It was the first platoon movement of its kind.
Thirty-seven U.S. and Canadian troops were tactically inserted by way of a New York Air National Guard LC-130 Hercules skiplane on Arctic Ocean ice just east of Little Cornwallis Island in Nunavut, Canada, during exercise Guerrier Nordique 23.
Though guardsmen assigned to the 109th Airlift Wing have been flying missions in Greenland and Antarctica for more than 30 years, the exercise marked the first time they’d conducted a tactical insertion with Canadian reserve soldiers.
Guerrier Nordique, an annual training exercise hosted by Canada and held in different locations each year, usually focuses on domestic emergencies and responses. This year, it focused for the first time on military tactics and lethality.
Dressed in white camouflage, soldiers established their security positions. They were equipped with individual weapons, machine guns and everything they needed to sustain themselves for up to three days in the Arctic.
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U.S. troops consisted mainly of National Guard members from Connecticut, New Hampshire, Utah, New York and Vermont. Army active-duty soldiers came from the 11th Airborne Division out of Fairbanks, Alaska. Canadian soldiers came mainly from the 35th Canadian Brigade Group.
Before heading to Nunavut, Canada’s northernmost territory, the U.S. guardsmen conducted training in Quebec: