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More than 300 Marines will be deployed to Norway along the Russian border as tensions between Moscow and Washington over conflicts in Ukraine and Syria have provoked new threats of sanctions and military upgrades. The deployment marks the first time a foreign military will be on the ground in Norway since World War II, according to Reuters.
The Marines will take part in training and manoeuvres in near Arctic conditions. They will be stationed at the Vaernes military base in central Norway about 600 miles from Russia and will "increase NATO’s ability to rapidly aggregate and employ forces in northern Europe," Major General Niel Nelson, commander of U.S. Marines in Europe, said Monday.
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During the 1980’s, MCMWTC became critically important due to the increased role of Marines in cold weather operations, research & development and operational doctrine. The North Atlantic Treaty Organization’s (NATO) commitment to the defense of northern Europe resulted in annual winter training exercise in Norway. The USMC routinely deployed to Norway with a regimental headquarters and an infantry battalion along with supporting aviation and logistics units. MCMWTC was the venue for preparing Marines for cold-weather operations prior to participating in NATO exercises. It was during this era that the Marine Corps addressed the inadequacies of the 1950s cold weather equipment and began modernization. MCMWTC’s training program also became formalized in the 1980s, resulting in USMC infantry battalions cycling through winter and summer training exercises as part of unit pre-deployment training. The MCMWTC Unit Training Section was established to execute the unit training program. Additionally, the individual training section was further refined, based on the United Kingdom Royal Marine program, and renamed the Mountain Leader Course (MLC). The MLC program produced instructor-qualified military mountaineers and returned them to the Marine Corps operational forces. MCMWTC also developed a mountain and cold-weather survival course and a cold-weather medicine course. The Cold-Weather Medicine course was unique within NATO forces and addressed the peculiar medical problems associated with mountain, high-altitude and cold-weather military operations.
Winter is coming, Marines. Members of 2nd Marine Expeditionary Brigade and Marine Corps Forces Europe joined Norwegian troops and 10 other militaries Tuesday to kick off the largest iteration of Exercise Cold Response ever. The 10-day exercise thrusts about 16,000 troops into grueling, subzero conditions to test their ability to move and fight together against a common enemy.
It appears that the underlying reason behind the command is that the Russian government is concerned about the optics of having children of the Russian political elite being educated abroad, while their parents appear on television talking about patriotism and being "surrounded by enemies."
While we doubt the impacted children will be happy by this development, some of the more patriotic locals, if unimpacted, are delighted. Such as Vitaly Ivanov, a political scientist who believes that the measure to return children of officials from studying abroad, is "long overdue." According Ivanoc, the education of children of the Russian elite abroad is subject to constant ridicule and derision against the ruling regime. "People note the hypocrisy of having a centralized state and cultivating patriotism and anti-Western sentiment, while children of government workers study abroad. You can not serve two gods, one must choose."
originally posted by: thesungod
Winter is coming, Marines. Members of 2nd Marine Expeditionary Brigade and Marine Corps Forces Europe joined Norwegian troops and 10 other militaries Tuesday to kick off the largest iteration of Exercise Cold Response ever. The 10-day exercise thrusts about 16,000 troops into grueling, subzero conditions to test their ability to move and fight together against a common enemy.
Source
I've been up their twice for arty drills in 2007 and 2008.
The Marines will deploy for six months, with follow-on rotations to be determined, in a move designed to provide support and collaboration to NATO allies and a ready presence in case of crisis.
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“The U.S. initiative to augment their training and exercises in Norway by locating a Marine Corps Rotational Force in Norway is highly welcome and will have positive implications for our already strong bilateral relationship,” Norwegian Defense Minister Ine Eriksen Søreide said in a statement Monday.
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originally posted by: Orionx2
originally posted by: thesungod
a reply to: Profusion
Eh no. This is a yearly thing. Been going since the 80s.
Dude, you need to shut up. Your propaganda does not fit the conspiracy theory of ATS... Deny ignorance remember? lol
The Marines will deploy for six months, with follow-on rotations to be determined, in a move designed to provide support and collaboration to NATO allies and a ready presence in case of crisis.
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originally posted by: carewemust
a reply to: thesungod
These forces could be equipped for going to actual war this time.
originally posted by: Zanti Misfit
a reply to: burdman30ott6
300 Marines against something like 10 Russian Tank Divisions on the Boarder with Norway , and with Logistics on their side . Not a Good Place to be Jarheads.......
“Taking into account multiple statements made by Norwegian officials about the absence of threat from Russia to Norway, we would like to understand why Norway is so much willing to increase its military potential, in particular through the stationing of American forces in Vaernes," said Maxime Gourov, spokesman for the Russian embassy in Oslo, according to Agence France-Presse.
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