English: U.S. Army Soldiers conduct battle field circulation to observe Finnish soldiers field operations 20 May in Rovajärvi, Finland.

The U.S. Soldiers from 2nd Battalion, 2nd Infantry Regiment, 3rd Infantry Combat Team, 10th Mountain Division located at Fort Johnson, Louisiana are currently supporting Northern Forest, a national exercise of the Finnish Defence Forces, which is nested in the DEFENDER 24 exercise. This type of multilateral training demonstrates cooperation, collaboration, interoperability, and solidarity to promote peace and security.

DEFENDER is the Dynamic Employment of Forces to Europe for NATO Deterrence and Enhanced Readiness, and is a U.S. European Command scheduled, U.S. Army Europe and Africa conducted exercise that consists of Saber Strike, Immediate Response, and Swift Response. DEFENDER 24 is linked to NATO’s Steadfast Defender exercise, and DoD’s Large Scale Global Exercise, taking place from 28 March to 31 May. DEFENDER 24 is the largest U.S. Army exercise in Europe and includes more than 17,000 U.S. and 23,000 multinational service members from more than 20 Allied and partner nations, including Croatia, Czechia, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Georgia, Hungary, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Moldova, Netherlands, North Macedonia, Norway, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, Spain, Sweden, and the United Kingdom.