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Alpha Company 40 Commando Royal Marines on operations in Nahr-e Saraj, Central Helmand.
Photographs by L(Phot) Rhys Oleary – MOD/Crown Copyright 2013
Exercise Crazy Trip 2009
Second battalion of commandos (2 Cdo), was preparing yesterday to make a leap up off from the operational base of Den Helder.
The day was devoted to training in amphibious landings.
Lieutenant-Colonel Closset, commanding officer of 2 Cdo, talks about the constraints an amphibious landing: "For an amphibious landing, there is a whole series of parameters that come into play. First, we must have the necessary resources in the right place at the right time. Then, we must respond to the challenge imposed by the weather: the tides, wind speed, sea state .. That aspect is a challenge particularly difficult to meet because by nature unpredictable. Finally, it is also to maintain the secrecy and discretion of the preparation to ensure the element of surprise during the execution of the operation.
Pictured: 17 Feb 2026 - Royal Marines from 40 Commando on the ground after being inserted on a joint raid by 847 Naval Air Squadron Wildcat HMA Mk2 Helicopter at Elvegårdsmoen military training camp, Norway.
Royal Marines from 40 Commando were inserted on a joint raid with the Royal Netherlands Marine Corps at Elvegårdsmoen military training camp using Wildcats from 847 Naval Air Squadron and a Dutch NH90 from 820 Squadron.
Aircraft from Commando Helicopter Force have deployed to Northern Norway to Royal Norwegian Air Force base, Bardufoss, in Northern Norway, for their annual workout in the Arctic Circle, Operation Clockwork.
The Commando Merlin and Wildcat operators will master their environment – testing themselves and their machines against the extreme cold.
Personnel will carry out survival training, ensuring they can live and move in the wilderness – learning to navigate, ski and build shelters and forage for food – before conducting sorties over Norway’s fjords and mountains.
Intensive flying operations will ensure the Commando Helicopter Force is able to effectively operate their aircraft in the Arctic – testing pilots, observers and engineers alike.
All of this work will lead up to Exercise Cold Response – the largest military exercises in the country in 2026, which will demonstrate the unity of NATO and the ability of the alliance to deter threats in the high north.
Photographer: POPhot Lee Blease
British Royal Marines Commandos with O Squadron, 43 Commando Fleet Protection Group Royal Marines conduct a live-fire exercise at Naval Support Activity Northwest Annex, Chesapeake, Virginia, July 25, 2023.
U.S. Marines and British Royal Marines train with M18 pistols in order to increase proficiency.
Exercise Tartan Eagle is an annual bilateral training exercise for the U.S. Marines with Marine Corps Security Forces Regiment and British Royal Marines with 43 Commando Fleet Protection Group Royal Marines to travel to each other's training facilities to exchange tactics, techniques and procedures in fixed site security.
U.S. Marine Corps photo by SSgt. Servante R. Coba
3 Safe versions of a commando knife. One solid and blunted, one retracts into the handle and the third is a cut-off mounted on a body plate for an actor to wear "post stabbing".
Commandos set their sights on close-combat training
Royal Marines of 40 Commando honed their day and night-fighting skills with a week of intense training in mock towns in Kent. The Norton Manor-based commandos practised close quarters battle on special ranges at Lydd and Hythe, trying out an enhanced rifle sight to improve their already-impressive marksmanship.
Royal Marines of 40 Commando stand guard at the façade of a house on the ranges at Lydd and Hythe in Kent as Exercise Hawk – a week of close-combat training – draws to a close.
The commandos decamped from their base at Norton Manor in Somerset to the two training areas on the Channel.
The ranges at Lydd, about five miles west of Dungeness, have been used by troops for more than 150 years, while those at Hythe, a dozen miles to the east, are two centuries old and are dominated by a couple of Martello towers and Grand Redoubt, built to keep Napoleon at bay.
Some 200 years later, the ranges are in use almost daily – and have been adapted to meet the demands of today’s Armed Forces, with a mock modern-day housing estate, complete with roads, roundabouts and cars, built at both, while the Lydd ranges are strewn with wrecked old armoured vehicles.
40 Commando made full use of their week in Kent, from the annual combat marksmanship test to compound clearance and defending forward operating bases.
There was also the opportunity for the Royals to let loose with heavy weapons and each company carried out nighttime live firing.
And for the first time 40 tested the new ELCAN sight – there’s a small red cross for the aiming point – which is easier to use and better in the dark than the existing sights; troops still need to understand its capability, how to mount it on SA80 rifles and how to zero it – all of which was done in Kent.
For close quarters battle (also known as close combat or, in old parlance, hand-to-hand fighting), a separate sight is fitted on top of the ELCAN sight to allow the commandos to rapidly engage their targets.
As well as live firing, the Norton Manor men also used ‘simunition’ – simulated ammunition, which possesses the dynamics of the real thing, minus the lethality – to add an extra layer of realism to Exercise Hawk.
“40 Commando had plenty of time to practise close quarters skills and the simunition added a realistic dimension to the training,” explained Lt Dougal Loadman.
Rangers Lead the Way!
The Airborne Rangers are Americas Commandos. Specializing in rapid deployment, quick strike, insertion via land, sea or air, these boys are the both the pride and the spearpoint of the American military.
The 75th Ranger Regiment consists of 3 Battalions, stationed in separate locations on the east and west coasts.
On 2004 October 22 the 2nd Ranger Battalion (2/75th) at Ft. Lewis, Washington USA celebrated the 30th Anniversary of its modern (post Vietnam) (re) founding.
The 2nd Ranger Battalion is the legendary unit that scaled the cliffs of Point Du Hoc on D-Day, June 6th, 1944. This has been shown in movies such as Darbys Rangers, Saving Private Ryan, The Longest Day, and in the computer game Call of Duty 2.
They are currently engaged in the Global War on Terror worldwide.
I remember Anniversary 1, in 1975. We celebrated by running 10 Miles (16km), and doing lots of PT!
Some of the older folks in the pictures were also there from the beginning!
Pictured: 17 Feb 2026 - Royal Marines from 40 Commando on the ground after being inserted on a joint raid by 847 Naval Air Squadron Wildcat HMA Mk2 Helicopter at Elvegårdsmoen military training camp, Norway.
Royal Marines from 40 Commando were inserted on a joint raid with the Royal Netherlands Marine Corps at Elvegårdsmoen military training camp using Wildcats from 847 Naval Air Squadron and a Dutch NH90 from 820 Squadron.
Aircraft from Commando Helicopter Force have deployed to Northern Norway to Royal Norwegian Air Force base, Bardufoss, in Northern Norway, for their annual workout in the Arctic Circle, Operation Clockwork.
The Commando Merlin and Wildcat operators will master their environment – testing themselves and their machines against the extreme cold.
Personnel will carry out survival training, ensuring they can live and move in the wilderness – learning to navigate, ski and build shelters and forage for food – before conducting sorties over Norway’s fjords and mountains.
Intensive flying operations will ensure the Commando Helicopter Force is able to effectively operate their aircraft in the Arctic – testing pilots, observers and engineers alike.
All of this work will lead up to Exercise Cold Response – the largest military exercises in the country in 2026, which will demonstrate the unity of NATO and the ability of the alliance to deter threats in the high north.
Photographer: POPhot Lee Blease