The article with my comments on it are italicized, my sarcasm in blue, as well as for the links in the article. I had to take this in bits which is why I structured it this way. I also had to split into two posts. Long ready I apologize to those who like their short clips. Hope it isn't too hard to read and understand. Love to get other people's thoughts on this one. It is extremely important region as the amount of oil it holds is a game changer after we kick out the idiot in chief and his lackeys in two years. Hope we last that long.
JOINT BASE ELMENDORF-RICHARDSON, Alaska (AP) — The U.S. Army is poised to revamp its forces in Alaska to better prepare for future cold-weather conflicts, and it is expected to replace the larger, heavily equipped Stryker Brigade in the state with a more mobile infantry unit better suited for the frigid fight, Army leaders say.
Army Secretary Christine Wormuth said she expects to make a final decision soon about the Alaska troop change, saying she will likely convert the Stryker unit, which uses heavy, eight-wheeled vehicles, to an infantry brigade.
She will be replacing a heavier combat unit with a lighter one that will not have as much armor and has less firepower. This in a Region we absolutely need to defend. In fact more units should be going to Alaska every day right now. You remember Sarah Palin's, "Russian can be seen in my back yard"? While the literal sense of the statement is untrue as she lives in Wasilla (close to Anchorage), in a sense she was correct. In Alaska off the West coast there is the Diomede Island in the Bering Strait. The Russian boarder is 12 miles off the West coast of it. That's right ladies and gentlemen, we share a boarder with Russia. There have been ideas proposed to build a bridge going across linking N America with Asia. Palin would have been aware of this, but instead the media attacked her. I knew the media was full of sheet, but most American's can't find the Bering Strait on a map. The point of that is to have you all take a globe, and look at it from the North Pole and not equator, and see how close we are to Russia, and to understand that Alaska is the front line if we go to war with Russia. Now is not a time to weaken our defenses of that state.
“I think right now the purpose of Army forces in Alaska is much more about creating an extreme cold weather capable formation" that could be used in Europe or the Indo-Pacific, Wormuth told The Associated Press on a recent trip to Alaska to meet with senior commanders and troops. “We’re trying to get to a place where we have Arctic capable forces — forces that can survive and operate in that environment.”
Preparing to fight in Europe when Russia will be attacking us at home is idiotic. On top of that the Indo Pacific has very little in the way of Sub Artic terrain, most of that would be high in the Himalaya Mountains and if we are fighting in that terrain we winning in a war against China, something that would be very optimistic at best. The dominate terrain of the region is tropical, so we would be training our artic soldiers to fight in the tropics. Yea that makes sense.
The U.S. has long viewed the Arctic as a growing area of competition with Russia and China, particularly as climate change brings warmer temperatures and opens the sea lanes for longer periods of time. But officials have acknowledged that the U.S. lags behind those nations. Russia has taken steps to increase its military presence there, and China views the region as economically valuable for shipping and natural resources.
The Artic region is rich in oil and natural resources. Russia has already been aggressively planting flags, and staking claims right up against ours and Canada. On the lagging behind statement I would agree, but then we are weakening our forces to meet this challenge. Throw in climate change, which most Alaskans are pro warmer climates, and you start to see the reasoning as to why they are wanting to make a change. They believe Alaska will be warmer in the near future. This creates a bunch of problems for units operating in that environment. When tundra gets warm for a long enough period of time the frozen water melts, and creates a virtual swamp of mud. It's inoperable for any kind of vehicle, light or heavy. Soldiers would quickly get stuck in the muck. Remember that I will come back to that.
The changes in the Army were under consideration well before U.S. tensions with Russia soared following its invasion of Ukraine.
They were preparing to make major changes to the military from day one in office. Obama screwed up the military big time, and if that was the case what do you think Obama 2.0 on Geritol will do?
Under the new Army plan, the 1st Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 25th Infantry Division, now based in Alaska, would be converted to a light infantry brigade. Combined with the division's 4th Infantry Brigade Combat team, the two units will become the 11th Airborne Division, based in Alaska. And the large Stryker vehicles, which are somewhat old, would be replaced by other vehicles that are more suitable for the icy and snowy terrain, Wormuth said.
