Norway offers welcome challenge for Minnesota soldiers

Another night in the field leads to another day of training for Minnesota National Guard troops. This day holds lots of unknowns. Can they hold their own against an approaching storm and how will it impact their three-mile hike up the mountain on skis?

[@eivindkaisen6838]

The soldier may have been misinformed about his surname. In the translitteration process from Norwegian into English the ø has most likely become an o. Stol does mean charir but støl (as a noun; as an adjective it means limber) means a milking station, or in this case Lillestøl means a "small/lesser/minor milking station" within walking distance from the farmstead where cows could be milked without having to come home. Lillestøl makes sense as a place name (and hence surnhame), lillestol does not.

[@jansebb]

yea.... l was just thinking the same thing.

[@ThSkBj]

Yup. It is common for Norwegian emigrants to change the æøå in their family names to something that works in the new home country. The branch of my family that moved to the USA 4 generations ago changed their "bjørk" to "byrk". It keeps the meaning in Norwegian while still being readable to Americans.

[@EspenX]

Well, he is not misinformed. If his last name is Lillestol, it does mean little chair. But it is also quite obvious the original name before moving to the US was Lillestøl, as in little summer hut where herders lived and cows were milked during summer season.

[@eivindkaisen6838]

@@EspenX I must admit I have never heard any Norwegian being named after furniture.

[@EspenX]

@@eivindkaisen6838 In this case the family had changed their name to -stol. They are not named after furniture, but a part of of their name means the same. Like your first name can mean "no wind", it does not mean you are named after no wind.

[@HaakonanTG]

It's so lovely to have you Minnesotans, Americans,here. Keep up the good work.

[@torgrimandersen4182]

Lillestol is written Lillestøl in Norwegian and means Small summer grazing place in the mountain for cows/goats

[@alexandriaoccasional-corte1346]

That's how my father got to school every day.

[@draculastraphouse7863]

Man you kids got no respect for your elders I swear lmao

[@Xeegar]

Great sportsmanship! Hope you had a nice stay

[@terjemullerkarlsen3028]

Welcome to Norway! :)

[@guyfawkesuThe1]

Gee, this is quite a contrast to Gov. Walz when he retired rather than be deployed to Iraq..... REMF WALZ.

[@latewizard301]

"Self rescue" 😂 no no no, that's a joke trust me😂

[@torrust]

Can do it yourself, I went trough ice when ice fishing, was up and out of water before my friends could respond.

[@latewizard301]

@@torrust i meant it's a joke, as in they just wanted an excuse to make them bathe in freezing water.

[@torrust]

@@latewizard301 oh, you got a point, Norwegian instructors may enjoy seeing tough guys scream with a ice bath, haha

[@notagain8661]

Are we sure the Norwegians shouldn't come here to train? 😂Average Temperature in Norway The cold season lasts for 3.3 months, from December 1 to March 12, with an average daily high temperature below 38°F. The coldest month of the year in Norway is January, with an average low of 10°F and high of 28°F. How harsh are Minnesota winters? Annual snowfall extremes have ranged from over 170 inches or 4.32 metres in the rugged Superior Highlands of the North Shore to as little as 5 inches or 0.13 metres in southern Minnesota. Temperatures as low as −60 °F or −51.1 °C have occurred during Minnesota winters.

[@jakobstenberg4135]

Minnesotan winters are indeed way colder, but these exercises are more about international cohesion among NATO troops than anything. Also the average Norwegian child is a better skier than the average American winter soldier. If god forbid, Russia decides to start world war 3, America is relatively safe in the western hemisphere. NATO troops need to train in the places they might have to deploy, i.e. Norway, Finland, Poland, Baltics, etc.

[@SimonTmte]

Southern Norway certainly along the coast is very mild with the joy of abundant precepitation, however up north in places like Karasjok has seen -60 F, and the weather forecast currently has the temperature down to -33 F in the coming week, they'd find what they desire I would think

[@OhNoNotFrank]

I would not worry about my weapons or equipment going to battle in Minnesota if it had been tested in Norway first. I would not trust my weapons or equipment going to battle in Norway if it had only been tested in Minnesota. Not that Norway has nothing to learn from Minnesota, and I'm sure they do, but the temperature is not necessarily the main problem. Norway is basically one long coastline where the air humidity itself can have a very different effect on soldiers and weaponry than in the US. (Technically "humidity" in the atmosphere is called moisture because unlike humidity "moisture" in coastal areas does not depend on temperature). The "moisture" also contains salt, so in addition to everything from a handgun to a fighter-jet freezing up, there is also that to worry about. Don't forget the Hammerite anti-rust 👍😉 Way back when (as far as I recall), Norwegian elite units (Telemarksbataljonen I think) were the first ones sent searching for Bin-Laden in the Tora-Bora mountains/complex due to the soldiers training and conditioning to low temperatures and because they had weapons made for and tested under such conditions. Today The Minnesota National Guard is getting equipped and prepared even for that! At a fraction of the cost a "private contractor" would demand from the taxpayers. (Please forgive my grammar as English is not my native tongue.)

