WEBVTT 00:00.920 --> 00:02.976 What does it take for soldiers to be 00:02.976 --> 00:05.309 able to operate and survive in the cold ? 00:08.460 --> 00:10.516 I was in Norway to find out from the 00:10.516 --> 00:12.682 people who know best . They have to be 00:12.682 --> 00:15.310 disciplined to do the hard work . 00:18.579 --> 00:20.920 We are completely off grid and we're 00:20.930 --> 00:23.152 gonna find out what it takes to survive 00:23.152 --> 00:25.379 in conditions like these . Ok . I can 00:25.389 --> 00:27.722 do this . I'm pretty sure I can do this . 00:27.722 --> 00:28.969 Ah , we'll see 00:42.110 --> 00:44.221 for the next 24 hours . I'd be taking 00:44.229 --> 00:46.007 part in a cold weather survival 00:46.007 --> 00:48.173 instructor course , run by nato's Cold 00:48.173 --> 00:50.396 Weather Operations Center of Excellence 00:50.396 --> 00:52.451 here in Norway . The course runs for 00:52.451 --> 00:54.479 seven days and participants must 00:54.490 --> 00:56.819 survive with barely any equipment . 00:57.580 --> 00:59.919 I've been given a , I've been given an 00:59.930 --> 01:02.041 ax and I think it's called a survival 01:02.041 --> 01:04.809 sheet . It's safe to say I was totally 01:04.819 --> 01:07.349 out of my death . Welcome here . You 01:07.370 --> 01:09.800 home for the next 24 . At least I 01:09.809 --> 01:12.031 wasn't sure what to expect , but I'd be 01:12.031 --> 01:14.253 doing my best to keep up with the other 01:14.253 --> 01:15.253 participants 01:18.089 --> 01:20.550 first on the agenda . A winter survival 01:20.559 --> 01:24.300 safety briefing . So , just keep 01:24.309 --> 01:26.476 focus on what you're doing when you're 01:26.476 --> 01:28.698 using the ax . I prefer to have it like 01:28.698 --> 01:30.769 this outside . So if I fold it goes 01:30.779 --> 01:34.190 here , not having it . I seen some 01:34.199 --> 01:36.255 books like this . If I didn't fall , 01:36.255 --> 01:39.750 you can see yourself Norwegian course . 01:39.760 --> 01:41.927 Instructor Marius clearly knew what he 01:41.927 --> 01:44.038 was talking about . If I was going to 01:44.038 --> 01:46.959 survive , I'd need his help to make a 01:46.989 --> 01:50.870 fire with a little cheek 01:50.879 --> 01:53.069 coat here . Some bark from the bird 01:53.080 --> 01:55.136 trees . So you can see if we can use 01:55.136 --> 01:57.247 that for something to start with . We 01:57.247 --> 01:59.469 always have like a bag of this in the , 01:59.469 --> 02:01.860 but that , that's my starter and go to 02:02.099 --> 02:04.210 right . And when it comes to starting 02:04.210 --> 02:06.321 the fire , you're gonna borrow this . 02:06.321 --> 02:08.543 When it's ready , you're gonna try with 02:08.543 --> 02:08.029 this one . And what is that exactly ? 02:08.070 --> 02:11.979 Fire steel like that . Yeah , but 02:12.268 --> 02:14.324 you need to know how to use it . You 02:14.324 --> 02:16.324 will see it later . All right , I'm 02:16.324 --> 02:15.738 gonna go and collect some wood . Marri . 02:15.748 --> 02:16.748 Thanks so much . 02:23.399 --> 02:25.919 Start with a smaller bit . I said I 02:25.929 --> 02:28.151 don't wanna hit myself in the face . So 02:28.151 --> 02:30.318 that's , oh , there we go . Nice . See 02:30.318 --> 02:32.429 what makes everything so difficult is 02:32.429 --> 02:34.651 it ? You're constantly getting stuck in 02:34.651 --> 02:36.762 the snow while I struggled to move in 02:36.762 --> 02:38.762 the snow . I noticed that the other 02:38.762 --> 02:40.873 participants had quickly paired off . 