Norway will contribute to the transformation of NATO with a Centre of Excellence for Cold Weather Operations. One of the tasks will therefore be to support allies conducting operations or training in a cold weather environment with qualified winter instructors, says Ltcol Svein Inge Rødland commander of COE-CWO.

During Battle Griffin 05, USMC requested support by Norwegian winter experts. Norway supported the 25 MAR Regiment with six officers from the Army TRADOK and the Home guard. A head of the field training exercise, the Regiment had their CET/FIT phase in Leksdalen with support from the Norwegians to teach different winter lessons and give guidance to their American colleges.
During the field training exercise one Norwegian officer followed each rifle company, this also included winter technique guiding to the companies.

Marines meets demanding conditions in Norway (Foto: FMS)

25-28 February in Leksdalen
After a coordination with the USMC 2nd BN/25 MAR REG the training was organized as a rotation with different lessons. Priorities were given to live fire, use of snowshoes, infantry drills in the snow and use of BV 206 (a tracked vehicle to transport up to 17 personnel). Instructions where given in basic winter warfare and good old infantry techniques.
The marines where not familiar with the BV 206, therefore security and procedures with the vehicles were drilled. Including tactical drills to get out and to get into the BV in a hurry. At the end there were of course driving in the terrain, which the marines really enjoyed – For once they did not need to walk.

BV 206 was a new fantastic exsperience (Foto: FMS)

Field Training Exercise 1-7 Mars
2nd Bn demonstrated that they fully transferred their good military skills to demanding winter conditions during the field training exercise. To wake up in the morning with minus 30 degrees Celsius (- 22 F) without any heater or stove in the tent demands a lot from the marines says winter expert Kapt Kjetil Nygård. They also showed good routines with food and nutrition, latrine service, track discipline, traffic and personnel security. They did not let the winter reduce the effect of their drills and operations according to the former course officer from the Allied Winter Warfare Course.

Conclusion
Major Espolin Johnson will give credit to 2nd Bn and their ability to train serious and to be motivated to learn during their demanding stay in Norway. They did the right things at the right time with accuracy and precision. This is of great importance if you want to succeed in cold weather operations. If you do not focus on details it is easy to get frostbites, get hypothermal or even to walk around with weapons and gear out of function. This might cause a disaster not only to the single soldier but also to whole units, history gives us more than one example of this says the Major.