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Subject: UK Royal Marines Push the Limits in Ex. Himalayan Warrior ('07)
Est. 22    11/28/2007 12:54:11 PM
A 112-man UKRM Cdo Coy took part in joint high-altitude exercises with Indian paratroopers in Jammu and Kashmir. The exercises were held at around 18,500 feet above sea-level. It was a remarkable achievement for the British to have made it through the entire period with just four Marine Cdos medically absent for the final cliff-assault. Consider that all 112 men suffered high-altitude sickness, but only four were invalid... truly tough buggers! There aren't many fighting units in the world that can keep up with Indian HAW specialists as well as the Marine Cdos did. Hope they all get well soon and come back next year... or go kick some Telebunny @ss!!! Article to follow...
 
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bob the brit       12/5/2007 7:40:02 PM

I guess my point was, if you look at other Marine or Naval Infantry units in different armies around the world, one doesn't typically equate the title "Marine" with "specializing in mountain and cold-weather warfare".
Sure, the USMC has units that train in the cold, but I think that it would be a real stretch to say that the USMC specializes in it.


the boot necks like to think they specialize in a lot of things [they often do] but to say they invented high alt' warfare, well that's another story. the author of such a comment clearly has not read back on his history. one making such sweeping statements should look up the nepalese army to name but one. even clausewitz had prose on mountain warfare, likely conjured long before US marines had even encountered a mountain.
 
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SCCOMarine    jfky   12/10/2007 2:30:59 PM

Since SCCOMarine isn't here, I'll say it...the United States Marine Corps would have had NO altitude casualties!  The USMC INVENTED high-altitude warfare!



Its nice to know my balls will always have a warm spot in your mouth when I am not around.

Thanks JFKY
 
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SCCOMarine    jfky   12/10/2007 2:31:46 PM

I just stumbled on this thread, but if you cant tell jfky is trying his hand at satire.  Veeerrry clever jfky.

But in fact dummy, 2 or 3mths ago I posted the exact opposite regarding Mtn Wrf and the US & UK Marines. 

In a discussion w/ ArtyEngineer, who is in the UK Army attached to Marines, he asked me about the USMC MtnWfr program and I said that some of it was based off of the RM program also that the RM rotates Mtn Ldrs to thru the USMCs MWTC staff to lend there expertise, b/c  they specialize in Cld Wthr/Mtn Wrf.

 
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Yimmy       12/14/2007 6:15:36 PM


In a discussion w/ ArtyEngineer, who is in the UK Army attached to Marines,

Unless I am mistaken, I believe ArtyEngineer actually works for BAe Systems.


 
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neutralizer       12/17/2007 2:48:57 AM
I think its true to say tyhat MAW is not a traditional UK activity, a shortage of both mountains and seriously cold weather is the basic problem.  Yes there were odd excursions in the 19th C, eg Robert's column wintering at the top of the Kurram pass at the start of the 2nd Afghan War, the Korean winter wasn't sunbathing weather either.
 
There was nothing in either WW (although with traditional humour the Brit Army trained 52 (Lowland) Div as their mtn fmn).  It should also be noted that 3 Cdo Bde is actually part of the UK/NL amph force, mtns not being something homegrown for the RNLMC either.
 
Real HAW is very much something developed by the Indians and presumably the Chinese because that's where high altitude is.
 
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Est. 22       12/17/2007 11:46:49 AM

I think its true to say tyhat MAW is not a traditional UK activity, a shortage of both mountains and seriously cold weather is the basic problem.  Yes there were odd excursions in the 19th C, eg Robert's column wintering at the top of the Kurram pass at the start of the 2nd Afghan War, the Korean winter wasn't sunbathing weather either. 

There was nothing in either WW (although with traditional humour the Brit Army trained 52 (Lowland) Div as their mtn fmn).  It should also be noted that 3 Cdo Bde is actually part of the UK/NL amph force, mtns not being something homegrown for the RNLMC either.

Real HAW is very much something developed by the Indians and presumably the Chinese because that's where high altitude is.


Nothing in WW2? Monte-Casino!
 
Incidentally one of the first Indian commanders of Indian Paras had been a junior officer seconded to SOE from Royal Engineers for covert operations in former Yugoslavia and Cyprus (definitely hill country); exploits of his detachment formed the basis of Alister McLean's Guns of Navarrone; after the war he opted to join the Indian Army (he was Indian, but was commissioned into Royal Engineers when he was at a British university in 1939).
 
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dirtykraut       12/17/2007 7:35:43 PM
Royal Marines really are a great, versatile bunch of hombres. Quite possibly the finest conventional military unit out there.
 
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bob the brit       12/17/2007 9:34:14 PM

I think its true to say tyhat MAW is not a traditional UK activity, a shortage of both mountains and seriously cold weather is the basic problem.  Yes there were odd excursions in the 19th C, eg Robert's column wintering at the top of the Kurram pass at the start of the 2nd Afghan War, the Korean winter wasn't sunbathing weather either.

 

There was nothing in either WW (although with traditional humour the Brit Army trained 52 (Lowland) Div as their mtn fmn).  It should also be noted that 3 Cdo Bde is actually part of the UK/NL amph force, mtns not being something homegrown for the RNLMC either.

 

Real HAW is very much something developed by the Indians and presumably the Chinese because that's where high altitude is.


don't forget the little snit between nepal and britain around 1814, that fortress near gorkha wasn't exactly close to the seaside. [since visiting, i like to add in my little tid bits about nepal now , honestly, absolutely brilliant place to visit, might try and upload a few pics on here later, unfortunatley the climate wrecked my one film with all the good shots on, must get a camera with a decent seal, orings etc.]
 
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