Royal Marines have sharpened their specialised mountain warfare skills in Slovenia during a three-week intensive training exercise alongside NATO allies, according to a press release.
UK Commando Forces conducted the training ahead of upcoming deployments to Norway, Sweden, and Finland for winter exercises.
The marines based themselves at Bohinjska Bela Barracks and carried out missions in Slovenia’s Triglav National Park, home to NATO’s Mountain Warfare Centre of Excellence. Working closely with the Slovenian Armed Forces, the marines participated in exercises known as Triglav Star, focusing on key skills such as vertical assaults, river crossings, and casualty evacuations. NATO allies from North Macedonia, Spain, Italy, Romania, the United States, Czechia, Poland, and Hungary also took part, enhancing the multinational collaboration.
Lieutenant Gordon Pickthall, a Training Manager embedded with the Commando Forces, spoke on the importance of training in the challenging Alpine environment. “The Alps offer a far more exposed training area with steeper and sharper terrains compared with our mountainous areas in Scotland,” said Lt Pickthall. “It takes a particular skillset to be able to operate independently in small teams, for the Commando Forces this mountain warfighting ability is a niche but important capability that we provide to NATO.”
The training took place in the Karavanke Valley, a rugged 120km mountain range in the Southern Limestone Alps. The exercises culminated in a tactical scenario where the UK Commando Forces provided essential reconnaissance and screening for a multinational NATO brigade, offering early warnings of ‘enemy’ movements and disrupting their activities.
The deployment also gave the marines a chance to test new equipment, including the L403 assault rifles and night vision gear, which will be trialled again in Arctic conditions this winter. As the UK’s specialists in Arctic and mountain warfare, the Royal Marines are held at constant readiness to deploy in some of the world’s most unforgiving environments.
This training not only honed unique mountain warfare capabilities but also allowed them to share knowledge with NATO allies and learn from one another’s tactics, further strengthening their ability to operate together in difficult terrain.
I wonder how many lads were on this. It is usually a disappointingly small number of Brits on these international exercises.
Sorry, ‘training manager’ ?
He’s an LT or some Civil Servant?
Please challenge the press releases – stop reporting nonsense.
RN Training Management Officers are usually embedded to RM units and provide training quality assurance to the Bootnecks. It’s quite a niche branch and not widely known about.