Photo By Scott Sturkol | Twenty-seven students who are participating in the Fort McCoy Cold-Weather Operations...... read more read more
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Fort McCoy Cold-Weather Operations Course (CWOC) Class 22-02 students practiced setting up Arctic 10-person tents Jan. 5 while training on the cantonment area at Fort McCoy.
CWOC Class 22-02 was comprised entirely of 27 Soldiers. During their training Jan. 5, the Soldiers learned many skills about building an Artic 10-person tent. The weather also was likely ideal with snow showers and below-zero temperatures.
“Among the most important skills for students to learn is being able to create shelter in a cold-weather environment,” said CWOC instructor Hunter Heard, who coordinates training with fellow instructors Manny Ortiz, Brian Semann, and Joe Ernst. All are with contractor Veterans Range Solutions, which works with Fort McCoy’s Directorate of Plans, Training, Mobilization, and Security (DPTMS) to complete the training.
During each class, students get training about the tent and the heater that goes into it. Students go out and practice building the tent throughout the course. According to Heard, students get dozens of hours of training with tents.
Students also spent nights bivouacking in the tents at designated wooded areas on the installation, Heard said. This provides a greater understanding on how to build and use these tents for shelters on various types of terrain.
CWOC overall trains students on a variety of other cold-weather subjects in addition to building Arctic tents. Training also includes snowshoe training and skiing as well as how to use ahkio sleds and other gear.
Training also focuses on terrain and weather analysis, risk management, cold-weather clothing, developing winter fighting positions in the field, camouflage and concealment, and numerous other areas that are important to know in order to operate in a cold-weather environment, Heard said.
The CWOC is modeled after the Cold-Weather Leader Course taught by the Army Northern Warfare Training Center at Black Rapids, Alaska. For each class, students start off with classroom training and then move into various aspects of field training, such as the tent training.
Ernst said it’s great to see how students get better with their cold-weather skills throughout the course. “It’s amazing to see how they adjust and learn throughout the training experience,” he said.
With the completion of Class 22-02, the CWOC staff has already trained 175 students for the 2021-22 training season that has included Marines and Soldiers.
Located in the heart of the upper Midwest, Fort McCoy is the only U.S. Army installation in Wisconsin.
The installation has provided support and facilities for the field and classroom training of more than 100,000 military personnel from all services nearly every year since 1984.
Learn more about Fort McCoy online at https://home.army.mil/mccoy, on Facebook by searching “ftmccoy,” and on Twitter by searching “usagmccoy.”
Also try downloading the Digital Garrison app to your smartphone and set “Fort McCoy” or another installation as your preferred base.
| Date Taken: | 01.19.2022 |
| Date Posted: | 01.19.2022 11:15 |
| Story ID: | 413077 |
| Location: | FORT MCCOY, WISCONSIN, US |
| Web Views: | 87 |
| Downloads: | 1 |
This work, Soldiers learn to build Arctic tents during CWOC training at Fort McCoy, by Scott Sturkol, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
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