “huge surge” in volunteer interest, Guard Commander-in-Chief Egils Lescinskis said fewer people were getting off.

He said they had received around 4,000 applications since early 2022, versus an average of around 1,000 candidates a year.

Around 20 percent of the volunteers this year are women.

The volunteers go through 21 days of basic training, usually spread over seven weekends, after which they are ready to go on call.

Last Saturday, around 30 gun-armed volunteers in camouflage fatigues waited in complete silence at the edge of a dense forest.

Their only communication as they prepared to attack a convoy was through hand gestures or the tugging of a wire.

When the vehicle arrived, the burst of heavy gunfire was deafening. A few seconds later, a car horn pierced the air.

The driver, head on the wheel, pretended to be dead.

The training includes “everything from simple survival to understanding what war is,” said recruit Rudolfs Aboltins.

“How to take up arms or present yourself or talk to people, how to engage in unexpected situations in society and in combat,” he added.

Like Danosa, Aboltins joined the Guard after the invasion.

While he sees no immediate threat to Latvia, the “atrocities” in Ukraine mean “what I’m doing right now could matter in the future,” he said.

“Many of us have pacifist tendencies. We took up guns and started learning how to shoot because we want to be able to protect our loved ones,” he told AFP.

After basic training, he will take a specialized course to improve communication between civilians and troops.

If you want, you can also specialize in areas such as anti-tank defense, medical aid or sniper training.

“My wife said at least one family member needs to join and learn basic skills,” said 35-year-old entrepreneur and father-of-two Juris Kukulis.

“So if something happens, we know what to do.”

bo-amj / once / ah