US Marine Corps/Sgt. Averi Coppa
Finnish Colonel Kari Nisula, the exercise commander from the Finnish Army, awards four US Marines with gifts for their participation and leadership in Exercise Arrow 18 in Pohjankangas Training Area near Kankaanpaa, Finland, May 18, 2018.
US Marines from the 4th Tank Battalion withdrew tanks and weapons from caves in Norway earlier this month, taking them east to Finland, where, for the first time, they took part in the annual mechanized exercise called Arrow 18.
The drills took place from May 7 to May 18 in southern Finland, which shares a long border with Russia and has a history of conflict with its larger neighbor. It involved about 150 armored vehicles and 300 other military vehicles. Only 30 Marines took part, but they were joined by thousands of personnel from Norway and Finland.
The live-fire event is led by the Finns, who perform the exercise with partner forces to test the fitness of their military, which is largely made up of conscripts.
"The Finnish Army's mechanized exercise concentrates on mechanised units' offensive and involves Army helicopter measures as well as Air Force flight activities," the Finnish army said. "The exercise also aims at enhancing interoperability in cooperation with foreign detachments."
Marines joined the multinational exercise for the first time "in order to increase interoperability, reassure partner nations, improve readiness and reinforce relationships," a Corps spokesman told Marine Corps Times.
US Marine Corps/Staff Sgt. Marcin Platek Marines with Bravo Company, 4th Tanks Battalion, fire a M1A1 Abrams tank during a low-light live-fire exercise as part of Exercise Arrow 18 in Pohjankangas Training Area near Kankaanpaa, Finland, May 16, 2018.
The Marine Corps began storing vehicles, weapons, and other supplies in caves in Norway during the Cold War in an effort to pre-position equipment in case of conflict. The gear is housed in a chain of six caves in the Trondheim region of central Norway; the exact location is not known.
Three caves have everything from rolling stock to towed artillery. The other three hold ammunition, officials told Military.com last year. There is enough gear and food to stock a force of 4,600 Marines for several weeks of combat with everything except aircraft and desktop computers.
"All of our major equipment was drawn from the caves in Norway," Capt. Matthew Anderson, a tank commander who participated in the exercise, told Stars and Stripes. "This exercise would not have happened without the caves. The equipment, forward-staged, allows us to conduct these exercises. Without it, it's a whole lot less likely that we would have been as successful as we were."
Below, you can see what Marines faced during their first time in Finland.