MIKKELI, Finland –
A team of Virginia National Guard officers traveled to Finland to participate in Exercise Cold Response, a multi-country and multi-service winter exercise lead by the Norwegian Army which concluded March 20, 2026. The VNG’s involvement in the exercise was in support of the State Partnership Program, in which Virginia and Finland have been formally connected since 2024.
Four VNG officers participated in the exercise, which brought together more than 25,000 troops from 14 NATO allies. From the Finnish Army headquarters in Mikkeli, Finland, the VNG team worked alongside their Finnish counterparts, participating in exercise briefings, as well as planning and sustainment operations. While the bulk of the exercise was conducted in Norway, about 7,000 Finnish forces trained to protect the northern and eastern flank of the country.
Col. James C. Shaver Jr., the Virginia Army National Guard’s G1 deputy chief of staff for personnel, shadowed Finnish Col. Mikko Saarelainen, the Finnish Army G7, and participated in meetings such as the Commanders Updated Brief, Battle Update Briefs, Chief of Staff syncs and the Decision Planning Brief.
Lt. Col. Jason Detwiler, the VaARNG’s G8, and Maj. Brandon Harding, the Fort Pickett garrison executive officer, were assigned to the Sustainment Cell of Current Operations to work alongside their counterparts on fueling the fight with all classes of supply. They advised during the development of a transportation network map – determining and outlining suitable roads that could be used to move the force from port or staging area to the forward lines of troops.
Maj. Derrick Hall, executive officer of the 1030th Transportation Battalion, was assigned to the Sustainment Cell of Future Operations. He worked with the Finnish G4 and the Dutch to build comprehensive sustainment plans. Hall fully integrated himself with his team and took the lead in planning the sustainment operation for the exercise.
Together, the team developed operations and fragmentary orders, and gained valuable repetitions in the military decision-making process and rapid decision making process.
Exercise Cold Response was conducted in locations throughout Finland, Norway and Sweden, bringing together allies to train on high-intensity, realistic training scenarios to bolster response to threats in the Arctic region.
The Virginia National Guard established a formal partnership with Finland in May 2024 as part of the U.S. National Guard’s State Partnership Program. The partnership was initiated to combine air operations and interoperability defense including defense against cyber threats, information and intelligence operations, combined land forces capability, military assistance and support for disaster operations, and special operations training.
Read more about the VNG’s partnership with Finland at https://vngpao.info/yckwa597.