The National Guard is Preparing for Conflicts with Russia and China

The National Guard has been training for conflicts in the arctic areas of China and Russia by training in northern Michigan.

The Training
According to Military Times:
The first run of Northern Strike 23, a 10-day National Guard combined arms exercise, wrapped up over the weekend. This marks the sixth year the Guard has put on the event, part of the U.S. military’s push to get ready for military confrontation in the Arctic, where, as ice melts, waterways become more navigable and countries like China and Russia increase their military presence. “If you look at a map from the North Pole, you see how close all these countries are,” Army Gen. Dan Hokanson, chief of the National Guard Bureau, told Military Times on Thursday. “And you also see the vastness of the Arctic. And as we look at the temperatures increasing and further access to the Arctic, some of these scenarios that almost nobody would operate in because they’re so difficult ― now we’re starting to see countries move into those areas. And there will be competition there.” As part of his visit Thursday, Hokanson took some live-fire practice on the M777 Howitzer, one of the NATO weapons making a difference in beating back Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

The Arctic
As a member of NATO, the U.S. is obliged to help other NATO allies and to combat NATO adversaries such as China and Russia. The National Guard is working to be ready to battle these adversaries in the arctic region of the world.

The Statement
During a press conference Tuesday, Hokanson told reporters that the bureau intends to not only expand its exercise and training rotation lineup, but to modernize its brigade and division structure to more closely mirror the active duty Army. “I think the biggest thing I took from today is, we say we need to operate in the most complex environments … and I think what we saw today is our Guardsmen realizing that … the Arctic is an important environment,” Hokanson told Military Times. “And we need to take every opportunity to really train [in] environments [that] we may not be exposed [to] all the time — just to remember we can operate [there].”

Noel Bigliardi