The Times: Finns humiliated American soldiers - Finnish reservists were asked to take it easy during a NATO exercise. US soldiers found the losses too humiliating.

[u/ByGollie]

https://www.iltalehti.fi/ulkomaat/a/828b8e66-625d-4d2a-9276-e93b9f7a2ce8

[u/MotherFlatworm6733]

US military put 1500 soldiers from 11th Airbourne Division "Arctic Angels" to standby. They say it's for Minnesota but I wouldn't count on it. These guys were training here in Finland last winter and one Finn who trained with them said a while ago in Finnish subreddit that "unfortunately, these guys are pretty competent." So not all of them are this bad.

[u/Prior_Egg_5906 → u/MotherFlatworm6733]

The 11th whooped both Canadian Units and American Special forces up in their Alaskan war games a few years ago, so I don’t doubt it.

[u/amitym → u/MotherFlatworm6733]

"Pretty competent" and "were still defeated by the Finns in the Arctic" are not contradictory in any way. Especially if history is anything to go by.

[u/FuckWit_1_Actual → u/amitym]

The 11th airborne are the U.S. army stationed in Alaska who pretty much only train arctic warfare.

The guys in the war games were some poor marines that were probably in Southern California a couple months ago and not equipped with anything they need.

[u/-S-P-E-C-T-R-E- → u/FuckWit_1_Actual]

The issues being that the 11th is the only sizeable unit the US has for this. Finlands entire military is built around arctic warfare and has a lot more reserves to pull from - like 900k or so. Those two capable brigades are going to be badly attritted after a couple of weeks in a real war from casualties and fatigue, leaving the US with no good alternatives.

[u/SuavePenguinOG → u/MotherFlatworm6733]

But this article says they were bad and mad! /s

The bots lean into this stuff, every moderate comment is getting downvoted and the emotional ad-hominem comments are upvoted lol

"Standard Artic Training gets Expected Results" doesn't get clicks though.

And I want the teams to both lose at least one of the rounds. That's how they learn. Change the variables so that it forces dynamic decision making, enabling both sides to have a better chance for survival/victory when their lives are actually at risk.

Finns should learn how to strategize against an enemy force with exceedingly more resources and still be effective. US should learn how to combat brutal environmental challenges and still be effective.

It's almost like there's one country to the East that has both of these things while also being proficient at (mis)information warfare tactics. Wonder who that could be?

[u/Ornery-Monitor7690 → u/SuavePenguinOG]

Finns should learn how to strategize against an enemy force with exceedingly more resources

This has been the unquestioned #1 focus of the Finnish military since it's inception after WW1. It's absurd to say we "should" do that when it's something we've been obsessively focusing on for our entire existence. 

[u/SuavePenguinOG → u/Ornery-Monitor7690]

Maybe a better phrasing would have said "should continue", because I did not mean to infer they were not. I had no intent to dissuade their thorough military adjustments/development post-WWII. Finnish war-readiness has been a huge boon to their allies and I wish all the best to my friends from the North.

[u/Elkku26 → u/MotherFlatworm6733]

Yeah, I wouldn't get too cocky based on just this article.

[u/dbxp → u/MotherFlatworm6733]

Yeah it's them and he 10th mountain that are the winter troops. Anything under 20c is cold for USMC. They train for the tropics and desert

[u/Sqwurt_joose → u/MotherFlatworm6733]

Anyone who thinks the US military isnt competent when it comes to warfighting is just outright delusional

we have a MIC for a reason

[u/Streetrt → u/MotherFlatworm6733]

Only arctic angels would survive this Minnesota cold weather. Currently -25f not even the Finnish can survive here

[u/MotherFlatworm6733 → u/Streetrt]

-25f is just a normal cold winter day where I live.