U.S. Military Recovery Efforts Still Ongoing To Recover Vehicle Trapped In Swamp

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The United States military is continuing its efforts to recover a vehicle that became submerged in a swamp in Lithuania this week that is believed to contain the bodies of four U.S. Army soldiers who went missing during the incident.

The soldiers from 1st Brigade, 3rd Infantry Division, went missing during scheduled tactical training this week at the General Silvestras Žukauskas training ground in Pabradė, just a few miles away from the country’s border with Belarus.

“We are leveraging every available U.S. and Lithuanian asset to coordinate for and provide the required resources for this effort,” said U.S. Army Maj. Gen. Curtis Taylor, the commanding general of 1st Armored Division.

The U.S. military said that the soldiers were riding in an M88 Hercules armored recovery vehicle, which is a giant armored tow truck designed to pull damaged tanks off the battlefield, when they went missing.

The vehicle was located on Wednesday, just one day after the soldiers went missing, after an extensive search from United States and Lithuanian military forces.

The thick forests and swampy terrain present unique challenges in trying to recover the vehicle as “thick mud and soft ground” have “required specialized equipment to drain water from the side and stabilize the ground,” the military said in a statement.

“Engineers on site are working to create berms,” the statement said. “These berms—barriers built of dirt and sand from the nearby terrain—are designed to create a contained area from which water can be pumped and mud dredged, providing emergency personnel on site access to the vehicle.”

Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth said in a statement on Wednesday that everyone’s “prayers are with their families, teammates, the entire unit—and everyone conducting search operations.”

“Nothing our troops do — whether in combat or in training — is ever routine,” he said. “We will not rest until our troops are found.”



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