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GRAYLING, Mich. – Tanks fire across training grounds in northern Michigan as thousands of service members practice for a battlefield military leaders say is changing rapidly.
More than 9,000 participants from 36 states and territories and five international participants are taking part in Northern Strike 26-2, one of the nation’s largest reserve-component military readiness exercises.
Northern Strike began in 2012 and is held twice a year. David Kennedy, a public affairs officer with the Michigan National Guard, said this summer’s exercise is the largest since it began.
Brig. Gen. Ravindra Wagh of the Michigan National Guard said lessons emerging from conflicts around the world are shaping how troops train.
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“You see what’s happening in Ukraine right now. You see what’s happening globally with some of our other emerging conflicts that you see,” Wagh said. “And I think that this is a place where you can test and innovate.”
Northern Michigan gives troops access to more than 200,000 acres of land, the Great Lakes and air, space and cyber capabilities.
The exercise also brings together different military branches and international forces to practice operating alongside one another.
“We want to train with the allies and partners we’re going to go to war with,” Wagh said. “We want our soldiers, sailors, airmen, marines to see it here. Figure it out here.”
Fox News followed troops from the United Kingdom as they moved through a practice attack, one of several combat training exercises taking place during Northern Strike.
During another exercise, a crew inside a Paladin howitzer rehearsed a fire mission before moving on to live-fire training.
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Preparing for combat involves more than the troops on the front line. Northern Strike also puts the units responsible for keeping them supplied and supported through the same kind of training.
That includes the 445th Quartermaster Company, which runs shower and laundry operations.
“Our main goal is to provide, I would say, logistical support and really strengthen the morale of the soldiers that are out there actually doing the big booms in combat,” Company Commander Captain Kelson said.
For Pfc. William Flores, whose unit is from Trenton, New Jersey, the exercise offers a chance to practice before a potential deployment.
“This is like a practice run,” Flores said. “So when we do get deployed, if we do get deployed, we are ready.”
Technology is also changing the training.
Nearly 90 industry partners are participating in Northern Strike, according to Wagh, allowing troops to work with developing capabilities before potentially encountering them in conflict.
Those capabilities include autonomous resupply and drones used to deliver blood by air. Other drone systems can hover over a battlefield, assess casualties and relay information so medical resources can be directed where they are needed.
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3D printing is also being incorporated to produce parts and adapt capabilities.
“If you would have told me a few years ago, that’ll be, you know, on the front lines, but we’re doing it here,” Wagh said.
Wagh said the speed of change is forcing the military to innovate more quickly and use exercises like Northern Strike to test those lessons before troops encounter them in combat.
“I hope they’re a little bit better, a little bit more capable,” Wagh said. “We want all of our units to have a higher, more capable state of readiness.”
Northern Strike 26-2 continues through Aug. 14.
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