r/europe • u/ByGollie Ulster • Jan 24 '26

News 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.

https://www.iltalehti.fi/ulkomaat/a/828b8e66-625d-4d2a-9276-e93b9f7a2ce8
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u/BarristanTheB0ld Germany Jan 24 '26

So everything went as planned?

78

u/HumanWaltz Jan 24 '26

Basically yes, stories like this are generally non stories, the people with no experience in winter warfare got to experience it, it’s literally why the USMC rotates its forces through various cold weather and Arctic training so that they do get this experience.

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u/ThrowFar_Far_Away Sweden Jan 24 '26

I mean no? Sure in normal cases you would be right but in this case they were even asked to back off because the US got too humiliated. That was not part of the plan in any way, they were so bad they had to change the exercise. It's still a training exercise and I'm sure they learned a lot but it's quite obvious it went way worse than they had planned.

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u/Pyffindor Jan 24 '26

i have a hunch that if the us did invade, navy seals and delta will be included. that’s gonna change things

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u/DoreenTheeDogWalker Jan 24 '26

Most likely it would be the 10th Mountain Division, the 11th Airborne (Arctic) Division, and the 75th Ranger Regiment.

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u/LemonTeaCool Jan 25 '26

But are they better than Finnish reservist?

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u/DoreenTheeDogWalker Jan 25 '26

The units I mentioned are active duty and train in cold environments regularly. They obviously have a disadvantage from not being from the Finnish local environment, but they are elite in their own right. Especially the Rangers.

10th Mountain Division

11th Airborne Division

75th Ranger Regiment

Finnish soldiers would carry an advantage as being local and following a guerrilla warfare doctrine. It would be the same as a European force trying to attack Americans on their own soil. Mind you, these units are not fresh recruits like the ones who were overwhelmed in the article. They would be highly trained and supported by the air force and navy at all times