U.S. Marines join huge NATO training exercises in Norway

U.S. Marines joined NATO exercises in Norway near the border with Russia. Sweden and Finland also took part for the first time as the war in Ukraine loomed.

ALTA, Norway — Nestled waist-high in Arctic snow miles away from civilization, U.S. Marines looked through binoculars from their machine-gun position toward the frozen ridge, watching for signs of enemy movement.

Their battalion commander in this exercise, Lt. Col. Thomas Driscoll, approached the trench they dug by hand into the mountainside and asked what they needed. 

“More ammo,” one of them replied.

In a nearby tent, fellow soldiers dried snow-saturated cammies over a gas stove. For nearly two weeks, they lived, slept and trained on this stretch of tundra on the northern tip of Norway where temperatures regularly dip below zero. 

But when the orders came to change position, they packed the tents and hurriedly filled in the ditches. Within around two hours, they’d taken off on snowmobiles and tracked vehicles, leaving barely a trace behind.

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/us-marines-join-huge-nato-training-exercises-norway-rcna143167

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