Photo By John Pennell | Sgt. Trevor Jenkins poses with the peak of Mount McKinley looming in the background....... read more read more
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FORT WAINWRIGHT, Alaska - One might be surprised that a native of Titusville, Fla., where temperatures never dip below 45 degrees, found joy working in the frigid, arctic mountains of central Alaska.
“When I was reenlisting I wanted to go to a place that was polar opposite of where I grew up, which was Florida, because I figured I’d go back to Florida after I got out of the Army,” said Jenkins. “After being up here, I don’t really ever want to leave the mountains”.
“I enjoy Alaska a lot,” said Trevor Jenkins, an Army medic and instructor for the Northern Warfare Training Center, the Army’s premiere cold weather and mountaineering school. “It’s not like any place I’ve ever been.”
Jenkins said he joined the Army because his father and grandfather were prior service and he wanted to do the same.
He said he heard about the NWTC when he first arrived in Alaska and that’s where he wanted to go.
“I really enjoy [being an instructor] and I have grown to love teaching.”
“The skill set you pick up at here [at the NWTC] is pretty outstanding,” he said. “We are doing what most people have to pay to learn how to do.”
This month, a team of eight soldiers consisting of two infantrymen with 1st Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 25th Infantry Division; 5 NWTC instructors, including the school’s first sergeant; and a NWTC civilian guide, will attempt to summit the highest peak in North America - Mount McKinley.
Jenkins said he joined the summit team for the challenge and to test his skills
“I joined the team because it’s a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity,” he said. “I want to climb it to test myself and see what I’m really made of.”
Even though Jenkins said he does not have a lot of “big mountain” experience and knows there are risks, he is ready.
“It’s a big mountain and any time you are going up that high there’s always risks. Altitude does different things to different people,” said Jenkins. “Being the expedition’s medic, I really had to prep for this.”
Jenkins said he studied a lot of medical text books on mountaineer medicine and prepped all the medical equipment needed for the expedition.
“I had to learn each person’s behaviors,” said Jenkins. “So if I see them acting differently I know it’s not just because that’s just the way they are it’s because there is something wrong.”
Jenkins said he also made sure the other members of the team were knowledgeable on mountain and backwoods medicine as an added precaution.
“I am pretty excited about it,” said Jenkins. “It’s an outstanding opportunity.”
He said he plans on there being physical and mental challenges throughout the climb.
And he added, “I plan on overcoming this [with] a lot of heart.”
http://www.flickr.com/photos/usarak/8776876582/in/set-72157633582823338/
| Date Taken: | 06.06.2013 |
| Date Posted: | 06.13.2013 19:09 |
| Story ID: | 108638 |
| Location: | FORT WAINWRIGHT, ALASKA, US |
| Hometown: | TITUSVILLE, FLORIDA, US |
| Web Views: | 67 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
This work, USARAK Denali Climber profile: Sgt. Trevor Jenkins, by SSG Patricia McMurphy, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
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