In early June, more than 400 U.S. and foreign allied troops from 16 partner nations took part in an irregular warfare exercise throughout West Virginia, challenging forces to integrate and operate in austere environments while working to achieve military objectives in resistance, resilience and interoperability. Utilizing more than 500,000 acres of West Virginia’s public and private land, the exercise brought together special operations units from the U.S. Army, United States Marine Corps and the National Guard, along with forces and observers from the United Kingdom, Australia, Germany, Poland, Latvia, Lithuania, Finland, Hungary, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Georgia, Moldova and Qatar.
During the exercise, participants melted into communities throughout the Mountain State within two simulated nations spanning the northern and southern portions of the state.
Tasks that participating units train on during Ridge Runner include slowing the advancing units of an aggressor nation by destroying key transportation infrastructure such as bridges, attacking enemy forces at choke points or working to counter disinformation and oppose aggression or occupation. In addition, they are able to work cohesively with partners to develop interoperability, which is a critical component of military operations.
Participants met with real-world local government officials, law enforcement and emergency services personnel, and monitored simulated economic and political situations developing in each nation through simulated news casts and media engagements, mirroring procedures and operations they would conduct during actual deployments.
“Many of these units are trained to provide response during the early stages of a hybrid conflict, where actions don’t necessarily meet the threshold of war,” says Major General Bill Crane, Adjutant General for the West Virginia National Guard. “As we have seen leading up to and since Russia invaded Ukraine, there are signs and actions that aggressors will take against a non-hostile nation and what Ridge Runner does is teach and train U.S. and foreign military partners or homeland defense forces on resistance and resilience operations.”
The Ridge Runner program is Congressionally funded by U.S. Senators Joe Manchin III and Shelly Moore Capito, who have provided $3 million dollars in fiscal year 2023 and have proposed $7 million for fiscal year 2024. The program is also supported by Governor Jim Justice and employs approximately 20 service members. The total economic impact of the most recent exercise in June 2023 was approximately $5.2 million.
“Not only does Ridge Runner help train our own and partner nation troops, but it provides our local officials and citizens an opportunity to contribute to the overall strategic success of our military and allies around the world,” says Justice. “West Virginia and West Virginians have always been proud to support our national defense, and this program allows us to excel in that proud tradition.”
The Ridge Runner program also partners with the newly established Irregular Warfare Center to provide instructional programs on resistance and resilience operating concepts, or specialized courses tailored to unit or partner nation needs prior to the start of each exercise.
Ridge Runner will be expanding and hosting numerous iterations of large- and small-scale exercises in 2023 and 2024 tailored to fit the needs of participants which will include focus areas in operations in denied areas, non-standard logistics, combat and trauma medical operations, clandestine communications in maritime environments and integration of new and evolving technologies.
