The Marine Corps has a reputation for making things suck on purpose.  Doesn’t matter what it is, the Marines will figure out a way to make it unpleasant, wet, sandy, hot, freezing cold with no chow and no sleep. To be a Marine is to suffer. If you complain you get reminded that you volunteered for it.

Cold weather training is harsh, while we have plenty of cold places here in the US, Finland is a place where Cold seems to be born and then sent out into the world.  So of course the Marines will want to send people there to train. In this case, it’s slinging supply loads under helicopters.  Ask anyone who’s done this in cold weather and you will find out the rotors on the helicopter whip the freezing wind into hurricane-force winds that make your skin feel like it’s on fire and make your eyes water uncontrollably to keep them from freezing to your eyelids. The resulting windburn looks like a bad sunburn.  This is why these Marines are covered head to toe in these images.

U.S. Marines with Combat Logistics Battalion 6 (CLB-6), Combat Logistics Regiment 2, 2nd Marine Logistics Group, conduct a helicopter lift with Finnish aircraft NH90 during Freezing Winds 22 in Gumbole, Finland Nov. 30, 2022. Task Force Red Cloud, headquartered by elements of CLB-6, is deployed to Finland in support of Exercises SYD 2022 and Freezing Winds 2022 to enhance U.S. and Finnish select interdependence in the maritime domain; solidify bilateral maritime maneuver within the Finnish littoral environment; and foster strong relationships between U.S. Marine Corps and Finnish Defense Force sustainment units. (U.S. Marine Corps photos by Cpl Jackson Kirkiewicz)