Posted by: Deathwind
Re: Norway too cold for Brits? - 03/21/14 05:34 PM
It might put a damper on their tea time, don't you know?
Posted by: Roarmeister
Re: Norway too cold for Brits? - 03/21/14 06:58 PM
Brrrr! Norway Is Too Cold for British Troops“British officers have said that they do not want to train with large divisions in Porsanger, where the temperature drops to 25 degrees below zero,” said Lt. Col. Trond Thomassen, commander of Norway’s Allied Training Centre in Porsangmoen, told Norwegian-language Finnmarks Dagblad.
That’s minus 25 degrees Celsius, or minus 13 degrees Fahrenheit.
“The British have rules for health and safety,” Thomassen told Finnmarks Dagblad, whose article was translated by the English-language Norwegian paper The Local.
--------------snip----------------
The U.S. Army does not appear quite so delicate. The Army conducts Arctic training at the Northern Warfare Training Center at Fort Wainwright, near Fairbanks, Alaska.
“The winter temps in November to February average around minus 25 degrees Fahrenheit, with lows around minus 45. But minus 65 not uncommon,” an officer at the school told War is Boring. “We train our students throughout the winter outside.”
Interesting, since the Brits regularily come to Canada to train at CFB Suffield (outside Medicine Hat, Alberta). They've been coming for years. Even Prince Harry trained there a few years back with his chopter because it was good prep for Afgahnistan.
Posted by: JBMat
Re: Norway too cold for Brits? - 03/21/14 07:35 PM
As previously stated -
Jan, 1980, -69 degrees F, Fort Greeley, AK. And we trained in it. Of course, daylight was from about 0900 to 1500, more or less. The average temp for the two weeks we spent out in the field was -20 something. We came in, refitted and did a shorter field exercise and it almost broke 0. Coming back to NC was fun, we were in shorts and t-shirts doing PT while the rest of the division was in sweats.
Posted by: Leigh_Ratcliffe
Re: Norway too cold for Brits? - 03/21/14 09:26 PM
Nonsense.
Oh and by the way:
At minus 20 you can fight.
At minus 25 it is becoming iffy.
At minus 30 all fighting stops because your too busy trying to survive.
Also, unlike some I could name, the British Army has a Duty of Care when it comes to the lives of its Men and British Health & Safety Legislation is there for a reason. It's there to make an Employer, which the British Army is, exercise due caution and keeps them accountable. If a British Soldier dies on exercise in peace time we want to know who, what and why.
British Officers are not Cowards, or soft, which is what you seem to be implying.
Posted by: wildman800
Re: Norway too cold for Brits? - 03/21/14 10:00 PM
I've never known a Brit to be cowardly or soft in my limited experience with the Brits, or any member of the Common Wealth. The quote did come off that way to me though.
Be it ever so humble, there's no place like the Chief's Mess on Her Majesty's Ships.
British Officers are not Cowards, or soft, which is what you seem to be implying
Seeing Officer Harvard ((might have been someone else), with a paper cut on his finger after catching it on a ration pack screaming for a Medic, whilst training in the field at Sandhurst, well you can't really make across the board statements.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h5njAp0-zN4Officer Harvard at the end of the video, I can't find the paper cut incident clip.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JTdlU0rAIFg 
Today, these 'born leaders' seem to have gone soft and they are not exactly the sharpest tools in the box.
Posted by: gonewiththewind
Re: Norway too cold for Brits? - 03/22/14 01:54 PM
I have done some very good cold weather training with the British Army, and they were good at it, but that was a long time ago. They believe in wool, as do I, but it was a time before polypro was so common.
When in the U.S. Army, we did training in Alaska in -50 F, no training was cancelled. That is also when I learned that bears do not truly hibernate!
Posted by: AKSAR
Re: Norway too cold for Brits? - 03/22/14 03:01 PM
I wasn't trying to imply that Brits are wimps (well OK, maybe a little, only in jest
).
I was a bit surprised by the article, and posted the link for comment.
