SHAKO: New Tongue-Twister Name for Greenland’s Thule Air Base

AT THE TOP OF THE WORLD.

Thule Air Base, Greenland — the northern-most U.S. military base on the planet — has a new name: Pituffik Space Base. U.S. and Greenland officials unveiled the new base sign during the base renaming ceremony on April 6, 2023.  (U.S. Space Force photo by Senior Airman Kaitlin Castillo)

In an era when a number of U.S. military facilities are having their names changed to eliminate their links to the Confederacy and the Southern Rebellion’s ties to slavery, Thule Air Base, the Defense Department’s northernmost installation, has been renamed for entirely different reasons.

The name change to Pituffik Space Base has a two-fold purpose: To recognize Greenland’s cultural heritage and better reflect that the installation is now a U.S. Space Force Base.

Pituffik (pronounced bee-doo-FEEK) is the traditional Greenlandic name of the region where the base is located. The renaming better reflects its role in the U.S. Space Force, while paying homage to its ties to the Greenlandic people and culture, according to U.S. Space Force . The base is located approximately 750 miles north of the Arctic Circle on the northwestern coast of Greenland (see map below).

“This renaming represents our wish to celebrate and acknowledge the rich cultural heritage of Greenland and its people and how important they are to the sustainment of this installation against the harsh environment north of the Arctic Circle,” Chief of Space Operations U.S. Space Force Gen. Chance Saltzman, said  in his opening remarks at the April 6 ceremony.

He was joined by officials from both countries. Shown in the photo at the top of this post, from left to right, Colonel Brian Capps, 821st Space Base Group commander; Saltzman; Greenlandic Minister of Affairs, Business and Trade Vivian Motzfeldt, U.S. Ambassador to the Kingdom of Denmark Alan Leventhal and Chief Master Sergeant Christopher Clark, the 821st Space Group command chief.

Greenland maps (The World Factbook 2021. Washington, DC: Central Intelligence Agency, 2021.)

DEFENSE COOPERATION

Saltzman noted that renewed strategic competition in the Arctic can be expected with Russia’s historically significant presence in the region and the People’s Republic of China, a self-proclaimed near-Arctic power, seeking opportunities to expand its influence.

“From here, we have maintained an unbreakable bond working towards the collective defense and stability of the northern Arctic,” said Saltzman. “I would like to express my sincere gratitude to the people of Greenland and Denmark for their partnership and friendship over the years. Today marks a new chapter in our shared history, one in which we recognize and celebrate the contributions and traditions of this land and its people…Together the men and women of Pituffik Space Base and our Greenlandic and Danish partners will ensure a safe, secure, and prosperous future both in space and above the Arctic Circle.”

Motzfeldt expressed her pride in Pituffik and Greenland and their part in ensuring the security and defense of the people of Greenland, the United States, and the transatlantic community.

“With the decision to re-name, the U.S. has demonstrated its respect to the friendship between us, recognizing cultural heritage, and the history of the base,” said Motzfeldt. “I hope that this day will serve as an example of the ability of great nations to listen to even their smallest neighbors…Today the U.S. has proclaimed to the world, that here lies Pituffik Space Base, where even this far north, there is a people, and they have a name for the place from where we keep watch over all our peoples.”

 

The renaming ceremony was hosted in conjunction with the Greenlandic Heritage Week festival held annually at the base. Greenlandic Heritage Week is a festival that celebrates Greenlandic Inuit culture and is attended by residents from local villages, with some making the multi-day trek by dog sled across the sea ice.

The base, built in 1951, provides installation support for vital space-based missions, is home to the DoD’s northernmost deep-water port, and has a 10,000-foot runway. It is operated by the 821st Space Base Group, a geographically separated unit of Space Base Delta 1 in Colorado Springs, Colorado. The 821st SBG provides mission support to the base, including security forces, airfield management, and the day-to-day operations to enable force projection, space superiority, and scientific research in the Arctic region for North America and its allies. Pituffik Space Base also hosts the 12th Space Warning Squadron and 23rd Space Operations Squadron, Detachment 1.

GREENLAND

Greenland, the world’s largest island, is about 80 percent ice-capped. Vikings reached the island in the 10th century from Iceland; Danish colonization began in the 18th century, and Greenland became an integral part of the Danish Realm in 1953.

