and rejoining the Second Marines in late 1985, 2/4 immediately began preparing for cold weather operations in Northern Norway about 270 kilometers above The Arctic Circle by training with II MEF Special Operations Training Group at Camp Lejeune, NC; at the Mountain Warfare Training Center, Bridgeport, California; at Fort McCoy, Sparta, Wisconsin, and; in late February and early March 1986, deploying to Nordland and Troms, Norway, near Brøstadbotn, as the main US ski-mobile maneuver element of the 4th Marine Amphibious Brigade commanded by then Brigadier General Carl E Mundy,Jr, taking a leading role in the multi-national NATO winter exercise, "Anchor Express". The wintry, subfreezing weather, unprecedented snow accumulations, and the rugged terrain in the area of "Anchor Express" astride Salangenfjord, Faksfjorden and Lavangenfjord tested 2/4's ski-borne Marines to their limits. Such were the tremendous snow accumulations, steep mountain slopes, deep fjords and gusty subzero winds that on 5 March 1986, an avalanche in Vassdalen, Nordland, struck 31 fellow-Norwegian soldiers, killing sixteen from the elite Brigade North, many of whose soldiers operating with 2/4 during the exercise. The Vassdalen avalanche was Norway's worst disaster in its history since the German invasion of 1940. Having endured and excelled operating in tropical, subtropical and Arctic conditions within a eight month period, by the late 1980s 2/4 was reassigned to the 8th Marine Regiment at Camp Lejeune, NC, to participate in deployments to more temperate climates in The Mediterranean. The battalion was once again called upon for a real-world contingency mission during the summer of 1990. The West African nation of Liberia was experiencing a civil war. The battalion, as the ground combat element (GCE) for the 22nd Marine Expeditionary Unit set sail from Toulon, France for Operation Sharp Edge. On 5 August, the battalion was committed to go ashore to take defensive positions at the U.S. Embassy to protect U.S. citizens and foreign nationals. The Marines embarked on amphibious shipping on 21 August after having successfully completed a Non-combatant evacuation operation of 1,650 Americans and foreign nationals. The Gulf War and the 1990s Before the Gulf War, in August 1990, elements of 2/4 were deployed ashore to the US Embassy in Monrovia, Liberia as part of Operation Sharp Edge. In late December 1990, 2/4 deployed by air to Al Jabayl, Saudi Arabia for Operation Desert Shield. During Operation Desert Storm the battalion fought as a Mechanized Infantry Armor Task force (Task Force Spartan)