Photo By Staff Sgt. Avery Cunningham | U.S. Army Staff Sgt. Feliciano Sotelo-Spence, squad leader, Centurion Company, 1st...... read more read more
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“I initially didn’t have any male role models growing up, I grew up in a single-parent household," said Staff Sgt. Feliciano Sotelo-Spence, squad leader, Centurion Company, 1st Battalion, 24th Infantry Regiment, 1st Infantry Brigade Combat Team (Arctic Wolves), 11th Airborne Division, from Jacksboro, Texas
His stepfather exuded confidence, but in a controlled way, Sotelo-Spence said. His stepfather gave Sotelo-Spence the role model he needed. was something he found himself wanting to emulate, and it took years before he found out where it came from.
"He told me that he was a part of the 75th Ranger Regiment," he said. "He told me the story of the camaraderie, the teams, the people he met, and he gave me a dream.
It gave me motivation, purpose, and direction to pursue that career," he continued. "So, I knew all the way from when I was thirteen that I'd be doing this.”
For Sotelo-Spence, 'this,' is being an infantryman stationed in Alaska, the last frontier.
“Alaska presents many challenges for anyone who has not been here,” said Sotelo-Spence. “It's a very unique terrain and experience. I have been in the Army for just over a decade, and I can say this is one of the most challenging places I've been to. It has given me purpose and direction because, without those challenges, it wouldn't make me a better leader. If you stay stagnant in your career and you don't go out and challenge yourself, like with Alaska or any of those austere environments, you're doing yourself a disservice to see what you can do as a leader, a Soldier, a person, and a father.”
Alaska asks a lot from its residents and the Soldiers who live and work here. It is an unrelenting environment where the freezing weather demands higher food and water intake while requiring more energy for every step through the Arctic snow.
“Whenever the winter starts coming, after that first fall of snow, I take myself, my daughter, and my wife snowshoeing. Snowshoeing gets us out there,” said Sotelo-Spence. “It helps build up Arctic endurance. Arctic endurance isn't so much building up your cardiovascular volume, it's more of building up your endurance to the cold and being out there. Then when it comes to actual work, we are doing tent drills, setting up tents, setting up stoves, doing battle drills, and that is still adding to that incremental need of being out there in the cold.”
Joint Pacific Multinational Readiness Center 24-02 tests the 11th Airborne Division’s Arctic capabilities and ability to conduct large-scale combat operations. The Arctic Wolves maneuver as a brigade to overcome the simulated opposing force during the ten-day exercise while working with joint partners; the training has around 10,000 participants including joint and multi-national service members. Soldiers prepare beforehand at their home station to take on this challenge.
“It goes all the way back to the basics, what the mission set is. For here, it is making movements, going into battle drills, reacting to enemy contact. It is doing those simple things, and therefore building up their Arctic endurance to be able to execute any type of battle drill that is needed for the mission,” said Sotelo-Spence. “If you don't have Arctic endurance you will not succeed out here. You will be more susceptible to cold-weather injuries, more susceptible to fatigue, and the many more elements of fatigue that this type of terrain presents.”
Alaska requires Soldiers to be able to operate in remote and extreme Arctic winter conditions successfully. The Soldiers here must overcome challenges not seen in the rest of the United States, including temperatures down to -60 degrees. This harsh environment constantly tests service members’ spirit.
“Providing motivation to my squad is not about being cheery,” said Sotelo-Spence. “When they’re out here and pulling security on their fighting positions there could be wind whipping up, there could be snowfall, the temperatures could be dropping. It's the simple thing of going in there and saying, ‘Hey man you’re doing good. Our security is set. You're doing your job. You’re doing your part, and therefore you're making this leg of security successful,’ and then it goes into the movements as well just checking in on them walking back and forth and making sure they're good.”
“You have to embrace the challenge, or it’ll eat you alive,” he said
| Date Taken: | 02.17.2024 |
| Date Posted: | 03.22.2024 12:47 |
| Story ID: | 465146 |
| Location: | DONNELLY TRAINING AREA, ALASKA, US |
| Hometown: | JACKSBORO, TEXAS, US |
| Web Views: | 209 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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