Greenland was granted self-government in 1979 by the Danish parliament; the law went into effect the following year. Greenland voted in favor of increased self-rule in November 2008 and acquired greater responsibility for internal affairs when the Act on Greenland Self-Government was signed into law in June 2009. Denmark, however, continues to exercise control over several policy areas on behalf of Greenland, including foreign affairs, security, and financial policy in consultation with Greenland’s Self-Rule Government, according to the CIA’s World Fact Book.

The village of Qaanaaq, formerly Thule, located about 65 miles north of the base. Qaanaaq is home to about 600 people. This photo was taken in late summer 2007. (U.S. Air Force photo by Colonel Lee-Volker Cox) Click on the photo to enlarge image.

THE FRIDAY FOTO (January 13, 2023) DOUBLE FEATURE

LOOKS EASY …

(U.S. Air Force photo by Senior Airman Class Patrick Sullivan) Click on the photo to enlarge the image.

U.S. Air Force fire protection specialists assigned to the 673d Civil Engineer Squadron conduct ice rescue training at Six Mile Lake, Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson (JBER), Alaska on January 8, 2023.

According to the Air Force, Fire Protection specialists deal with everything from brush fires to burning rocket fuel and hazardous material fires. “Upholding our mission to ensure the safety of others, these specialists don’t just act on Air Force bases, but assist civilian fire departments when needed as well.”

After completing a classroom course, the JBER firefighters in the photo above took to the ice to test their skills in a series of scenarios designed to simulate real-world rescues. The firefighters received certifications as ice rescue technicians after qualifying in the skills needed to conduct ice rescue and recovery efforts in extreme cold-weather environments.

… BUT IT REALLY ISN’T

Especially in Alaska, in January.

(U.S. Air Force photo by Senior Airman Class Patrick Sullivan) Click on the photo to enlarge the image.

U.S. Air Force Staff Sergeant Joseph Jenkins, a fire protection specialist assigned to the 673d Civil Engineer Squadron, pulls a fellow firefighter out of the water during ice rescue training at Six Mile Lake. Brrrrr.

FRIDAY FOTO (December 16, 2022)

MARINE CORPS CHIAROSCURO.

(U.S. Marine Corps photo by Lance Corporal Averi Rowton) Click on the photo to enlarge the image.

Members of the U.S. 2d Marine Division light a Small Unit Expeditionary stove at their campsite during the NATO Cold Weather Instructor Course (NCWIC) in Setermoen, Norway on November 24, 2022.

Here at 4GWAR Blog we were struck by this photo,  which reminds us of the 17th Century Italian painter Caravaggio, one of the early masters of chiaroscuro, the art of using light and dark to create the illusion of three-dimensional volume on a flat surface. The term translates to “light-dark” — chiaro meaning bright or clear and scuro meaning dark or obscure, in Italian.

NCWIC is designed to develop Marines and other service members to be instructors of cold weather survival training in preparation for future deployments in the harsh environment of the High North regions. NATO is increasing its attention to the region, in response to the Russian war with Ukraine, Moscow’s military buildup in the Arctic and China’s expanding reach, declaring itself a “near Arctic state”  and planning a “Polar Silk Road” linking China to Europe via the Arctic, according to NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg.

FRIDAY FOTO (September 2, 2022)

One of the Perks of the Job.

(U.S. Coast Guard photo by Petty Officer 3rd Class Matthew Abban)

Crew members look at the aurora borealis as it’s seen from the U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Bear while transiting northward in the Atlantic Ocean, August 9, 2022.

The Bear was heading for Operation Nanook, the Canadian Armed Forces’ signature northern operation, this year in and around Cambridge Bay, Nunavut. Nunavut is a massive, sparsely populated territory of northern Canada, forming most of the Canadian Arctic Archipelago.

The aurora, also known as the Northern Lights, is an electrical phenomenon in Earth’s atmosphere.

 

SHAKO: First Female Coast Guard Commandant Takes Over

GLASS CEILING SHATTERS

Admiral Linda Fagan took command June 1 as the first female commandant of the U.S. Coast Guard. (Dept. of Homeland Security photo via Twitter.) Click on photos to enlarge image.

