Norwegian Home Guard

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Military of Norway
Components
Army Hæren

Navy Marinen (Coast Guard Kystvakten)

Air Force Luftforsvaret

Home Guard Heimevernet
Ranks
Norwegian military ranks
Heimevernet (HV) coat of arms

The Norwegian Home Guard (Norwegian: Heimevernet), is a rapid mobilization force in the Norwegian military. Founded on December 6th, 1946, it is the youngest branch in the Norwegian forces. It is divided into districts, which again is divided into smaller units, typically covering a single Municipality. In a wartime situation Heimevernet will typically be used to protect the local infrastructure and population, but may also be used as regular troops. As it for the most part comprises locals, it is ideally suited for guerrilla warfare (sabotage, ambushes, etc.)

Recently (2005), the Home Guard has recruited for a force with better trained and equipped personnel. It is called the "Intervention Force" (Norwegian: Innsatsstyrke) This force represents 10 percent of the total force. HV-016 is now a part of HV I-styrke, and is administered separately from the other branches.


The Home Guard has a peace time personnel number of 1,200. On readiness there are 5,000 Task Force personnel, 25,000 "Strengthening Force" personnel and 20,000 "Follow-up Force" personnel. The total Home Guard Force is approximately 56,200.

Contents

[edit] Troop Exchange

The Home Guard does a troop exchange with the Minnesota National Guard every year. The exchange grew from Norwegian American soldiers sent to Norway to assist resistance fighters in World War II. As part of the Exchange, American Guard members are flown to Camp Torpomoen and Norwegians are sent to Camp Ripley. Troops complete each other's winter operations training, and tour the area.

[edit] The Task Force

There is one Task Force per district, in total 5000 men. The Task Force will be the speartip of the Norwegian Home Guard, and will contain flexible and mobile units. It will also have top priority when concerning weapons, material and training resources. They are ready to respond within 24 hours to acts of terrorism, bomb threats, and or other emergencies.

The Task Force consists of several different units within each district. In this way, each district will be able to respond to any kind of incident that could occur, without having to rely on outside help. Each district (with some variations) will have trained operators in these different types of units:

-Jegertropp (Ranger platoon)
-Skarpskyttertropp (Sharpshooter team/platoon)
-MP tjeneste (Military Police service)
-Hundetjenesten (K9 unit)
-ABC-tropp (NBC platoon)
-016 (016 Military lifeguard & escort service)
-Stabstropp (Staff platoon - Communications, intelligence, transport & logistics)
-Dykkerlag (Diving team - Underwater reconnaissance, explosives-detection)
-Sanitetstropp (Medical platoon)
-Innsatstropp (Force protection platoon)
-Kystmeldepost (Coastal observation post)
-Bordingslag (Boarding team - Observation, control, inspection and takeover of ships/boats)

[edit] Home Guard Districts

Region 1

  • Oslofjord Heimevernsdistrikt 01 - HV-01 - Rygge
  • Oslo og Akershus Heimevernsdistrikt 02 - HV-02 - Lutvann
  • Telemark og Buskerud Heimevernsdistrikt 03 - HV-03 - Heistadmoen
  • Opplandske Heimevernsdistrikt 05 - HV-05 - Terningmoen

Region 2

  • Agder Heimevernsdistrikt 07 - HV-07 - Kjevik
  • Rogaland Heimevernsdistrikt 08 - HV-08 - Vatneleiren
  • Bergenhus Heimevernsdistrikt 09 - HV-09 - Bergenhus

Region 3

  • Møre og Fjordane Heimevernsdistrikt 11 - HV-11 - Setnesmoen
  • Trøndelag Heimevernsdistrikt 12 - HV-12 - Værnes
  • Sør-Hålogaland Heimevernsdistrikt 14 - HV-14 - Drevjamoen

Region 4

  • Nord-Hålogaland Heimevernsdistrikt 16 - HV-16 - Elvegårdsmoen
  • Vest-Finnmark Heimevernsdistrikt 17 - HV-17 - Porsangermoen
  • Øst-Finnmark Heimevernsdistrikt 18 - HV-18 - Høybuktmoen

[edit] See also

[edit] External links