On the face of it this might look like a good idea to be able to paratroop our soldiers into combat in Alaska. Throw in -40 degree temps, blizzards, and a terrain that places you back into the food chain, and you have a recipe for disaster. An airborne unit cannot carry the amount of equipment needed to survive, thrive, and fight in this kind of environment. Add in that with amount of troops that we have stationed there we would have to be picky and choosy about where and what to defend, and the oil fields are in the farthest Norther part of Alaska above the Arctic Circle. They must be ready to fight in extremes colds. The good news is we have a highway going from Anchorage to Fairbanks to ANWAR. We don't need to fly our troops in.
The greater focus on cold-weather war includes a move to conduct major training exercises for the Alaska-based troops in their home state, under the weather conditions they would face in an Arctic fight. The troops had been scheduled to go to the Joint Readiness Training Center at Fort Polk, Louisiana, in March, but Army leaders decided to keep them in Alaska so they could train under the frigid temperatures and frozen terrain that they would encounter in any cold-weather battle.
Finally, someone made a good decision, but this comes from the Generals in charge in Alaska.
“I think it really makes sense to have forces trained in the Arctic environments that they would be used for,” Wormuth said after spending two days at the still snowy base. “If we’re going to have ground forces in Alaska, that’s what we need them to be able to do. They can’t get that experience going to the Mojave Desert or to Fort Polk.”
She finally listened to her Generals.
Last year, in an initial trial event, Pacific-based forces stayed in Hawaii for their scheduled exercises at the National Training Center in California’s Mohave Desert. Commanders said they have learned from these first two moves, as they try to recreate conditions and relocate personnel and equipment from well-established training centers to more remote locations.
Sounds like we ran into operational problems when we attempted to deploy our forces to new areas of the globe.
During her visit to Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson, Wormuth met with commanders who called the training shift a success. Maj. Gen. Brian Eifler, commander of U.S. Army Alaska, said the benefits outweighed any shortfalls created by the need to build the infrastructure for the training exercise in the remote north.
“You're getting the best of both worlds, without losing too much,” Eifler said. “We did get a lot more out of it than we thought we would.”
Eifler said that while they didn't have as many training observers or civilian role players as they would have at one of the training centers, the trainers that did come were able to learn more about Arctic weather operations.
In addition, Eifler said, the change avoided the costly and time-consuming shipment of vehicles, weapons and other equipment to Louisiana and back. The lengthy packing and shipping process before and after a training exercise in Louisiana or California often forces troops to be without their weapons systems and other equipment for weeks.
When you do not practice deployment of troops and equipment, when you get into a real world situation they will FUBAR it. They are now not practicing this. Strategic deployment is essential to strategic operations, Russia found that out in Northern Ukraine.
JOINT BASE ELMENDORF-RICHARDSON, Alaska (AP) — The U.S. Army is poised to revamp its forces in Alaska to better prepare for future cold-weather conflicts, and it is expected to replace the larger, heavily equipped Stryker Brigade in the state with a more mobile infantry unit better suited for the frigid fight, Army leaders say.
Army Secretary Christine Wormuth said she expects to make a final decision soon about the Alaska troop change, saying she will likely convert the Stryker unit, which uses heavy, eight-wheeled vehicles, to an infantry brigade.
She will be replacing a heavier combat unit with a lighter one that will not have as much armor and has less firepower. This in a Region we absolutely need to defend. In fact more units should be going to Alaska every day right now. You remember Sarah Palin's, "Russian can be seen in my back yard"? While the literal sense of the statement is untrue as she lives in Wasilla (close to Anchorage), in a sense she was correct. In Alaska off the West coast there is the Diomede Island in the Bering Strait. The Russian boarder is 12 miles off the West coast of it. That's right ladies and gentlemen, we share a boarder with Russia. There have been ideas proposed to build a bridge going across linking N America with Asia. Palin would have been aware of this, but instead the media attacked her. I knew the media was full of sheet, but most American's can't find the Bering Strait on a map. The point of that is to have you all take a globe, and look at it from the North Pole and not equator, and see how close we are to Russia, and to understand that Alaska is the front line if we go to war with Russia. Now is not a time to weaken our defenses of that state.
“I think right now the purpose of Army forces in Alaska is much more about creating an extreme cold weather capable formation" that could be used in Europe or the Indo-Pacific, Wormuth told The Associated Press on a recent trip to Alaska to meet with senior commanders and troops. “We’re trying to get to a place where we have Arctic capable forces — forces that can survive and operate in that environment.”
Preparing to fight in Europe when Russia will be attacking us at home is idiotic. On top of that the Indo Pacific has very little in the way of Sub Artic terrain, most of that would be high in the Himalaya Mountains and if we are fighting in that terrain we winning in a war against China, something that would be very optimistic at best. The dominate terrain of the region is tropical, so we would be training our artic soldiers to fight in the tropics. Yea that makes sense.