History was made June 1, 2022 as Admiral Linda Fagan became the first female commandant of the United States Coast Guard in a change of command ceremony with her predecessor Admiral Karl Schultz.

President Joe Biden and Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas attended the historic ceremony.

In his remarks, Biden noted Fagan had first served aboard the Polar Star, heavy icebreaker, been captain of the Port of New York, served on all seven continents and commanded Coast Guard operations in the Pacific before becoming Vice Commandant of the Coast Guard.

“Throughout her decades of service, she has demonstrated an exceptional skill, integrity, and commitment to our country. She upholds the highest traditions of the United States Coast Guard.,” Biden said.

“This moment of acceleration of global challenges and hybrid threats that don’t stop at any border, there’s no one more qualified to lead the proud women and men of the Coast Guard, and she will also be the first woman to serve as Commandant of the Coast Guard — the first woman to lead any branch of the United States Armed Forces. And it’s about time,” Biden added.

“With her trailblazing career,” the President said, “Admiral Fagan shows that young people — young people entering service that we mean it when we say there are no doors — no doors closed to women.”

Fagan became the 32nd vice commandant of the Coast Guard on June 18, 2021, and the first female four-star admiral in the service’s history. Biden nominated her for the top job in early April and confirmation from the Senate came swiftly.

Keeping with the tradition of wearing shoulder boards passed down from a senior officer, Adm. Fagan wore the shoulder boards of the Admiral Owen Siler. As the service’s 15th Commandant, he opened the Coast Guard Academy’s doors to women in 1975. Despite having met Silor only once, Fagan acknowledged “the outsized impact of that decision.”

“If it were not for Owen Siler’s courage, I would not be here today,” Fagan said. “I’m wearing his shoulder boards that he wore as commandant, just to acknowledge the long blue line.”

DHS Secretary Mayorkas (3rd from left) and President Biden attended the change of command ceremony where Adm. Linda Fagan  relieved Adm. Karl Schultz (2nd from right) as the 27th commandant at Coast Guard headquarters June 1, 2022. Fagan is the first woman service chief of any U.S. military service. (U.S. Coast Guard photo by Petty Officer 1st Class Travis Magee)

In addition to praising Fagan’s service and accomplishments, Mayorkas, who heads the department that includes the Coast Guard, praised her predecessor, the 26th Commandant, Admiral Schultz, “who led the Coast Guard through a unique and unprecedented period,” Mayorkas noted.

“Throughout the global pandemic, the Coast Guard did not have the option of working from home. At the outset of the pandemic, Admiral Schultz led Coasties as they brought cruise ship passengers and crew to safety. From that time forward, he has helped keep the Marine Transportation System going, which facilitates more than a quarter of our country’s gross domestic product and maintains 31 million jobs in American ports, harbors, and waterways,” the DHS Secretary said.

“Through the most intense and active Atlantic hurricane season on record, historic levels of migration, the urgent need to distribute COVID-19 vaccines, and the Afghan resettlement effort of Operation Allies Welcome, the Coast Guard has been there, always ready and always delivering,” Mayorkas said.

BALTIC-2-BLACK: Finland’s Leaders Favor Joining NATO; Sweden Could be Next; Moscow Has a Melt Down

Finland Closer to Joining NATO.

For years, 4GWAR has been reporting that Russia’s boorish, then belligerent and now inhumane behavior has been worrying its European neighbors, from the Baltic Sea in the North to the Black Sea in the South, since it annexed the Crimean peninsula from Ukraine in 2014.

In recent weeks, we’ve noted that two of those neighbors in the Baltic region — long-standing neutrals Sweden and Finland — are on the brink of joining NATO in response to the continuing brutal assault on Ukraine ordered by Russian President Vladimir Putin on February 24.

Finland’s leaders Thursday came out in favor of applying to join NATO, and Sweden could do the same within days, in a historic realignment on the continent 2 1/2 months after Russian President Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine sent a shiver of fear through Moscow’s neighbors, the Associated Press reported.

Finland’s president and prime minister have called for the country to apply for NATO membership “without delay,” the BBC reported, noting “Russia and Finland share a 1,300km (810-mile) border. Finland has been non-aligned since World War Two and has always sought not to antagonise its eastern neighbour.”

