A Marine rifle company’s vehicles were transferred to USS New York, and the Marines flown ahead to Norway to meet up with their gear.
Skillman said it was a variable that created an unexpected training opportunity. “We looked at it as battle damage. We had to adjust our plans, reconfigure, reset, and maximize what we have.”
Skillman’s previous assignment was deputy and chief of staff at the NATO Joint Warfare Center in Stavanger, Norway, which designed the Trident Juncture exercise that he was now participating in.
NATO joint forces participate in a simulated amphibious assault during the exercise Trident Juncture 18 joint-capability demonstration near Byneset, Norway. Trident Juncture, a NATO-led exercise, hosted by Norway, included around 50,000 personnel from NATO countries, as well as Finland and Sweden, testing NATO’s collective response to an armed attack against one ally, invoking Article 5 of the North Atlantic Treaty. U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Jonathan Nelson
Paralleling the Trident Juncture live exercise, JWC conducted a simultaneous Computer-Assisted Command Post Exercise (CAX/CPX) to train command and control procedures of NATO Response Force 2019 (NRF19).
What “right” looks like
Commandant of the Marine Corps Robert Neller watched Marines—with their weapons and gear—in the hangar deck aboard USS Iwo Jima (LHD 7) as they prepared to go ashore by way of LCACs, V-22 Osprey tiltrotors and CH-53E Super Stallion helicopters.
“The weather can beat you as much as any other adversary. It’s not that cold yet, but it’s harder now because you get in the rain and the wind, and it’s worse than just snow. When it’s really cold, you just have to worry about staying warm. You don’t have to worry as much about staying dry.”
While Iwo Jima was conducting her assault in Alvund Fjord, USS New York was sending Marines ashore with amphibious assault vehicles.
As the Marines in the camouflage face paint prepared to board the landing craft aircraft, Neller said he was more worried about the weather than opposition ashore. “The weather can beat you as much as any other adversary. It’s not that cold yet, but it’s harder now because you get in the rain and the wind, and it’s worse than just snow. When it’s really cold, you just have to worry about staying warm. You don’t have to worry as much about staying dry.”
The exercise was building confidence, Neller said. “We have a captain as company commander who is probably in his late 20s and a first sergeant is in his early 30s, and they are the two oldest and most experienced Marines. They’re going to go take these Marines and their corpsmen ashore to experience something that most of them probably have never experienced before. They’re going to operate in a foreign country in an exercise where the terrain and the weather are going to test them.”
For Neller, it was gratifying to see the Navy-Marine Corps team together at sea.
“This is what we’re supposed to do—a naval force from the sea, air, and land,” Neller said. “This is what ‘right’ looks like.”