Photo By Scott Sturkol | A Fort McCoy Cold-Weather Operations Course (CWOC) Class 22-04 student participates in...... read more read more
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Fort McCoy’s Cold-Weather Operations Course class 22-04 not only had ideal winter conditions throughout the 14 days of training in February 2022, but many of the 45 Army Rangers in the course also said they appreciated the training experience.
“This course taught me a lot about dealing with cold weather and how to still move and operate in Arctic conditions,” said Pfc. Travis Barnett, an Army Ranger with the 1st Battalion, 75th Ranger Regiment of Hunter Army Airfield, Fort Stewart, Ga. “I’ve never been in weather this cold so it was surprising to learn just how many things change when it comes to operating in cold weather.”
From the first day of the course where students received their cold-weather gear at the Fort McCoy Central Issue Facility to the last day of training with cold-water immersion, CWOC students are trained on a variety of cold-weather subjects in the course. That training included snowshoe training and skiing and how to use ahkio sleds and other gear as well as terrain and weather analysis, risk management, cold-weather clothing, developing winter fighting positions in the field, camouflage and concealment, and more.
Lead CWOC Instructor Hunter Heard coordinates CWOC training with fellow instructors Manny Ortiz, Brian Semann, and Joe Ernst for contractor Veterans Range Solutions in support of the Fort McCoy Directorate of Plans, Training, Mobilization and Security (DPTMS). He said the Ranger students completed numerous training scenarios and practiced many cold-weather skills while operating at various locations at Fort McCoy. This included spending approximately two dozen hours during the course learning about and building improvised shelters.
“They get lots of time in building shelters in varying terrain during the training,” Heard said. “We teach them to build a two-person covered shelter with several inches of natural insulation, which we’ve seen the students build.”
Heard said the most important factor for each shelter is making sure it’s well insulated. Some students have used evergreen boughs combined with leaves and debris. Others have incorporated military ponchos with natural materials.
The improvised-shelter building and other field training were great for Spc. Chase Clemens with the 2nd Battalion, 75th Ranger Regiment of Joint Base Lewis-McChord, Wash.
“My favorite aspect of this course was the field training,” Clemens said. “The prolonged exposure to the cold gave me more confidence I can successfully operate in cold-weather environments. It was a fun challenge both physically and mentally. I also especially enjoyed the cold-water immersion training.”
Ernst said cold-water immersion training is critical for students because it provides a realistic feel of something that could take place while operating in a cold-weather environment.
“The experience of someone being introduced to water in an extreme-cold environment is a crucial task for waterborne operations and confidence building,” Ernst said. “For a person to fall into water in that environment, the onset of panic generally introduces itself quickly. For our service members who will be operating in an extreme-cold environment, it is a task that, if not trained for, can produce unnecessary casualties.”
Students also appreciated the training received about proper wear of the Army Extreme Cold-Weather Clothing System, or ECWCS, that are issued to Soldiers. The system includes a lightweight undershirt and underwear, midweight shirt and underwear, fleece jacket, wind jacket, soft shell jacket and trousers, extreme cold/wet-weather jacket and trousers, and extreme cold-weather parka and trousers.
“Learning to use the ECWCS properly will probably be the easiest and most useful information I will take away from this course,” said Sgt. Kyle Stephens, a student also with the 2nd Battalion, 75th Ranger Regiment. “Because of this course, I have more confidence in my equipment. … This was a great course. Fantastic classes and instructors too.”
Staff Sgt. Adam Siripathane, also a student with the 2nd Battalion, 75th Ranger Regiment, said learning about cold-weather operations helps make him a better prepared, better informed Soldier.
“This course helped me grow as a leader by giving me confidence in my ability to operate in cold-weather conditions,” Siripathane said. “Going forward, I have new knowledge that will increase my survivability when working in my reconnaissance team, too. … This is an amazing course that I believe special-operations forces benefit from greatly.”
Students also said Fort McCoy serves as a great location for the cold-weather training.
“Fort McCoy is set up well for this course,” said Pfc. Joshua Kissinger, a student with the 1st Battalion, 75th Ranger Regiment. “This course has also really helped me. It has helped me understand how to use all of the equipment available and to also be able to perform and function at a high level in a cold-weather environment. It’s given me the ability to make sure others around me can care for themselves as well as their gear.”
The Fort McCoy CWOC training 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 in building 224 and then move into various aspects of field training over 14 days.
After class 22-04, there are two more 14-day classes of CWOC training planned for the training season that ends at the end of March.
Fort McCoy’s motto is to be the “Total Force Training Center.” 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 the Defense Visual Information Distribution System at https://www.dvidshub.net/fmpao, 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: | 03.10.2022 |
| Date Posted: | 03.10.2022 14:42 |
| Story ID: | 416212 |
| Location: | FORT MCCOY, WISCONSIN, US |
| Web Views: | 681 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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