Garrison of Sør-Varanger
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Garrison of Sør-Varanger ( no, Garnisonen i Sør-Varanger, GSV) is a
military base A military base is a facility directly owned and operated by or for the military or one of its branches that shelters military equipment and personnel, and facilitates training and operations. A military base always provides accommodations for ...
of the
Norwegian Army The Norwegian Army ( no, Hæren) is the land warfare service branch of the Norwegian Armed Forces. The Army is the oldest of the Norwegian service branches, established as a modern military organization under the command of the King of Norway ...
. It is located at
Høybuktmoen Høybuktmoen ( sme, Nuvvosguolbba) is a moor area in the municipality of Sør-Varanger in Troms og Finnmark county, Norway. It is located about west of the town of Kirkenes. It is the site of Kirkenes Airport, Høybuktmoen and the Garrison of ...
in
Sør-Varanger Municipality Sør-Varanger ( sme, Máttá-Várjjat, fkv, Etelä-Varenki, fi, Etelä-Varanki, russian: Сёр-Вара́нгер/Syor-Varánger) is a municipality in Troms og Finnmark county, Norway. The administrative centre of the municipality is the town ...
in
Troms og Finnmark Troms og Finnmark (; sme, Romsa ja Finnmárku ; fkv, Tromssa ja Finmarkku; fi, Tromssa ja Finnmark, lit. Troms and Finnmark in English), is a county in northern Norway that was established on 1 January 2020 as the result of a regional reform. ...
county,
Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and the ...
. The military base sits adjacent to
Kirkenes Airport, Høybuktmoen Kirkenes Airport ( no, Kirkenes lufthavn; ) is an international airport located at Høybuktmoen, west of the town of Kirkenes, in the municipality of Sør-Varanger, Troms og Finnmark county, Norway. Operated by the state-owned Avinor, the air ...
. The garrison is organized as a
battalion A battalion is a military unit, typically consisting of 300 to 1,200 soldiers commanded by a lieutenant colonel, and subdivided into a number of companies (usually each commanded by a major or a captain). In some countries, battalions a ...
and its main job is to guard the
Norway–Russia border The border between Norway and Russia ( no, Russergrensen / Russergrensa, russian: Российско-норвежская граница, ''Rossiysko-Norvezhskaya Granitsa'') consists of a land border between Sør-Varanger, Norway, and Pech ...
. It consists of the Training Company (UTDKP), the Support Company (GAKP), the Jarfjord Company (JAR), the Pasvik company (PAS) and the Ranger Company (JGKP).


Service at GSV

The troops stationed at GSV mainly consists of
conscripted Conscription (also called the draft in the United States) is the state-mandated enlistment of people in a national service, mainly a military service. Conscription dates back to antiquity and it continues in some countries to the present day und ...
soldiers. Most of the soldiers are men, but there is also an increasing number of women represented. GSV receives about 400 new conscripts every six months. The first seven weeks of
recruit training Military recruit training, commonly known as basic training or boot camp, refers to the initial instruction of new military personnel. It is a physically and psychologically intensive process, which resocializes its subjects for the unique deman ...
, which is standard for all military personnel in Norway. After basic training, some of the soldiers are transferred to the garrison company to work in and around the garrison to support the education of the UTDKP, the GRKP itself and the mission-solvance of the GSV border company. The rest of the soldiers stay in the education company to become border guards. After six months, through basic training, advanced training and specialist/designated training, the soldiers are divided up and sent to one of the six border stations. The border service requires physical and mental stamina, discipline and the ability to think, decide and initiate. The service requires individuals and units to operate independently. The soldiers deployed for border service are basically trained as reconnaissance rangers. Most of the time in the education company consist of field exercise, fire drills and role specialisation. At the border, the soldiers are divided into four-person patrol teams. A typical patrol team consist of one patrol commander corporal, one communications technician, one medical specialist and one scout. Not assigned, but perfectly available for the teams are canine corporals, responsible for handling and training the patrol canines, and transportation corporals, responsible for mobility, administrative tasks and maintenance. In addition, a portion of the border guards are assigned with a dual role; reconnaissance and operations headquarters, they also serve as regular border guards. The soldiers' main task is to function as border guards on the Russian border, guarding not only the border to a neighbouring country, but also the European border according to the
Schengen Agreement The Schengen Agreement ( , ) is a treaty which led to the creation of Europe's Schengen Area, in which internal border checks have largely been abolished. It was signed on 14 June 1985, near the town of Schengen, Luxembourg, by five of the t ...
. The new Ranger Company (JGKP) have anti-mobility weapons as the Javelin missile system, they also deploy AT mines.


Border stations

*Jarfjord *Pasvik In addition to the border stations, some soldiers also staff the checkpoint at
Storskog Storskog is a border crossing station on the Norwegian side of the Norway-Russia border, along the European route E105 highway. The crossing is located in Sør-Varanger Municipality in Finnmark county on the Norway side of the border. The Russ ...
, the only legal crossing point between Norway and Russia. The checkpoint is also staffed by the
Eastern Finnmark Police District Eastern Finnmark Police District ( no, Østfinnmark politidistrikt) ''was'' one of 27 police districts in Norway, covering the eastern part of Finnmark. The district is headquartered in Kirkenes and consists of three police stations, at Kirkene ...
, the
Norwegian Customs and Excise Authorities Norwegian, Norwayan, or Norsk may refer to: *Something of, from, or related to Norway, a country in northwestern Europe *Norwegians, both a nation and an ethnic group native to Norway *Demographics of Norway *The Norwegian language, including the ...
, and the Norwegian Border Commission. Treaty and sovereignty enforcement of the Norwegian border to Russia is a three-agency operation. The police district is responsible for prosecution, fines, and processing of illegal immigrants, asylum seekers, and border violations. The border commissioner is the policy-making and diplomatic department. It arranges contact and meetings with its Russian counterpart, makes agreements and rules, and is a substantial part of the diplomatic process. The garrison is responsible of military border patrol. The soldiers are granted police authority for border relations and is one of the few Norwegian law enforcement divisions carrying weapons and live ammunition on a daily basis.


References


External links


GSV official webpageNorwegian border commissioner official webpage
{{DEFAULTSORT:Soer-Varanger, Garnisonen i Army units and formations of Norway Border guards Law enforcement in Norway Military installations in Troms og Finnmark Military units and formations established in 1921 Norway–Russia border Sør-Varanger 1921 establishments in Norway