Rubber over-boots kept their feet dry, while water-resistant shells did their best to keep the rain at bay. Lima Company came clothed in the lessons learned from previous rotations – literally. Working alongside the Norwegian Army – and their counterparts in the United Kingdom's Royal Marines, whose training partnership with Norway also stretches back decades – the American troops have honed the cold-weather tactics first developed at their Mountain Warfare Training Center in Bridgeport, California. For years, the US Marines have deployed forces to Norway to learn the hard lessons of training and fighting in the cold. Screening ahead of them, Norwegian mechanised infantry troops lugged Carl Gustaf anti-tank rocket launchers through thigh-deep snow to neutralise the opposing force's armoured units. The Marines of 3/6 contended with narrow coastal roads as they made their way inland, making cautious progress as they watched out for ambushes.

(US Marine Corps photo by Staff Sgt Shawn Coover) A view of Ruoppat fjord in Narvik, Norway from the deck of Italian Navy aircraft carrier ITS Giuseppe Garibaldi during exercise Cold Response 2022.

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