News: US Marines to Modernize Equipment Stored in Norwegian Prepositioning Caves

TRØNDELAG REGION, Norway – U.S. Marines, in coordination with their Norwegian counterparts, are scheduled to conduct a pre-planned Single Ship Movement and offload of military equipment from a Maritime Prepositioning Force ship in the Trøndelag region of Norway mid-August.

From DVIDS


Like most Vets' I have heard a lot of stories about the chasing and staging of Military equipment by the US Armed forces for a very long time now. There one of those old solder stories you here down at the FVW post, one where you politely nod to your drunken buddy and order another pitcher of beer.


"Secret Stashes of weapon's... yeah right... slid your glass over if you want a refill..."

M1A1 Main Battle Tanks, Tank Retrievers, Armored Breeching Vehicles, Amphibious Assault Vehicles, Expanded Capacity Vehicle (ECV) Gun Trucks and several variants of the MTVR 7 ½ ton trucks.

Well I have to admit I owe that old salt an apology, but he us still paying for the next round...
it seems our government and my beloved Corps really do have hidden Prepositioned stockpiles of equipment stashed in secure locations all over the globe...

The Marines and Sailors of 15th Marine Expeditionary Unit, 4th Landing Support Battalion, Combat Logistics Battalion have a very similar set up in Souda Bay, Greece. Lord only knows how many other out of the way --- off the beaten path, other branches, are stashing goodies, but there out there, all gassed up and raring to fight!

Master Sgt. Chad McMeen
Marine Corps Amphibious Assault Vehicles are staged inside one of the six Marine Corps Prepositioning Program-Norway caves where they will remain until needed for a military operation, humanitarian assistance, disaster relief or training exercise. The equipment was transported by the Maritime Prepositioning ship the USNS Williams earlier in the month for scheduled equipment modernization. Outdated and unserviceable gear will be sent back on the ship to Blount Island Command in Jacksonville, Fla., as the final step in the operation. U.S. Marines from 2nd Marine Logistics Group out of Camp Lejeune, N.C., in coordination with their Norwegian counterparts, are modernizing some of the equipment by placing approximately 350 containers of gear and nearly 400 pieces of heavy rolling stock into the storage caves. Specific equipment, which will greatly increase the program's readiness, includes M1A1 Main Battle Tanks, Tank Retrievers, Armored Breaching Vehicles, Amphibious Assault Vehicles, Expanded Capacity Vehicle (ECV) Gun Trucks and several variants of the MTVR 7-1/2 ton trucks. Planning for this equipment refresh began in the spring of 2010. Marines and contractors from Blount Island Command in Jacksonville, Fla., and Marine Corps Forces Europe and Africa are also in Norway to ensure the operation is conducted in a safe and timely manner.

These are not a secret to anyone who served in a unit with a NATO mission.

I was in an arctic light infantry unit, and we did training in Norway every few years.

We had duplicates of everything in out MTOE sitting in warehouses being maintained by Local mechanics.

No big conspiracy here, just lessons learned about transporting equipment in times of crisis.

Our entire battalion could be in Norway in less than 24 hours and fully operational in 12 hours more.

And it only took a few C-5's to transport all the soldiers and their individual gear.

a reply to: HardCorps

Big lesson learned in Kuwait. It took months to move everything over to the theater. They flew thousands of C-5 flights (even lost one in Germany because of the ops tempo), and hundreds of ships, and it still took them months to get even close to what they needed over there.

There's also Dora-1 and Dora-2 in Trondheim. They were submarines pens built by the Germans in World War II, but now they are used for peaceful purposes.

en.wikipedia.org...

do they also store marines on extended sleep / frozen marine ?

a reply to: Hmmmmmmm

I sure wouldnt want to be a soldier sitting in a large C-5 if NATO whent to war With Russia.

And i hope there is going to be some room left in the Caves for the US marines. They are going to need some cover until the smoke Clears. Everything up in Northern Norway is within Reach of short and medium range missiles.

originally posted by: spy66
a reply to: Hmmmmmmm

I sure wouldnt want to be a soldier sitting in a large C-5 if NATO whent to war With Russia.

And i hope there is going to be some room left in the Caves for the US marines. They are going to need some cover until the smoke Clears. Everything up in Northern Norway is within Reach of short and medium range missiles.

i think the russian already have a contingency plan targetting all these hidden caches at the 1st day of the conflict. it is folly for NATO to treat russian military like other 3rd world military, however weak it is nowadays compared to the soviet days , it is still a dangerous foe..

i can see your C-5 reference related to the shooting of IL76 in eastern ukraine , filled with supposedly Polish and American mercs disguised as Ukraine Paratroopers.. In real shooting war between NATO and Russia, you can say byebye to helo insertion and helo medevacs..

a reply to: buntalanlucu

Russia IS a 3rd world military.

I've spent time there and my driver was a retired artillery officer. We hit it off on my first trip so I hired him for the next few trips.

We spent a lot of time talking on our long drives and ate meals together.

The morale is crap, the equipment is crap and the leadership is crap.

They often didn't have fuel or ammunition for training, and when they did the equipment would break down.


They do have some modern high tech weapons, but it's mostly for propaganda purposes, like Air Shows and military EXPO's.

The air defense networks we have had to deal with in the middle east were all Russian, and all easily defeated.


Russia is a paper tiger ruled by a thug, nothing more.

Putin is throwing heavy support into the Ukraine situation and they still can't get it done.

originally posted by: spy66
a reply to: Hmmmmmmm

I sure wouldnt want to be a soldier sitting in a large C-5 if NATO whent to war With Russia.

And i hope there is going to be some room left in the Caves for the US marines. They are going to need some cover until the smoke Clears. Everything up in Northern Norway is within Reach of short and medium range missiles.

Russia failed to gain air superiority over Georgia during that conflct abd suffered at Georgias weak air defenses. Getting through NATO air defenses is going to be much much harder. The Russians do not even have the ability or doctrine to supress air defense from the air. Getting past the Fins, Swedes, Nord air defenses and then having to deal with US and RAF escorts form the UK would be so costly to the Russians that it would be a disaster.

originally posted by: buntalanlucu

originally posted by: spy66
a reply to: Hmmmmmmm

I sure wouldnt want to be a soldier sitting in a large C-5 if NATO whent to war With Russia.

And i hope there is going to be some room left in the Caves for the US marines. They are going to need some cover until the smoke Clears. Everything up in Northern Norway is within Reach of short and medium range missiles.

i think the russian already have a contingency plan targetting all these hidden caches at the 1st day of the conflict. it is folly for NATO to treat russian military like other 3rd world military, however weak it is nowadays compared to the soviet days , it is still a dangerous foe..

i can see your C-5 reference related to the shooting of IL76 in eastern ukraine , filled with supposedly Polish and American mercs disguised as Ukraine Paratroopers.. In real shooting war between NATO and Russia, you can say byebye to helo insertion and helo medevacs..

Military in a conventional threat Russia poses little threat. There forces are more likely to run in the face of true combat. Their deterrent is there nuclear arsenal and why Russia is trying to upgrade it at a frantic pace. In conventional combat their forces are ill equipped and have their teeth removed quickly. Helos will definitely be in play because once air superiority is established by Nato they become them major means of transport.

a reply to: MrSpad

Still Russia tok Gerogia in 5 days. Russia never lacked air superiority, it is tru that Russia stoped flying for two days. But soon started up again and and supported their ground troops. Gerogia were never able to stop the Russians from flying.