Photo By Capt. Thomas McCarty | U.S. Soldiers assigned to Charlie Battery, 1st Battalion, 6th Field Artillery...... read more read more
Subscribe
SETERMOEN, Norway — U.S. Soldiers from 1st Battalion, 6th Field Artillery Regiment, 41st Field Artillery Brigade, recently completed rigorous cold weather training in the Arctic Circle, increasing their ability to fight and win in an arctic operational environment.
The training, led by 1-6 FAR’s NATO Winter Instructors in partnership with the Norwegian Army, was designed to provide foundational skills that allow Soldiers to excel and achieve their mission in extreme cold weather conditions. Instruction included classes on cold weather injury prevention, arctic terrain analysis, cold weather maintenance, and improvised shelter construction.
“This training allows Soldiers to build the skills and knowledge to thrive out here, instead of just surviving,” said 1st Lt. Ian Whittington, a NATO winter instructor and battalion ammunition officer. “It allows us to not worry about the cold, but to just march on and operate.”
In addition to foundational arctic skills, a key component of the training was an arctic driver’s training course, where Soldiers learned from their Norwegian counterparts about how to operate military vehicles safely across icy and snow-covered terrain, a critical skill for moving artillery and personnel effectively to where they are needed most in the fight.
The training concluded with a cold-water “polar plunge,” an exercise where Soldiers jumped through a hole in the ice and into a lake with a heavy rucksack in order to test a Soldier’s physical and mental endurance in the freezing arctic waters.
The Army trains in various operational environments to ensure Soldiers are prepared for a wide variety of conditions that they may face in the field. These environments all present unique terrain, climate, and operational challenges.
Spc. John Bosley, a medic for 1-6 FAR, highlighted the importance of training in a new climate and how it directly translates to mission success.
“As an artillery regiment, operating is a little different in an arctic environment, and there are a lot of requirements that go along with that,” Bosley said. “Here in the Arctic Circle, we are looking at large-scale combat operations, so cold weather is going to be our number one operational obstacle. Knowing how to deal with that obstacle is going to give us the edge.”
Arctic familiarization is the initial phase of training within Exercise Joint Viking 25. Joint Viking 25 is a multilateral exercise hosted by Norway, with the goal of strengthening the U.S. Army's ability to operate with Arctic allies and rapidly respond to a crisis in arctic terrain. The exercise is part of U.S. Army Europe and Africa’s arctic allied initiatives and involves U.S. Soldiers, Marines and personnel from Norway, the Netherlands, Finland, Germany, Denmark, and Great Britain.
1-6 FAR flexed its expeditionary deployment capabilities to reposition itself from Grafenwöhr, Germany to Setermoen, Norway for the execution of this exercise, which will culminate with a live firing of the unit’s new M270A2 Multiple Launch Rocket Systems in the Arctic Circle.
This experience has proven invaluable for 41st Field Artillery Brigade’s operational readiness in the Arctic Circle, enhancing the U.S. Army’s ability to deploy and execute mission-critical tasks in cold weather environments while reinforcing a collective commitment to defense among our Allies. The lessons learned will continue to guide the brigade as it prepares for future challenges in the Arctic and beyond, ensuring that 41st FAB remains capable of delivering long-range indirect fires anytime and anywhere.
| Date Taken: | 03.01.2025 |
| Date Posted: | 03.01.2025 13:54 |
| Story ID: | 491837 |
| Location: | SETERMOEN, TROMS, NO |
| Hometown: | GRAFENWOHR, BAYERN, DE |
| Web Views: | 173 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
This work, 41st FAB increases arctic operational capabilities in Norway during Joint Viking 25, by CPT Thomas McCarty, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
No keywords found.