Posted by: Leigh_Ratcliffe
Re: Norway too cold for Brits? - 03/22/14 10:33 PM
British Officers are not Cowards, or soft, which is what you seem to be implying
Seeing Officer Harvard ((might have been someone else), with a paper cut on his finger after catching it on a ration pack screaming for a Medic, whilst training in the field at Sandhurst, well you can't really make across the board statements.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h5njAp0-zN4Officer Harvard at the end of the video, I can't find the paper cut incident clip.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JTdlU0rAIFg Today, these 'born leaders' seem to have gone soft and they are not exactly the sharpest tools in the box.
See you don't have much experience with papercuts. They can be disproportionately painful relative to the actual damage they inflict. I've had PC's that have made it difficult to impossible to hold things. One other point worth considering is that a cut in the field needs to be dealt with immediately. Unless you really want to experience sepicemia or tetanus up close and personal.
Posted by: Leigh_Ratcliffe
Re: Norway too cold for Brits? - 03/23/14 12:59 AM
Thank you for being open about that.
Yes, I'm quite serious about sepicemia. The bacteria that breaks down leaf litter etc is the same family as lockjaw.
FYI there are more nerves in your hands and feet than in the rest of your body combined. Which is why injuries to your extremities are far more painful than a skinned knee.
British Army does not do "Purple Hearts".
Posted by: Deathwind
Re: Norway too cold for Brits? - 03/23/14 01:15 AM
Thank you for your civil reply.
And yes you are correct about the nerve in the extremities.
inappropriate comment deleted
Posted by: chaosmagnet
Re: Norway too cold for Brits? - 03/23/14 03:50 AM
Invidious comments about a particular nation or that nation's military aren't appropriate here.
chaosmagnet
Posted by: Ren
Re: Norway too cold for Brits? - 03/29/14 04:10 PM
Probably only uttered from one person in the British Military but got overhead by some journalist.
Was another story recently about banning sandwiches...
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-...ting-hands.html
Posted by: bws48
Re: Norway too cold for Brits? - 03/29/14 06:11 PM
As I recall, at Ft. Jackson long about 1970, there was a thing called "wet bulb" days. A day when it was considered too hot and humid for some forms of training. We had several of those days when I was there.
I suspect that all armed forces have some such rules when troops are being trained. It has nothing to do with their ultimate ability. . .
Posted by: Russ
Re: Norway too cold for Brits? - 03/29/14 06:38 PM
We had something called a
Heat Index which served to essentially cease physical exertion when the number got too high. I don't recall what the specific heat index was. We trained in some fairly hot-humid conditions, but having folks drop from heat exhaustion was counter-productive.
CUTLERY
‘The fork always goes in the left hand and the knife in the right. Holding either like a pen is unacceptable, as are stabbing techniques. The knife and fork should remain in the bottom third of the plate and never be laid down in the top half.’
Major General Cowan has obviously seen cutlery etiquette not up to standards for the British Army. Things are worse than I thought.
What ever next, eating your dessert with a soup spoon! Even the ranks should know better let alone a British Army Officer.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eyCCuHC08bY
Posted by: gonewiththewind
Re: Norway too cold for Brits? - 03/29/14 09:40 PM
You make me laugh Am Fear Liath Mor!!
Posted by: Ren
Re: Norway too cold for Brits? - 03/29/14 10:37 PM
As I recall, at Ft. Jackson long about 1970, there was a thing called "wet bulb" days. A day when it was considered too hot and humid for some forms of training. We had several of those days when I was there.
I suspect that all armed forces have some such rules when troops are being trained. It has nothing to do with their ultimate ability. . .
Just last year 3 soldiers died during an exercise SAS selection, where the heat was a factor.
Posted by: KenK
Re: Norway too cold for Brits? - 03/30/14 06:52 PM
"That’s minus 25 degrees Celsius, or minus 13 degrees Fahrenheit."
That has been a routine day in the U.S. midwest this winter!
:-)
Posted by: zippo
Re: Norway too cold for Brits? - 04/03/14 03:20 AM
hate the cold my tea freezes