It was a training package that took place in a political climate as frosty as the winter - amid diplomacy to resolve differences between Europe and the US over the path to peace in Ukraine.
With the media focused on a heated televised exchange between Presidents Donald Trump and Volodymyr Zelensky and a subsequent top-level summit, NATO’s Exercise Steadfast Dart was on the television only fleetingly.
But on the ground in Romania - where the sub-zero bite and the constant grind of conventional warfighting rehearsal were the realities - nothing had changed.
There was simply a determination among troops to get on with the job.
“Out here we have been focused squarely on our role as infanteers and all ranks have stepped up,” Maj Jamie Graham of 4th Battalion, The Royal Regiment of Scotland tells Soldier during a brief lull in the programme on the Smardan training area.
“We have been going through trench clearance procedures in addition to fighting in woods and forests, and all the while we’ve been working closely with troops from some of the other alliance states including the host nation, Spain and Greece.”
Steadfast Dart is, by any standards, a huge undertaking. The largest European outing for NATO this year, the manoeuvres throughout Romania and Bulgaria are the first all-up test of the alliance’s Allied Reaction Force.
As well as having responsibility for countering threats in the ground, sea and air theatres, this new formation has the cyber and space domains firmly on its radar. There is top-end British involvement too, the land component is headed up by 1 (UK) Division, with the Cottesmore-based 7th Light Mechanised Brigade Combat Team at the tip of the NATO spear.
In these frigid conditions it is somewhat ironic that the formation’s troops are the heirs to Field Marshal Bernard Montgomery’s Second World War Desert Rats.
But warfighting, whatever the environment, is their stock-in-trade. And working with nine other nations and 10,000 alliance personnel, they are well-placed to prosecute this simulated combined arms battle in which armour, artillery, helicopters, drones and strike aircraft are all available to commanders.
Highlanders of 4 Scots are paired with the light cavalry of The Royal Scots Dragoon Guards in leading the charge.
With vehicles including Jackal 2s, Coyotes and Foxhounds between them, plus support from attached sappers, medics and signallers, the formation is packing a potent punch.
“The exercise has been a great opportunity for everyone - in particular for younger Jocks who have joined us over the last year or so - to develop as soldiers,” continues Maj Graham.
“For a fair few, it is the first time they have had the chance to work in a different setting and alongside other militaries.
“For me, it has been lovely to see how they have taken to the task - there has been a great deal of learning as British troops see how allies do things differently.”
Working alongside Soviet-era armour, such as T-55 tanks still used by some Eastern European armies, had proved a particular high point while a range of serials against different enemy positions allowed soldiers to test their mettle.
“The Royal Engineers have constructed a new trench system here in Romania and we have been using it to work through clearance drills,” Maj Graham adds. “Elsewhere, the soldiers have been fighting through mixed woodland, which ranges from some pretty dense forest, breaking into areas of open copse.
“We have also had the opportunity for company live firing on the ranges, and all of this in temperatures that have gone down to 11 degrees below freezing.”
The officer praised the troops for their professionalism throughout an exercise that had also seen some of them crew vehicles across Europe to the training area. With soldiers and their kit landing by ship at ports in Greece and Germany, deploying to Steadfast Dart had been a challenging task in itself.
“They held up well in spite of the demands placed on them,” the OC points out. “We have also had some great support from our logisticians, who helped load and unload the equipment as well as providing tanker support.”
Those taking part in the manoeuvres certainly feel they have benefited from the experience. Hldr Lewis Talbot, who has been in uniform for five years, said the training package was far larger than anything he had experienced.
“It has been great - and definitely unique,” he explains. “I’ve been out on exercise in Germany a couple of times before but this one was on a different scale.
“Our time in Romania has given us some great insights into working with allies from other NATO countries — live firing has been a high point for me.
“While it is cold, we have been protected by decent kit throughout.”
Hdr Luke Rohr agrees that the freezing conditions have been an issue at certain times, but he points out that troops are properly trained for the weather.
“We were already well prepared to operate in the cold when we arrived,” he adds. “I’ve actually only been in the Army for the last four-and-a-half months and it has been a good experience, working alongside the Romanians and seeing how they operate has been really interesting.
“We’ve been fighting in forests, too, I had the opportunity to break into a wood block, and seeing attack helicopters and fast jets appear has been unbelievable.”
The scale is certainly impressive. Working together and learning from each other are key advantages of any alliance, as is the fact that each partner brings its own equipment plus areas of specialist knowledge.
Politicians within NATO may have disagreements, but there is also a broad consensus among them on the principles of collective defence and its contribution to shared interests.
And while Steadfast Dart is only an exercise, it is not lost on the soldiers in Romania that a war is raging just over the border.
There, in Ukraine, many of the scenarios they are playing out are happening for real, at great human cost. And this alone underscores the importance of deterrence.
