“With all of us being from Darwin, this isn’t exactly the climate we’re accustomed to soldiering in ... and the environmental shift has meant performing demonstrations and giving lessons has proven challenging,” he said.

“The recruits and AFU instructors, who are accustomed to snowy conditions, and many of whom have seen combat, have been teaching us the best way to survive and to conceal our movement in snow.

“We’ve been using the lessons learned from the previous rotation, as well as the recent real-life experience of the Ukrainian section commanders, to further refine and improve the training.”

Winter warfare training has been a popular pastime recently among several countries.

The US and Canada have both teamed up earlier this month to tactically insert a platoon of troops by Hercules aircraft and train on Arctic Ocean ice during Exercise Guerrier Nordique 23.

Both the US and China also sent troops to compete in the snowy Edelweiss Raid 2023 international mountain infantry competition hosted by Austrian Armed Forces during February this year.

Robert Dougherty

Robert is a senior journalist who has previously worked for Seven West Media in Western Australia, as well as Fairfax Media and Australian Community Media in New South Wales. He has produced national headlines, photography and videography of emergency services, business, community, defence and government news across Australia. Robert graduated with a Bachelor of Arts, Majoring in Public Relations and Journalism at Curtin University, attended student exchange program with Fudan University and holds Tier 1 General Advice certification for Kaplan Professional. Reach out via email at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or via LinkedIn.