America’s force-in-readiness would like to focus exclusively on China. But, unfortunately, they won’t be able to.

Although the United States Marine Corps is slimming down and gearing up for a fight against China in the Indo-Pacific, Russia’s ongoing invasion of Ukraine has highlighted the continued importance of the European continent.

Most recently, the USS Kearsarge, a Wasp-class amphibious assault ship, and the USS Gunston Hall, a Whidbey Island-class dock landing ships landed at Tromsø and Narvik in Norway for training.

“We thought coming to Norway would be a challenging opportunity. We were right – it was,” Colonel Paul C. Merida, commanding officer of the 22nd Marine Expeditionary Unit, said in the U.S. Navy statement covering the training.

“Operating in this part of the world is a challenge at sea, in the air, and on land. But as Marines, we have to come up here and do it. I’ve never heard of an ARG-MEU team operating above the Arctic Circle, but we proved it can be done. This was a superb experience with our Norwegian Allies and the unit to unit partnership was first class.”

Don’t Forget About Europe

The training event comes at an interesting time for the American and European relationship within the context of the NATO alliance. Both Finland and Sweden are poised to join NATO. While Norway is already part of NATO, the country shares close cultural and military ties with Sweden. In addition, Finland shares an extensive land border, an area of high strategic importance, with Russia.

The Navy statement explained that American and Norwegian forces “conducted cold weather training, multiple integrated live fire events, shock trauma platoon medical training, casualty evacuation drills, explosive ordnance training, and reconnaissance and marksmanship training.”

While the Indo-Pacific remains a geographic area of high interest for the Marine Corps, the conflict in Ukraine has proven beyond a shadow of a doubt that Europe cannot be forgotten. Cold-weather training, in particular, is an ability that the Marine Corps would evidently not like to forget anytime soon.

“The cooperative training between U.S. and Norwegian military forces showcases the long standing relationship between the United States and Norway,” said Capt. Tom Foster, commanding officer of the Kearsarge.

“We’ve learned many lessons operating in the high north and with the Norwegian military. At sea, we specifically experienced how respectful you have to be of the environment, how fast it can change, and the importance of robust safety contingencies built into our operations to account for change. This is exactly the reason we are operating in the North and learning how to do so safely from our partners in Norway.”

Caleb Larson is a multimedia journalist and defense writer with the National Interest. A graduate of UCLA, he also holds a Master of Public Policy and lives in Berlin. He covers the intersection of conflict, security, and technology, focusing on American foreign policy, European security, and German society for both print and radio. Follow him on Twitter @calebmlarson

Image: Wikipedia.