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Cold Storage in Norway

Sir, what should we do with all this money we can’t spend?
I dunno, buy some gear and hide it in a cave somewhere!
 
I wonder if that 60 year-old Little John nuclear rocket that they showed is still in a cave somewhere?

:p
 
Sir, the troops lost a brigade's worth of equipment. We're gonna have one hell of an investigation and write off.

No. We didn't lose it. We... umm... stashed it away. In caves. Yeah, not lost at all, but a.. .strategic reserve in.. ah... Norway. I'll tell my successor, he'll sign for it, and then it's not my problem any more!
 
Did Canada not have some stuff prepositioned in Norway too back in the day?

Canadian Air-Sea Transportable Brigade Group - Wikipedia

And is that not why we purchased the BV206? I do think some BV206 were prepositioned.
I was in Norway with the Royal Marines when the CAST Brigade pulled the plug. My understanding was that they had very little equipment per-positioned in theatre.

As a Canadian, I was appalled. And 'Royal' didn't hesitate to take the piss of course. :)

There was an RCR battalion with the AMF (L) Brigade and that was a modest, but reasonably proportionate, contribution.
 
Canada had two elements earmarked for the northern flank of NATO: A battle group from 2 CMBG in Petawawa with the Allied Command Europe (ACE) Mobile Force (a collection of several battle groups from different NATO countries) which was primarily air transportable and the Combined Air-Sea Transportable (CAST) Brigade Group (primarily the bulk of 5 CMBG in Valcartier) which was to be transported to Norway on RORO ships provided by the Norwegians. There were also two fighter squadrons and some other odds and sods.

CAST only exercised twice--once in Canada and once on Ex Brave Lion in 1986. The exercise was generally not successful. The concept died a quick death during a major defense review the following year.

We never stored any equipment of any significance in Norway for either force that I know of as it was all needed back in Canada for day-to-day training anyway.

🍻
 
Canada had two elements earmarked for the northern flank of NATO: A battle group from 2 CMBG in Petawawa with the Allied Command Europe (ACE) Mobile Force (a collection of several battle groups from different NATO countries) which was primarily air transportable and the Combined Air-Sea Transportable (CAST) Brigade Group (primarily the bulk of 5 CMBG in Valcartier) which was to be transported to Norway on RORO ships provided by the Norwegians. There were also two fighter squadrons and some other odds and sods.

CAST only exercised twice--once in Canada and once on Ex Brave Lion in 1986. The exercise was generally not successful. The concept died a quick death during a major defense review the following year.

We never stored any equipment of any significance in Norway for either force that I know of as it was all needed back in Canada for day-to-day training anyway.

🍻
Not true. There was an Infantry Bn (light) plus an Artillery Battery worth of kit stored in Norway at least until 1992. I know, because I used it...
 
Not true. There was an Infantry Bn (light) plus an Artillery Battery worth of kit stored in Norway at least until 1992. I know, because I used it...
That would have had to have gone over there after my tour with 2 RCHA ended in '76. What type of guns were they?

🍻
 
In case you're interested, you Loggie geeks, the Norwegians have an extensive military cave network - and not just for the US Marines. Here's a little more information on the USMC caves:

Norwegian Military Caves

 
In case you're interested, you Loggie geeks, the Norwegians have an extensive military cave network - and not just for the US Marines. Here's a little more information on the USMC caves:

Norwegian Military Caves

I would love to see the whole operation and upkeep side of the house.

I remember our attempts to have a a fleet in Wx that people could just fall in on for Exercise and how horribly managed it was, be nice to see what a well managed plan looks like.
 
Step 1: More full-time maintainers, less full-time infantry.
 
I would love to see the whole operation and upkeep side of the house.

I remember our attempts to have a a fleet in Wx that people could just fall in on for Exercise and how horribly managed it was, be nice to see what a well managed plan looks like.
Norway is amazing at the logistics stuff.

At their infantry school you don’t do laundry. You hand in your dirty kit and get issued a clean set, then they do the laundry and restock the shelves.

Need a road to link up the coastal communities? we would build a rickety and dangerous road, like the Sea to Sky highway, along the mountainous coastline. The Noggies drill a 8 lane tunnel through the mountains.
 
Or even better: both ;)
Any plan built on "let's assume away the hard restrictions" is destined for failure.

If Canada's government has directed the military to be a certain size, planning assumptions based on "Let's ignore what we've been told to do" will rarely end well.
 
This is going way back but I seem to recall that there were plans during P.E.T.'s reign to position the tanks from the regiments that we pulled out of NATO in Norway with the personnel being stationed in Canada but able to respond on short notice. I don't think it lasted long
 
And in a look back thanks to the CBC, what the Norway commitment looked like in the '83-'84 (?) timeframe.

 
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