PEOPLE LIVING in the east of Scotland may have thought the mornings have been a bit nippy of late, but they should spare a thought for the men of 45 Commando Group, who for the next few months will be facing temperatures as low as minus 30 degrees Celsius and living in tents.

Around 400 men— approximately half the unit’s strength—headed off early today for northern Norway, where they will be carrying out a range of exercises 300 miles inside the Arctic Circle.

Corporal Scott Muir, originally from Islay but resident in Arbroath for the past nine years, said, “The main reason we started going off to Norway many years ago was to enable us to protect NATO’s northern flank from the possibility of Soviet invasion.

“Since around 1989 that hasn’t been a major threat and, as most people will know, our main business in recent years has been in places like Afghanistan and northern Iraq.

“These countries have mountains which become very cold and Arctic-like so we have continued to use Norway for training and still get a lot out of it.

“It’s very hard to operate effectively in an Arctic environment but, the way we see it, if you can operate there you can operate just about anywhere.

“We will be doing the same sort of exercises—simulating taking enemy positions, long marches over difficult terrain and so on—as we would normally do but in an extremely challenging environment.

“Back in the olden days we used to manage to get to Norway almost every year but nowadays, with more operational demands on us, the opportunities are less frequent and the Arctic warfare experience within the whole corps is not what it once was.

“The conditions— the extremely low temperatures—make everything so much harder to achieve, and that includes the most basic elements of personal administration.”

Corporal Duncan Ferguson from Montrose, who has been to Norway before said, “I always tell the lads that haven’t been before that it’s the best soldiering you can do.”

However for most of the men heading to Norway it will be their first experience of living and training in the high Arctic and, although they have all been fully briefed on what to expect, there is still an element of trepidation surrounding the challenges they will face.

One of the “Norway virgins” is Marine Michael Barnes from the St Mary’s area of Dundee, who has been with 45 Commando since June 2006 and who was yesterday getting to grips with the specialised “Norway clobber”, including skis, snowshoes, overboots, face masks and goggles, essential to surviving in one of the most extreme environments on the planet.

He said, “I’m really looking forward to getting out there and training but you do hear a few horror stories about what it’s like so, obviously, it’s something you think about.”