While the U.S. Army has been running point on most invasions during the last 60 years, the United States Marine Corps has cemented a role in America’s massive war force by charging out of the water to conquer the land beneath their boots, wheels and treads. Apparently, that mission brief extends to water of the frozen variety; these Marines seem right at home drifting an M1A1 Abrams main battle tank through the snowy curves of Norway.

No, we haven’t invaded Scandinavia—the Marines and their tanks are hooning it up alongside the Norwegian Telemark Battalion and their German-made Leopard 2 as part of a joint warm-up before Exercise Cold Response, a combat exercise that stretches from February 19 to March 22. It’s designed to help NATO armed forces prepare, strategize and train for combat in brutal winter weather. The tank drifting exercise seen below serves as a way to sharpen massive machine control during a chaotic cold-weather firefight. Or they’re just goofing off like any other twenty-somethings driving down an empty road in the middle of winter.