As farming was financially unsuccessful, the family moved to Riga, where Juozapas Juozapavičius worked as a wagoner.

[2] In 1902, Antanas Juozapavičius started going to school in Riga, and from 1905 to Riga's Alexander II Boys' Gymnasium [lt], although he was thrown out of school in sixth grade for the spreading of Lithuanian ideas.

After a few months, he was sent to the Moscow military school, graduating as a praporshchik, after which he was assigned to the 57th Infantry Regiment [ru] in Tver.

In 1916, he completed the machine gunner's school in Gatchina and promptly returned to his regiment.

In June 1917, he was active in the committee for the organisation of Lithuanian military units in Smolensk.