US Marines braved howling winds and frigid temperatures to prepare for Exercise Steadfast Defender 2024, the largest NATO exercise in decades.
US Marines braved howling winds and frigid temperatures to prepare for Exercise Steadfast Defender 2024, the largest NATO exercise in decades.
The troops from 1st Battalion, 2nd Marine Regiment arrived in Setermoen, Norway in January for several weeks of cold weather training. They’ll need it when they move to the country’s remote Finnmark region for Exercise Nordic Response, which is part of the Steadfast Defender series.
After some classroom instruction, the Marines headed into the hills above Setermoen Camp, where they established a camp and honed their survival skills – boiling snow for water, digging defensive positions, and learning how to navigate around the snow-covered landscape. At night, the temperature dropped below -20 centigrade, forcing the Marines to rely on their training to avoid injury.
Towards the end of February, the Marines are heading north to practice defensive and offensive operations alongside troops from Finland, Norway and Sweden. Nine other Allies are also participating in Nordic Response, including Belgium, Canada, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain and the United Kingdom.
Steadfast Defender is a series of exercises designed to test Allies’ ability to coordinate troop movements and operations across multiple regions. The drills will run until May and involve 90,000 troops from all 31 Allies and Sweden.