02:40.873 --> 02:43.509 So I was clearly at a disadvantage so 02:43.520 --> 02:46.179 far in the 1 60 briefing . He was very 02:46.190 --> 02:48.850 clear to point out that um , never be 02:48.860 --> 02:51.529 alone . But at the moment is precisely 02:51.740 --> 02:53.949 what I am . I haven't really made any 02:53.960 --> 02:56.182 friends yet , but hopefully will , will 02:56.182 --> 02:58.529 give me a hand . And if , if I , if I 02:58.539 --> 03:02.160 run into trouble , I mean , it's fairly 03:02.169 --> 03:04.225 obvious . But I want to ask anyway , 03:04.225 --> 03:06.280 you know , we started on this course 03:06.280 --> 03:08.502 with fire . Why fire ? And what is it ? 03:08.502 --> 03:10.280 You know , how does it help the 03:10.280 --> 03:12.336 protection part of the fire ? That's 03:12.336 --> 03:14.502 the most important thing in the winter 03:14.502 --> 03:14.210 conditions . And you don't have 03:14.220 --> 03:16.331 sleeping bags , installation mats and 03:16.331 --> 03:18.553 all that stuff . You need to be able to 03:18.553 --> 03:20.609 maintain body heat and the way to do 03:20.609 --> 03:22.664 that out here , eat it by movement . 03:22.740 --> 03:24.851 And if you're gonna recondition , you 03:24.851 --> 03:27.184 have to be able to make a fire . If not , 03:27.184 --> 03:29.296 you're gonna freeze to death . If you 03:29.296 --> 03:31.518 take care of it , when it's small , the 03:31.518 --> 03:33.740 fire will take care of it when it's big 03:33.740 --> 03:36.050 on with Marius's words . Echoing in my 03:36.059 --> 03:38.289 head . If you take care of it , when 03:38.300 --> 03:41.240 it's small , the fire will take care of . 03:41.619 --> 03:44.679 It's big . I nurtured my little winter 03:44.690 --> 03:45.229 fire . 03:49.789 --> 03:52.729 I had achieved the unbelievable through 03:52.740 --> 03:55.039 sheer determination and newly acquired 03:55.050 --> 03:58.000 survival skills . I had created a fire 03:58.009 --> 04:01.699 in the snow . Has my fire got out ? 04:01.710 --> 04:04.949 Mari ? Does it take care of you now ? 04:05.860 --> 04:07.990 And you take care of it or I felt I 04:08.000 --> 04:09.722 felt I was taking care of it . 04:11.500 --> 04:14.539 1st December in the fire . Not great . 04:15.009 --> 04:17.231 Not terrible . I don't think I did have 04:17.231 --> 04:19.453 a little bit of extra help from there . 04:19.453 --> 04:21.676 I think Marri warming to me . Uh , so I 04:21.676 --> 04:23.898 think , you know , although he probably 04:23.898 --> 04:25.842 wouldn't admit it just yet , we're 04:25.842 --> 04:25.700 definitely buddies . 04:31.779 --> 04:33.946 If I was to survive overnight in these 04:33.946 --> 04:36.350 extreme winter conditions , I'd need to 04:36.359 --> 04:39.079 build a shelter , a crucial skill for 04:39.089 --> 04:41.029 any soldier on this course , 04:49.059 --> 04:50.950 when you are out in a survival 04:50.959 --> 04:53.559 situation , you want to find a place to 04:53.570 --> 04:57.329 rest and that is concealed and you feel 04:57.339 --> 05:00.220 safe . We found a big tree where you 05:00.230 --> 05:03.970 see the snow is still attached on , on 05:03.980 --> 05:06.459 the lower end of the tree and we just 05:06.470 --> 05:10.010 pushed through , we cut a lot of this 05:10.019 --> 05:13.089 out because when you make the bedding , 05:13.619 --> 05:16.010 you have to have at least 30 05:16.019 --> 05:18.929 centimeters of compressed 05:19.570 --> 05:23.149 branches and you have place for the 05:23.160 --> 05:26.019 fire inside here and you are completely 05:26.029 --> 05:29.290 concealed from the environment or 05:29.299 --> 05:31.589 other people and enemies 05:33.790 --> 05:35.846 with the other course , participants 05:35.846 --> 05:38.179 already hard at work , shelter building . 05:38.179 --> 05:40.346 It was time for me to find my spot for 05:40.346 --> 05:41.346 the night . 