The U.S. has long viewed the Arctic as a growing area of competition with Russia and China, particularly as climate change brings warmer temperatures and opens the sea lanes for longer periods of time. But officials have acknowledged that the U.S. lags behind those nations. Russia has taken steps to increase its military presence there, and China views the region as economically valuable for shipping and natural resources.
The Artic region is rich in oil and natural resources. Russia has already been aggressively planting flags, and staking claims right up against ours and Canada. On the lagging behind statement I would agree, but then we are weakening our forces to meet this challenge. Throw in climate change, which most Alaskans are pro warmer climates, and you start to see the reasoning as to why they are wanting to make a change. They believe Alaska will be warmer in the near future. This creates a bunch of problems for units operating in that environment. When tundra gets warm for a long enough period of time the frozen water melts, and creates a virtual swamp of mud. It's inoperable for any kind of vehicle, light or heavy. Soldiers would quickly get stuck in the muck. Remember that I will come back to that.
The changes in the Army were under consideration well before U.S. tensions with Russia soared following its invasion of Ukraine.
They were preparing to make major changes to the military from day one in office. Obama screwed up the military big time, and if that was the case what do you think Obama 2.0 on Geritol will do?
Under the new Army plan, the 1st Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 25th Infantry Division, now based in Alaska, would be converted to a light infantry brigade. Combined with the division's 4th Infantry Brigade Combat team, the two units will become the 11th Airborne Division, based in Alaska. And the large Stryker vehicles, which are somewhat old, would be replaced by other vehicles that are more suitable for the icy and snowy terrain, Wormuth said.
On the face of it this might look like a good idea to be able to paratroop our soldiers into combat in Alaska. Throw in -40 degree temps, blizzards, and a terrain that places you back into the food chain, and you have a recipe for disaster. An airborne unit cannot carry the amount of equipment needed to survive, thrive, and fight in this kind of environment. Add in that with amount of troops that we have stationed there we would have to be picky and choosy about where and what to defend, and the oil fields are in the farthest Norther part of Alaska above the Arctic Circle. They must be ready to fight in extremes colds. The good news is we have a highway going from Anchorage to Fairbanks to ANWAR. We don't need to fly our troops in.
The greater focus on cold-weather war includes a move to conduct major training exercises for the Alaska-based troops in their home state, under the weather conditions they would face in an Arctic fight. The troops had been scheduled to go to the Joint Readiness Training Center at Fort Polk, Louisiana, in March, but Army leaders decided to keep them in Alaska so they could train under the frigid temperatures and frozen terrain that they would encounter in any cold-weather battle.
Finally, someone made a good decision, but this comes from the Generals in charge in Alaska.
“I think it really makes sense to have forces trained in the Arctic environments that they would be used for,” Wormuth said after spending two days at the still snowy base. “If we’re going to have ground forces in Alaska, that’s what we need them to be able to do. They can’t get that experience going to the Mojave Desert or to Fort Polk.”
She finally listened to her Generals.
Last year, in an initial trial event, Pacific-based forces stayed in Hawaii for their scheduled exercises at the National Training Center in California’s Mohave Desert. Commanders said they have learned from these first two moves, as they try to recreate conditions and relocate personnel and equipment from well-established training centers to more remote locations.
Sounds like we ran into operational problems when we attempted to deploy our forces to new areas of the globe.
During her visit to Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson, Wormuth met with commanders who called the training shift a success. Maj. Gen. Brian Eifler, commander of U.S. Army Alaska, said the benefits outweighed any shortfalls created by the need to build the infrastructure for the training exercise in the remote north.
“You're getting the best of both worlds, without losing too much,” Eifler said. “We did get a lot more out of it than we thought we would.”
Eifler said that while they didn't have as many training observers or civilian role players as they would have at one of the training centers, the trainers that did come were able to learn more about Arctic weather operations.
In addition, Eifler said, the change avoided the costly and time-consuming shipment of vehicles, weapons and other equipment to Louisiana and back. The lengthy packing and shipping process before and after a training exercise in Louisiana or California often forces troops to be without their weapons systems and other equipment for weeks.
When you do not practice deployment of troops and equipment, when you get into a real world situation they will FUBAR it. They are now not practicing this. Strategic deployment is essential to strategic operations, Russia found that out in Northern Ukraine.
