45 Commando are on exercise in the north of Norway undertaking Arctic survival training in bitterly cold temperatures, say the MoD.
The Ministry of Defence say that the deployment is all part of the UK’s commitment to the Arctic, which saw 800 marines deploy last year and this larger force head north this time around.
“The Green Berets are being put through their paces in the harsh conditions around 200 miles inside the Arctic Circle, where the sun barely rises and temperatures plummet to below -30C. As 3 Commando Brigade’s highest readiness unit, 45 Commando must be prepared to deploy anywhere in the world at a moment’s notice. That includes the most extreme climes known to man, including Arctic, jungle and desert.
More than a thousand marines have headed for Norway this time, with 47 Commando Raiding Group with their small boats and 30 Commando Information Exploitation Group also in the region. This is all in preparation for Exercise Cold Response – a large-scale, multinational war games led by Norway in late February and into March.”
The Royal Marines are deployed to Norway until March. The Cold Weather Warfare Course has three phases – survival, mobility and warfare, culminating in a final exercise that puts the newly-taught skills into practice.
Other than being cold I can see this as being a really interesting training.
Lovely scenery as well to enjoy while on any downtime.
Curious to know why there is a padlock on the back door, are they afraid of a break in or something escaping?. Looks incongruous.
Padlocks on the doors of AFVs is a standard thing, finish a road march, lock the waggon down if its none tactical and get some sleep. It stops the locals or more realistically another vehicles driver robbing tools or pissing in your BV.
BV
Join the Army and see the world. Hope that they are kitted out properly with the right gear & not having to make do with substandard clothing.
They are, it’s their job and has been throughout the Cold War (excuse the pun) and their navy lads not Army lol. Always hated the cold, when we did a stint in Norway a few years ago, wasn’t my thing! Give me hot, minging dry deserts or stinking jungle every time! Just taking a wazz in that climate seemed to take 10 bloody minutes!
Thanks Airborne for the reply & correction as you say they are Navy & a credit to this country as all our services are which as we all know are very underfunded so is good that at least they have the right kit, because the weather & temperature there doesn’t look appealing.
It’s actually not that bad. If you’re operating up beyond Bergen the snow isn’t the wet clingy stuff but more like dry powder, as its so cold. So long as you follow the exposure rules (outside of vehicle etc), you’ll be ok. The clothing you get today is so much better than before. Much like the jungle or the desert you have to play by the rules and respect the environment you’re operating in. Doing the frozen lake escape drills, is an experience everyone should do at least once in their lives. The BV206s and Vikings are awesome vehicles in… Read more »