05:44.190 --> 05:46.246 This one actually looks quite good . 05:47.179 --> 05:48.235 This looks great . 06:00.660 --> 06:01.660 Oh , 06:05.010 --> 06:07.177 that's my sheet roof was proving to be 06:07.177 --> 06:09.820 a challenge . So it was time yet again 06:09.829 --> 06:11.910 to ask for help from our Norwegian 06:11.920 --> 06:15.750 hosts . Is that if 06:15.899 --> 06:17.121 I , is it all right ? 06:21.200 --> 06:24.679 Long silence ? Yeah . I'm just trying 06:24.690 --> 06:27.230 to think , uh , I mean , to be fair . 06:27.450 --> 06:29.561 Yeah , I haven't , I haven't finished 06:29.561 --> 06:33.290 it yet . No , you have to 06:33.299 --> 06:36.769 protect it by , for , from three sides . 06:36.820 --> 06:39.609 Right . Ok . I've got somebody at the 06:39.739 --> 06:41.795 moment . Right . Yeah , you have the 06:41.795 --> 06:44.017 top , you see the , the bottom is quite 06:44.017 --> 06:46.072 open . You could just feel that with 06:46.072 --> 06:48.500 snow because all the heat from the fire 06:48.709 --> 06:51.690 is gonna slip out beneath and under . 06:51.820 --> 06:54.042 So you have to trap the warmth from the 06:54.042 --> 06:56.390 fire inside . It just goes to show , 06:56.399 --> 06:58.959 you know , you think you might be doing 06:58.970 --> 07:00.859 ok . But , but there's a lot more 07:00.859 --> 07:03.160 effort required to , you know , to make 07:03.170 --> 07:05.170 yourself safe and secure . Then you 07:05.170 --> 07:07.589 immediately think it's easy to learn 07:07.600 --> 07:09.929 these things . Uh It just requires a 07:09.940 --> 07:13.239 huge amount of work . Good luck . 07:13.250 --> 07:17.010 Thanks very much with a few 07:17.019 --> 07:19.459 last minute alterations . I was happy 07:19.470 --> 07:22.700 with my shelter done , 07:25.010 --> 07:26.899 shelter complete and with the sun 07:26.899 --> 07:29.066 setting over the magnificent Norwegian 07:29.066 --> 07:31.288 landscape . I was keen to find out more 07:31.288 --> 07:33.010 about why these courses are so 07:33.010 --> 07:36.940 important . The geopolitical situation 07:36.950 --> 07:39.709 in the world in general is shifting and 07:39.720 --> 07:41.887 we see that the last couple of years , 07:41.887 --> 07:44.500 the increased interest of cold weather 07:44.510 --> 07:47.089 capability for military units has 07:47.100 --> 07:49.880 increased . It has almost exploded . So 07:49.890 --> 07:52.057 we , we are looking into possibilities 07:52.057 --> 07:54.510 for increasing our competence and can 07:54.519 --> 07:56.741 deliver more to NATO . Have you got any 07:56.741 --> 07:58.852 advice for me for , for , for tonight 07:58.852 --> 08:00.908 when it's when it gets really cold , 08:00.908 --> 08:02.908 how do I deal with that ? Make sure 08:02.908 --> 08:05.075 that you're heated up before you go to 08:05.075 --> 08:07.410 bed and dress warm and make sure you're 08:07.420 --> 08:09.589 insulated from the ground ? 08:11.209 --> 08:13.265 Ok . I'll bear that all in mind . Uh 08:13.265 --> 08:15.265 Thank you very much again , looking 08:15.265 --> 08:16.709 forward to it , I think . 08:26.769 --> 08:29.299 Right . So , right now I am sitting in 08:30.429 --> 08:33.039 the camp in my camp behind me . We have 08:33.049 --> 08:36.099 the fern bed . I got the fire going . 08:37.750 --> 08:41.330 So the night begins and it began with 08:41.340 --> 08:43.260 everyone taking their shoes off . 