The declaration by Finland’s leaders that they will join NATO — with expectations that neighboring Sweden would soon do the same — could now reshape a strategic balance in Europe that has prevailed for decades, The New York Times observed, noting “It is the latest example of how Russia’s invasion of Ukraine 11 weeks ago has backfired on Mr. Putin’s intentions.”

*** *** ***

AP: Why It’s a Big Deal.

Support in Finland for NATO membership has hovered around 20 to 30 percent for years. It now stands at over 70%. The two are NATO’s closest partners but maintaining good ties with Russia has been an important part of their foreign policy, particularly for Finland., the AP explained in an analysis piece.

Now they hope for security support from NATO states — primarily the United States — in case Moscow retaliates. Britain pledged on May 11 to come to their aid.

Joining regional neighbors Denmark, Norway and Iceland in NATO, would formalize their joint security and defense work in ways that their Nordic Defense Cooperation pact hasn’t. Finland and Sweden in NATO would tighten the strategic Nordic grip on the Baltic Sea — Russia’s maritime point of access to the city of St. Petersburg and its Kaliningrad exclave.

If Finland and Sweden join NATO, the Baltic Sea would become a NATO lake, with Russia the only non-NATO member on its coastal waters.

*** *** ***

Moscow Meltdown

Russia warned that Finland’s potential membership in NATO was a threat and said that it was prepared to “balance the situation,” characterizing any steps it takes in response as a necessary reaction forced on it by the alliance’s continued expansion, The New Tork Times reported.

President Vladimir V. Putin has cited NATO’s spread eastward to countries on its borders as the primary national threat to Russia and has used Ukraine’s desire to join the alliance to justify his invasion of that country. Mr. Putin has accused the United States and its allies of fighting a “proxy war” by arming Kyiv’s forces, according to The Times.

*** *** ***

Closer Than You Think.

In late April naval vessels from NATO members Latvia, Estonia and the Netherlands practiced counter mine measures with their Finnish counterparts off Finland’s coast, while German, French, Dutch and Canadian navy vessels conducted an ant-submarine exercise with the Swedish navy in the Baltic Sea.

“Since Russia’s unprovoked and unjustified invasion of Ukraine, NATO has further reinforced its deterrence and defence, on land, in the air, and at sea. Finland and Sweden are NATO’s closest partners, with years of experience training and operating alongside NATO Allies,” according to a NATO press release.

U.S. and Finnish soldiers exchange information during Exercise Arrow 22 in Niinisalo Training Area, Finland in early May. Exercise Arrow is an annual, multinational exercise where visiting forces included U.S., U.K., Latvian and Estonian troops. (Photo Finnish Defence Forces via Facebook)

 

BALTIC-2-BLACK: Sweden, Finland Move Closer to NATO Membership; Russia Blusters and Threatens

Sweden, Finland and NATO.

The Nordic nations of Sweden and Finland, neutral during the Cold War, have been moving closer to NATO — participating in multi-national exercises with the forces of the western alliance — since Russia seized Crimea and grew increasingly belligerent in its military moves both on and above the Baltic Sea.

Russia’s February 24 invasion of non-NATO member Ukraine alarmed the Eastern members of NATO who used to be under the sway of Moscow — like Poland, Romania and the Czech Republic — to spend more on their defense forces and participate in more NATO exercises.Several are also supplying arms, medical equipment and technology to embattled Ukraine.

Finnish Troops participate in Exercise Cold Response 2022, a multinational Arctic weather military exercise hosted by Norway between March 14 and March 31. (Maavoimat – Armén – The Finnish Army, photo via Facebook)

The war in Ukraine pushed leaders in Sweden and Finland to publicly announce plans to consider joining the 30-member North Atlantic Treaty Organization — where an attack on one means an attack on all.

“Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has caused Finland to review our security strategy,” Prime Minister Sanna Marin said at a joint press conference in Stockholm on April 13 hosted by Swedish Prime Minister Magdalena Andersson. “I won’t offer any kind of timetable as to when we will make our decision, but I think it will happen quite fast. Within weeks, not within months. The security landscape has completely changed.”

Finland, which shares an 830-mile border with Russia, is “highly likely” to join NATO despite the Russian government’s threats to deploy nuclear weapons, Finnish Minister for European Affairs Tytti Tuppurainen said in an interview with Sky News Friday.

