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Documentary covering the selection and training for the Sirius Dog Sled Patrol and the Station Specialists operating in Northeast Greenland. The Sirius Patrol is tasked with patrolling Northeast Greenland and upholding the sovereignty of the Danish Realm in the area. Siriusmen most often serve one deployment lasting 2 years in Northeast Greenland. The Station Specialists are tasked with maintaining the stations in Northeast Greenland and serve for either 1 year (Station Mestersvig) or 2 years (Station Nord). The history of the Sirius Patrol can be traced to 1933, where the International Court in the Hague settled the dispute between Denmark and Norway over Northeast Greenland and declared that it was Danish territory, but that Denmark had to uphold its sovereignty in the area to keep it. Two police stations were created in 1934 to police the area, which had a significant presence of Danish and Norwegian commercial hunters. During the Second World War, a military patrol was created from Danish and Norwegian hunters to fight against the German weather stations in Northeast Greenland. The patrol suffered one casualty during the war, when Corporal Eli Knudsen was killed in a German ambush in 1943. For more information about the patrol during the Second World War: In 1950, the patrol was reestablished as the Resolut Dog Sled Patrol. The name was changed to the Sirius Dog Sled Patrol in 1953, after the brightest star in the Canis Major constellation. The Sirius Patrol suffered another casualty in 1968, when Staff Sergeant Poul Erik Mortensen froze to death in a blizzard while sheltering on the ice. Mortensen was part of Sled Team 6, which has since been disused and replaced by Sled Team 7 - despite the patrol only having 6 sled teams in total. Both the Sirius Patrol and the Station Specialists fall under the Joint Arctic Command, which is responsible for Danish Defence operations in Greenland and the Faroe Islands. Being interbranch, you will see the chief of the Arctic Command being an Air Force Major General, the chief of the Sirius Patrol being an Army Captain, and the Sirius and Station Specialist pupils having both Army and Navy ranks. The Sirius Dog Sled Patrol is considered one of the Denmark's 4 special forces. While the selection and training for the Jaeger- or Frogman Corps is generally considered harder, everyone who completes the training are accepted into the Corps. The Sirius Patrol only accepts 6 people each year and the final selection depends heavily on how well you fit into the group of aspirants. So successful completion of the training is not a guarantee for deployment. The extensive freedom the Siriusmen are given during their service in Greenland means that most either leave the military or join another special force, rather than return to the conventional forces. The former Siriusmen form a reserve that can be used for replacements in the patrol if needed, so some might serve for more than 2 years. During their first year of deployment, they're known as “youngest men“ and are trained in specific trades by the men in their second year, who are known as “oldest men“. This was released as a 4 x 40 minutes series covering both Sirius and various rescue operations in Greenland. I tried to edit out as much repetition as possible, but there might still be some for continuity. Published by the Danish Broadcasting Corporation in 2019