08:45.260 --> 08:47.427 So Barris , what's , uh , what's going 08:47.427 --> 08:49.659 on here ? It's actually just a control 08:49.669 --> 08:51.669 or the combat readiness . So , it's 08:51.669 --> 08:53.891 like a conversation , uh , asking about 08:53.891 --> 08:56.058 the food , drinking and they check the 08:56.058 --> 08:58.280 fingers and the toes looking for cuts , 08:58.280 --> 09:01.369 frost bites and like getting the 09:01.380 --> 09:03.547 general impression of how the soldiers 09:03.547 --> 09:05.713 are feeling and how they are coping in 09:05.713 --> 09:05.640 the environment , 09:09.789 --> 09:12.020 fingers and toes intact . And with my 09:12.030 --> 09:14.150 fire burning , I took a moment to 09:14.159 --> 09:17.109 reflect on the day so far . Obviously , 09:17.119 --> 09:19.341 I'm highly unlikely to ever find myself 09:19.341 --> 09:21.508 in a situation where I need to build a 09:21.508 --> 09:24.650 fire or make a shelter . 09:25.130 --> 09:28.510 Um , but for these guys and the guys 09:28.520 --> 09:30.576 that they'll train when they go back 09:30.576 --> 09:32.631 with the skills that they've learned 09:32.631 --> 09:35.950 from this course , um , they could 09:36.809 --> 09:39.119 have to operate in this kind of in 09:39.130 --> 09:41.830 these kind of conditions . Um , at some 09:41.840 --> 09:43.784 point in the future . It's a great 09:43.784 --> 09:46.830 example of how militaries from 09:46.840 --> 09:48.896 different countries come together to 09:48.896 --> 09:50.960 teach each other skills that benefit 09:50.969 --> 09:53.119 overall the NATO alliance . 10:09.469 --> 10:12.570 Oh , God . Oh . 10:14.309 --> 10:17.929 Oh . Oh . So that 10:18.729 --> 10:20.896 it wasn't the worst night's sleep I've 10:20.896 --> 10:23.062 ever had , but it certainly wasn't one 10:23.062 --> 10:24.909 of the best either . Um , 10:28.280 --> 10:30.447 good morning . Good morning . It's a , 10:30.447 --> 10:34.049 he said a good morning . Uh Well , you 10:34.059 --> 10:37.010 know , is it all right , can see 10:37.020 --> 10:39.309 likewise . What , what's the process 10:39.320 --> 10:41.542 after you finished using AC , I try not 10:41.542 --> 10:43.709 to make the tracks . Like I'm saying , 10:43.709 --> 10:45.653 the two things , we're leaving the 10:45.653 --> 10:47.876 nature . That's thank you and nothing . 10:47.876 --> 10:49.987 So we had to conceal all their tracks 10:49.987 --> 10:52.098 as good as possible . Of course , the 10:52.098 --> 10:54.264 snow tracks will be here but they will 10:54.264 --> 10:56.320 vanish when the snow is coming . But 10:56.320 --> 10:58.264 then you just conceal the fire and 10:58.264 --> 11:00.542 spread the beddings and all that stuff . 11:00.542 --> 11:00.275 And uh since you have already built it 11:00.284 --> 11:02.006 in a nice environment and it's 11:02.006 --> 11:04.234 concealed by itself , uh most of the 11:04.244 --> 11:06.522 nature has done the job for you . Yeah , 11:06.522 --> 11:08.188 it was , it was definitely an 11:08.188 --> 11:10.355 experience . Uh I definitely feel like 11:10.355 --> 11:12.594 I've learned a thing or two . We , we 11:12.604 --> 11:14.493 didn't quite buddy up the shelter 11:14.493 --> 11:16.604 building , but I'd certainly say that 11:16.604 --> 11:16.315 Marris is a body , right ? Marris . 11:16.325 --> 11:18.381 Yeah . Likewise . Yeah , it has been 11:18.381 --> 11:20.436 good to have you here . So , welcome 11:20.436 --> 11:22.492 back . Having finally achieved buddy 11:22.492 --> 11:24.900 status with Marius . My time spent on 11:24.909 --> 11:26.909 this course had certainly taught me 11:26.909 --> 11:29.020 that to survive in these conditions . 11:29.020 --> 11:31.131 Even if only for 24 hours you need to 11:31.131 --> 11:33.489 know what to do and how to do it . It 11:33.500 --> 11:35.667 has also given me an insight into just 11:35.667 --> 11:37.667 how much preparation , training and 11:37.667 --> 11:39.778 knowledge is needed to operate in the 11:39.778 --> 11:40.090 cold .