“The people of Finland, they seem to have already made up their mind,” Tuppurainen told Sky News, noting that polls show overwhelming support for joining NATO.

The Finnish government is expected to submit a report to parliament on the changed security environment by the end of this month, kicking off a debate and eventually a recommendation on applying for NATO membership, according to Axios.

Meanwhile, Sweden has decided to examine a range of security-related options, including deepening Nordic defense cooperation and urging the European Union to develop enhanced defense policies to offer greater military protection to EU member states that border the highly sensitive Baltic Sea and High North regions, Defense News reports.

The Swedish government is expected to deliver its National Security Report to the Riksdag, the country’s legislature, before May 31.

“What we need to do is to carefully think through what is in the best long-term interests of Sweden, and what we need to do to guarantee our national security, our sovereignty and secure peace in this new heightened tension and situation,” said Prime Minister Magdalena Andersson.

“Russia’s invasion has dramatically changed the political discourse in Sweden and Finland and also crucially public opinion,” Alistair Shepherd, senior lecturer for European security at Aberystwyth University, told Al Jazeera.

There are indications both Finland and Sweden are heading towards a genuinely historic change of course in their respective security policies. During the Cold War, Sweden and Finland were essentially considered neutral states, although for different reasons.

“Sweden’s neutrality was much more part of their national identity, whereas Finland’s neutrality was more pragmatic and virtually forced upon them by the Agreement of Friendship, Cooperation, and Mutual Assistance signed between Finland and the USSR in 1948,” said Shepherd.

*** *** ***

Moscow Reacts with Threats

Russia warned Finland and Sweden on Thursday (April 14) that if they join NATO, Moscow will reinforce the Baltic Sea region, including with nuclear weapons, the Washington Post reported.

The threat came just a day after Finnish officials suggested their country could request to join NATO within weeks, while Sweden mulled making a similar move.

Dmitry Medvedev, an ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin who serves as deputy chairman of Russia’s Security Council, said that NATO expansion would lead Moscow to strengthen air, land and naval forces to “balance” military capability in the region.

“If Sweden and Finland join NATO, the length of the land borders of the alliance with the Russian Federation will more than double. Naturally, these boundaries will have to be strengthened,” he wrote on Telegram. “There can be no more talk of any nuclear-free status for the Baltic — the balance must be restored,” Medvedev added.

Even before his invasion of Ukraine, Russian President Vladimir Putin warned Sweden and Finland of “retaliation” should they join NATO.

The New York Times notes that “if his invasion of Ukraine has succeeded at anything so far, it has been to drive the militarily nonaligned Nordic countries into the arms of NATO, as Russian threats and aggression heighten security concerns and force them to choose sides.

Finland and Sweden’s shift to NATO membership “would be another example of the counterproductive results of Mr. Putin’s war. Instead of crushing Ukrainian nationalism, he has enhanced it. Instead of weakening the trans-Atlantic alliance, he has solidified it. Instead of dividing NATO and blocking its growth, he has united it,” the Times observed April 13.

 

More that 1,600 Swedish troops and civilian personnel participated in Exercise Cold Response 2022, Norway’s multi-national Arctic military training exercise. (Swedish Armed Forces photo by Mats Carlsson/Försvarsmakten)

 

SHAKO: Coast Guard Admiral Nominated to be First Woman Commandant

Another First for the Coast Guard.

Another glass ceiling in the military may be broken soon.

On April 5, word leaked out that President Joe Biden intends to nominate Admiral Linda Fagan to serve as the 27th Commandant of the U.S. Coast Guard. If confirmed by the Senate, not only will Admiral Fagan be the first woman commandant of the Coast Guard, she would be the first woman in uniform to head one the military services.

Admiral Linda Fagan, vice commandant of the U.S. Coast Guard since 2021, has been nominated to be the Coast Guard’s first woman commandant by President Biden. (Official U.S. Coast Guard portrait)

While the Coast Guard is part of the Department of Homeland Security, it operates under the Navy during times of war and by law is considered one of the six military services along with the Army, Navy, Marine Corps, Air Force and Space Force.

Fagan became the 32nd vice commandant of the Coast Guard on June 18, 2021, and the first female four-star admiral in the service’s history.

