Shipping, or rather our lack of it, for CAST was one of the crazy aunts in the attic nobody wanted to talk about. Having served in the AMF(L) Battalion Group, which was part of CAST and been in North Norway, I do think it may not have been the forlorn hope so many of us felt it to be. Having said that, perhaps because of political indifference and probably funding, we really did not apply resources of all kinds, including intellectual, to it. (One fall I was the gunner on a research war game conducted by DLOR pitting CAST against a Soviet formation. We more or less held our own and achieved our aim, but took very heavy losses in part because our doctrine had not been adapted for operations in mountains up to a few thousand feet in altitude.)
In September 1973 I did an attachment to Field Artillery Battalion, Brigade North, the resident Norwegian gunner battalion in North Norway, to gain experience in mountain shooting. The brigade was the active component of the 6th Norwegian Division, which would be mobilized to defend North Norway. There were strategic maritime issues regarding controlling access from the northern USSR flank into the Atlantic, and possession of the region was important.
I got along well enough with them to be invited to stay over for the brigade fall exercise. It was very interesting and I came away with all sorts of respect for the Norskis, not including their rations. Incidentally, while we planned to bring L5s, they used M109s. I also was speaking pidgin Norwegian by the time I saw Petawawa again.
