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Video by Spc. Eric Bandy

Operation Northern Strike 2013 Brings Heavy Metal to Michigan

Michigan National Guard

Aug. 15, 2013 | 6:15

This is a 6 minute highlight video showcasing the complexity of this joint force exercise. The video was filmed August 6-15, 2013 at Alpena Combat Readiness Training Center, and the Camp Grayling Air Gunnery Range.

Operation Northern Strike brought together soldiers, airmen and other military personnel for two weeks of intense operational training at locations across northern Michigan in August.

Operation Northern Strike 2013 showcased the integrated combat capability of the Michigan Air and Army National Guard, also highlighting the state's primary training facilities at Camp Grayling Joint Maneuver Training Center and the Alpena Combat Readiness Training Center, both located in northern Lower Michigan. Units and personnel from Selfridge Air National Guard Base and the Battle Creek Air National Guard Base participated in the operation, along with support from Army, Marine Corps, Coast Guard and Air Force units from around the state and Great Lakes region. The exercise also featured a half-dozen combat controllers from Latvia - one of Michigan's two State Partnership for Peace nations - and from Canada. In all, 29 different units from 16 states, plus the two international coalition partners, participated in the exercise.

The exercise allowed the various units of the Michigan National Guard to train on joint operations between air, land and sea units - even including coordination with a U.S. Navy frigate off the Virginia coast.

Units participating in the exercise included infantry, cavalry, field artillery, aviation, special operations elements of the Michigan Army National Guard; Air National Guard and Air Force Joint Terminal Attack Controllers and F-16s Fighting Falcon, C-130 Hercules and B-52 StratroFortress aircraft in addition to the A-10s and KC-135s from Selfridge; Marines from the 2nd Division, and a new player to the exercise, the Coast Guard's ice breaker USCGC Mackinaw and rescue helicopters from Traverse City. In addition to Michigan, National Guard personnel from Illinois, New York, Indiana and Georgia participated in the exercise.

The exercise featured more than 700 air sorties, many of which included "live fire" evolutions at the Grayling Aerial Gunnery Range or personnel extractions during search and rescue operations.