The vice commandant is the No. 2 commander in the Coast Guard and its chief operating officer, responsible for executing the Commandant’s Strategic Intent, managing internal organizational governance, and serving as the Component Acquisition Executive.

Pending confirmation, Fagan is expected to relieve the current commandant of the Coast Guard, Admiral Karl L. Schultz, during a change of command ceremony planned for June 1, 2022, in Washington, D.C.

“Admiral Fagan is an exceptional senior Coast Guard officer and nominee, possessing the keen intellect, the depth of operational experience, and the well-honed leadership and managerial acumen to serve with distinction as our Service’s 27th commandant,” said Schultz, SEAPOWER reported.

The potential gap in leadership between Schultz’s departure and his replacement’s confirmation raised concerns among lawmakers in recent weeks, On Monday (April 4) Senate Democrats Tammy Baldwin of  Wisconsin and Maria Cantwell of Washington, sent a letter to the White House urging the president to nominate a new Coast Guard leader as soon as possible, Military Times reported.

“Ensuring continuity of leadership is of the utmost importance to our national and economic security,” the pair wrote. “The Coast Guard is at the forefront of a number of strategic priorities for the United States, from the growing importance of security in the Arctic, to drug interdiction, environmental protection, and leading emergency response on the frontlines of the climate crisis.”

Congress is scheduled to break for two weeks starting April 8, but could schedule confirmation hearings for Fagan in late April or early May, Military Times noted.

Previously, Fagan served as commander of the Coast Guard Pacific Area and and Commander, Coast Guard Defense Force West. She has served on all seven continents, from Ross Island, Antarctica to the heart of Africa, and in many ports along the way. Her operational tours include: Commander of the New York sector;ore than 15 years as a Marine Inspector; and sea duty on the heavy ice breaker POLAR STAR — her first at-sea assignment.

The Coast Guard Cutter Polar Star, seen here on Jan. 2, 2020, was Adm. Linda Fagan’s first sea duty assignment as an officer. (U.S. Coast Guard photo by Senior Chief Petty Officer NyxoLyno Cangemi)

Fagan is also the Coast Guard officer with the longest service record in the Marine Safety field, earning the service’s first-ever Gold Ancient Trident award.

***  ***  ***

SHAKO is an occasional 4GWAR posting on military history, traditions and culture. For the uninitiated, a shako is the tall, billed headgear worn by many armies from the Napoleonic era to about the time of the American Civil War. It remains a part of the dress or parade uniform of several military organizations like the corps of cadets at the U.S. Military Academy, West Point, New York.

FRIDAY FOTO (April 1, 2022)

IT’S SNOWING SOLDIERS.

(U.S. Army photo by Major Jason Welch) CLICK on photo to enlarge image.

Paratroopers from the U.S. Army’s 1st Battalion, 501st Parachute Infantry Regiment, conducted a forcible entry exercise onto Donnelly Drop Zone at the Joint Pacific Multinational Readiness Center  (JPMRC) on March 11, 2022.

The 501st regiment, part of the “Spartan Brigade — 4th Infantry Brigade Combat Team (Airborne) of the 25th Infantry Division — were participating in JPMRC rotation 22-02, the first Home Station Combat Training Center (HS-CTC) rotation in Alaska. The Cold Weather training event focuses on Large Scale Combat Operation, including a Live Fire Exercise.

FRIDAY FOTO (MARCH 12, 2022)

A Flash of Green.

The northern lights glow behind a Patriot M903 launcher station during Exercise ARCTIC EDGE 2022 at Eielson Air Force Base, Alaska, March 5, 2022. The Patriot system allows Soldiers to detect, analyze and defend against incoming air and missile threats.

U.S.Northern Command is hosting exercise Arctic Edge 2022, which is held every two years.

Participants include 1,000 U.S. military personnel, including units from the Army, Navy, Air Force, Coast Guard, and Special Operations Command.

Additionally, elements from the Royal Canadian Navy, the Royal Canadian Air Force, and the Canadian Army are also participating.

The exercise aims is to provide realistic and effective training using training locations that are available throughout Alaska.

Arctic Edge 22 is linked to other service specific exercises, including the National Guard’s Arctic Eagle Patriot, the Army’s Joint Pacific Multinational Readiness Capability Exercise and the Navy’s ICEX. They will take place concurrently or consecutively during the month of February and March.