With low temperatures, unpredictable blizzards and stretches of 24-hour darkness, the Arctic Circle is one of the most challenging environments on Earth. What is a better place for us to hone our cold weather warfare skills?
In the period from 08.01.2023 to 06.02.2023 Junior Sergeant Mishko Sidzjimovski from the Ranger Battalion participated in the “NATO Winter Instructor Course” conducted by the NATO School of Winter Warfare in Elverum, Kingdom of Norway.
The aim of the course was to train the participants the necessary individual skills, techniques and procedures to operate effectively and safely in winter conditions.
The main focus throughout the course was for the participants to acquire the knowledge and skills to fight, move and maintain combat readiness in winter conditions with limited equipment where normal supply lines are cut off.
The instructor course was attended by 65 participants from 13 allied countries, from the armed forces of the USA, France, Italy, Canada, Estonia, Great Britain, Germany, Denmark, Holland, Spain, Portugal, Luxembourg and North Macedonia. Working alongside members of other armed forces, cold-weather combat techniques were practiced in a number of high-intensity training and combat scenarios. With temperatures down to -30°C, participants were trained in survival techniques, avalanche safety procedures and even ‘ski fighting’.
The skills and lessons learned in the mountains and fjords of Norway can be applied to any environment where the Macedonian Rangers would operate in the future. The idea is that: “If you can operate in the Arctic Circle, you can operate anywhere.”
The training, endurance, morale and physical fitness managed to raise the Macedonian member Mishko Sidjzimovski among the best five newly promoted instructors and to stand side by side with his peers from the NATO countries.
