Aitvaras is one of the most secretive units in the Lithuania military. Eugenijus Dauskurtas, who has recently retired from the force, talks to LRT.lt about the selection process, the service and what effect it has had on his life.
He spent 17 years in the Lithuanian Armed Forces – from 2004 to 2021. He first served in the National Defence Volunteer Force (KASP), then in the Naval Forces, and finally in the Special Operations Force (SOF).
Dauskurtas, who has now completed his military career, joined the volunteers to avoid conscription. The plan had the opposite effect.
“We thought we would volunteer, serve over the weekends for three years and do our own thing,” he said. “[But] there I discovered a place where a bad person, a bad child, could be the best.”
“From then on, my whole approach to life changed and the army became my top priority,” Dauskurtas added.
He went on to fight in Afghanistan and serve in other dangerous missions.
But it was the special forces’ selection process that left the most vivid memories for Dauskurtas.
“We used to sleep in one sleeping bag, all in one pile. The person who is with you at the selection becomes so close that everything changes and there are no dogmas or stereotypes left in social life,” he said.
“When you go to a combat unit, you get a normal 'shake-down', they look at who you are, because in a combat unit, you can’t take a step back, you always go forward and the task comes first,” he said.
He was once even injured during one of the training courses and was offered a chance to leave. But this left him in tears.
“I said, ‘are you joking? I spent 4 weeks in the forest.’ They took me to the hospital, bandaged my leg and thanked God everything was fine. I went back to the barracks where I found that the guys made a heart out of biscuits, congratulating me that I was back safe and sound,” Dauskurtas recalled. “Difficult things bring you closer together.”
It takes about two years to train special operations soldiers. At that point, the candidates are no longer young recruits, but people in their mid-20s.
“You already have a little bit of life experience,” he said. “You start to recognise patterns of behaviour and so on.”
The ability to reach one’s limit, Dauskurtas said, strengthens people’s self-esteem.
“It is one of the key mental elements that shape the range of your future actions and reactions. If my self-esteem is low, I will tend to back down in certain situations, even though I know I am right,” he said.
“Or I will fold my arms without even trying something. These things add up and they get in the way everywhere in our lives because we don’t trust ourselves,” Dauskurtas added.
Although the force is supposed to work from 08:00 to 17:00, the reality is somewhat different.
“After training, you kind of get back on track, you start to be at home a bit. Until training starts again and you disappear again, and you and your family start to see each other less and less as time goes by,” said Dauskurtas. “A lot of guys sacrificed and still sacrifice their time, their family's well-being to [...] have a special operations force under the Lithuanian flag.”
“Men give a lot and their families give a lot. Children grow up without fathers. But this is the sacrifice that makes the Lithuanian army so trusted now,” he said.
Dauskurtas said he decided to quit when his work was becoming detrimental to his family. He and his wife have a 6-year-old daughter and a 4-month-old son. He felt he was missing out on being a father.
“I haven't had as much time to love my daughter; I wasn't home,” said Dauskurtas.
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