Arctic training

Especially in Lapland, the temperature during winter can go as far down as -40 degrees Celsius, with a snow cover of roughly one metre in thickness, and there is practically no daylight at all around Christmas and New Year. Despite these characteristics, military operations cannot cease during the coldest time of the year; instead, they must adapt to the prevailing conditions.

This is the crux of the matter: the training, equipment and, most of all, the management and the attitude of the unit and the individual troops must be adapted to the fact that military operations, meaning preparedness, operations, exercises and the daily training, must go on in all conditions. Another feature of this extraordinary operating environment is Lapland’s extensive operating area, most of which consists of a road free, uninhabited wilderness with large bog areas and fragmentary waterways.

The Arctic training organised by the Jaeger Brigade consists of training for winter conditions, as well as SERE (Survival, Evasion, Resistance, and Escape) training for staff and conscripts. The Jaeger Brigade always trains primarily its own young training personnel on its staff courses to ensure their sufficient competence, but it also offers courses to the Army’s other brigade-level units, military educational institutions and other partners.