[@will036]

Depends on where in Norway u go, it can get way colder than that

[@vikinnorway6725]

In northern Norway it can get as cold as -60 farheit. Norway is 1100 miles long and have very different climate. In the north its gets very cold in the winter.

[@norseman5041]

My office for 5 years, sadly, the snowflake ages have reached Norway too, and the prescreening have seen a huge drop in outdoors skill set. Norwegian kids are no longer expert skiers or trained outdoors men/women anymore. Just like everywhere else the young people grow up in front of the TV and Computer. Norway has 100% coverage of home PC's and Cellphones. Everyone has a PC at home. When I was in school there were no such thing as a snow day, we skied to school in the winter. We built ski jumps and would have competition in the recess between classes. We were also expert in building snow caves a skill our military did not need to spend time on teaching us. Nearly 100% of us where capable swimmers as we had pool hours at school just to teach us to swim. Norway have longer coastline then the equator is long counting al islands and fjords. There are of course still outdoors enthusiasts, but the number is shrinking.

[@daniel4647]

Oh I don't know. Maybe in the cities, but from what I can tell young people are at least as much, if not more, outdoors than the previous generation. It's my millennial generation that got all messed up by computers and phones, but of course we realized this so most millennial parents are a lot more focused on getting back to nature and turning off their devices and so on, and they've passed that on to the next generation. Us millennials had parents that where all about going up to the cabin and skiing and stuff too, so we have all those childhood memories. And while it got lost for a while with the whole digital age, many millennials felt it was important to give that experience to their own children as well. Quite a few even taking it a bit far, to the point where there are kindergartens now that are entirely outdoors, and people have settled down on old little farms and micro houses out in some rural area and so on. We might not be as good at it as our parent where, it's not like we go into the woods to shoot things, we're not savages. And we don't like places where we can't connect to the internet because we're basically cyborgs and are useless without the internet, we still go camping for fun and stuff. We're just not as obsessed with sleeping on pine needles under a tarp and other survival stuff, we have perfectly fine inflatable mattresses and lightweight tents, so why not be comfortable in the woods, turn on some spotify and have a nice time around the camp fire instead deliberately trying to make it miserable. Besides, even if we're not great at living in the woods, we're way more adapt at living in modern society than the previous generation, so fair trade off.

[@peterc.1618]

I saw a video here about kindergarden kids in Norway spending pretty much the entire day in the open air with their teachers so they must be used to harsh conditions. It's interesting that the word 'snowflake' is now being used to describe those who (presumably) avoid snowflakes at all cost.😀

[@guyfawkesuThe1]

TOTAL WASTE OF MN NATIONAL GUARD RESOURCES. All this could be done in Northern MN!

[@CDestroyR]

There's a labor shortage. You should try an honest day's work sometime.

[@guyfawkesuThe1]

@@CDestroyR You "Captain" of the bottom boys??

[@joestractorshop8040]

Who put ants in your pants compadre? Why the caps? Ain’t no need

[@vikinnorway6725]

Its not the same climate humidity or terain. If Russia would start a war Norway would be attacked because of alot of natural resources. Norway is the biggest supplier of gas oil and electricity to Europe. If Russia took over Norway it would be bad for many

[@guyfawkesuThe1]

@@vikinnorway6725 Guess they have to stop taking 5 week vacations every year and spend more on defense!

[@guyfawkesuThe1]

THESE TROOPS AND OTHERS SHOULD BE DEPLOYED TO THE SOUTHERN BORDER TO STOP THE INVASION....AND THE MN BORDER! THIS TRAINING COULD BE DONE IN NORTHERN MN.

[@karstenstormiversen4837]

What invasion?

[@draculastraphouse7863]

​@karstenstormiversen4837 the invasion of illegal refugees buddy

[@vikinnorway6725]

There are different climate in Norway, and different terrain. Nato need to train in Norway since its close to Russia

[@guyfawkesuThe1]

@@vikinnorway6725 Could do the same ething in Colorado in winter or Canada.

[@vikinnorway6725]

@@guyfawkesuThe1 if their gone be fighting in Norway they should train there, its not the same, winter aint winter.. And they neew to train with equipment and terain and with nato forces where threats are.