How is the Military set for Winter Combat?

[netrunner20202]

3rd striker Brigade Combat team 2/1 infantry FT Wainwright

These guys know winter warfare they know how to both fight and play in the arctic. Each Soldier goes through two classes on winter living in Alaska called Alit one and two . These classes teach the propper use of clothing winter tents winter stoves and vehical mantaince. the M-16 and the M-9 and all other fire arms get an oil change sorta speak. the CLP or used normally in the summer and in the lower 48 is replaced with an Artic veriant that does not freeze. the cloths are awsom the gortex sheds snow like water of a ducks back the thermals keep you warm and the boots keep your feet warm the Bunny boots look funny but work great as long as your moving in them. We in the Army have come Along ways in both cloths equipment and tactic of winter warfare since battle of the Bulge or the Cho-son reservor.

 

[Cosmoline]

Netrunner--thanks for that info! It's good to know.

Now, where can I get some of that arctic CLP

 

[Langenator]

I remember a former 1SG of mine (who, last I heard, had come back from a stint in Iraq with the first Stryker Bde) about FTXs in Alaska, in the winter, where the Humvees wouldn't shut down for the entire exercise. If they did, the oil would freeze. Even a jumpstart doesn't help then.

Overall, as was stated, the equipment is quite good, and having troops stationed in Alaska since WWII has kept that institutional knowledge base from being lost. I'm sure our boys in AFghanistan have been getting the latest and greatest gear via the Rapid Fielding Initiative (RFI).

 

[MillCreek]

Quote:
Did they actually tell you they were SAS?

Bart,
Their guide told us. It wasn't a hard guess though. Matching green gear, British accents, chain smoking, and lamenting the lack of beer in the hut...
CMH is the company that guides that area and they have (or had) a contract to run them through high altitude mountaineering. They weren't doing anything cutting edge, but a 5.6 up high is plenty hard work and route finding on large mountains, navigating galciers, etc. is an acquired skill.

I have also run into various elements of the British Army on training exercises in the Cascades of Washington State, most notably climbing or routefinding in the Mt. Rainier area or in desert combat over by the Yakima Firing Range. Almost always, they were co-training with regular or SF troops from Ft. Lewis, which is close to Mt. Rainier. Probably the most impressive sight was watching a platoon of Gurkhas, in full battle rattle, literally running one hundred yards up a 45 degree forested slope to charge a simulated ambush.

I can attest that the Gurkhas, while in uniform, really do carry those kukri knives, and I watched one trooper slice through a three-inch diameter sapling with one stroke. He then nicked his finger with the kukri before re-sheathing it. The British leftenant in charge of the platoon explained that the more religious Gurkhas believe that if a kukri is re-sheathed without 'tasting blood', bad luck will follow.

 

[Bart Noir]

Millcreek, Gurkhas in my woods??? Now that is cool. I will keep an eye peeled for them the next time I'm anywhere near The Mountain. And Mt St. Helens.

Bart Noir

 

[MillCreek]

Millcreek, Gurkhas in my woods??? Now that is cool. I will keep an eye peeled for them the next time I'm anywhere near The Mountain. And Mt St. Helens.

In earlier years, before the new emphasis on security issues, the Tacoma News Tribune often printed stories about allied troops coming to Ft. Lewis for training and joint exercises. They would sometimes post a number on the base that you could call if you wished to host one of the soldiers in your home for dinner or what not; kind of like the US Navy does when the ships make port call during Seafair. My wife (who spent 20 years in the Navy and remembers what it was like to be young and far from home) and I have hosted a couple of dozen US and allied military personnel in our home over the years, particularly during the holidays.

We once hosted a NCO from one of the UK Highland regiments, who told us that the pipe band of the regiment (as in bagpipers) were also the medium machine gun platoon! And to keep this on thread, his regiment did a lot of winter training in Norway, often with US Marines, as part of their NATO obligation.

 

[warth0g]

As a norwegian native I am glad to see that a lot of folks here thinks highly of the winter training the marines get here.
You can have the best gear ever, but the biggest "problem" with newbees in the cold snow is that they tend too forget a basic rule of operating in the cold.:
when you are moving, take of clothes, your body gets heated for walking and working even in very cold weather. When you get a break put back on clothes, when to start moving, take them off!! this is very very important, if we got caught in our heavy wollen sweaters under a forced march in the norwegian army, we got court martialed, and got a hevay fine for it. Second as many as mentioned, layered clothing. outer layer windproof. Third: drink a lot, keep your cannteen/hydration system under your jacket.
This is the most basic rules.

warthog

 

[scout26]

Stationed in Baumholder Germany '87-91. I still have two Graf jackets (The OD green raincoats with a poncho liner sewn in). MMMMMM.........Toasty !!!!!

 

[Texian Pistolero]

As I recall reading, the Rooskies wore oversized boots, stuffed straw in the toes for insulation, and court martialled any man who got frost bit.

Of course, they probably had a lot of civilian expertise growing up even before Hitler headed east.