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    Mountain Training Group embraces ‘train, advise, develop’ mission at Fort Drum

    Mountain Training Group embraces ‘train, advise, develop’ mission at Fort Drum

    Courtesy Photo | The Alpine Operations Course is designed to teach and train Soldiers alpine and...... read more read more

    FORT DRUM, NEW YORK, UNITED STATES

    02.05.2025

    Story by Michael Strasser 

    Fort Drum Garrison Public Affairs

    FORT DRUM, N.Y. (Feb. 5, 2025) -- When the Mountain Training Group reactivated last February at Fort Drum, a year slipped by without any opportunity to properly acknowledge it ever happened.

    First Sgt. Dan Fields, Mountain Training Group first sergeant, said this wasn’t an oversight as much as the MTG cadre had gone into overdrive once it became official.

    “We started the effort to promote it with senior leaders here,” said Fields. “The signed approval was dated Feb. 9, and that was a Friday, if I recall correctly. Well, two days later we all left for Mountain Legacy Days in Colorado.”

    Then there was a plan for something more ceremonial during Mountainfest Week.

    “Not only was our operation tempo not slowing down, it was picking up speed,” Fields said. “We had all these opportunities for the cadre to go with, or train with, division units, and units external to this division, participating in exercises with our NATO partners, going to specific cold weather and mountaineering courses to get those qualifications – everything opened up for us, and we went full speed ahead with all of that.”

    It doesn’t seem likely, even a year later, that a MTG reactivation anniversary will be formally celebrated at Fort Drum.

    “Again, we have cadre attending the Mountain Legacy Days activities at Camp Hale, and we’ll have other cadre members headed to Italy for the 80th anniversary of the assault on Riva Ridge,” Fields said. “We will also send cadre to Alaska, with 2nd Battalion, 14th Infantry Regiment, and preparing to go to Finland for the Arctic Forge exercise.”

    “I can’t honestly think of a better way to celebrate the one-year anniversary of the Mountain Training Group being reactivated than to be training in some of the areas where the original Mountain Training Group trained Soldiers,” he added. “The initial concepts for a U.S. mountain unit started in Finland during the Russo-Finish War of 1939-1940. We developed those concepts on the flanks of Mount Ranier and Kiska, then solidified them into doctrine at Camp Hale. Finally, we employed that doctrine during the division’s the signature offensive in World War II – the assault on Riva Ridge. The Mountain Training Group has come full circle.”

    Fields has an appreciation for 10th Mountain Division history that – on first glance – is apparent inside his office. Snowshoes and skis, a container of Camp Hale dirt, photographs, and other mementos decorate the tables, desk, and walls.

    So it’s not unusual at all to find on his desk a copy of Capt. John Woodward’s travel orders. Like many of the original Mountain Training Group instructors, Woodward traversed the country to provide specialized alpine and cold-weather training for Soldiers. Commissioned as a first lieutenant in 1940, Woodward would eventually command the mountain training program before deploying to Italy with 1st Battalion, 87th Mountain Infantry Regiment.

    But what makes this sheet of paper on Fields’ desk noteworthy was that in November of 1943, Woodward reported to Pine Camp (today Fort Drum) to conduct winter warfare training.

    Fields said that bringing the Mountain Training Group back to Fort Drum, more than 80 years later, is more than just rebranding.

    “The 10th Mountain Division (LI) is the only active component FORSCOM (U.S. Army Forces Command) unit to have a military mountaineer requirement in its ranks,” he said. “In rebuilding that cold weather and military mountaineering proficiency, we felt it was important to reactivate the organization that did those things for the division in the beginning.”

    About the 1st Lt. John A. McCown Mountain Training Group (MTG)

    The 1st Lt. John A. McCown Mountain Training Group occupies the facilities of the former Light Fighter School, where the cadre continues to provide Soldiers with Air Assault Course and Rappel Master Course instruction.

    “We also offer the Cold Weather Operations Course and the Mountain Operations Course, both updated for this fiscal year,” Fields said.

    They added a new Mountain Sustainment Training Course for Soldiers who completed the Basic Military Mountaineer course at the Army Mountain Warfare School to earn the Military Mountaineer special qualification identifier (SQI-E).

    “At the moment, we’re developing a course called the Mountain Small Arms Leader Course,” Fields added. “That will focus specifically on the fundamentals of basic and advanced rifle marksmanship at the small unit level, so those leaders can go back and train their Soldiers to be more lethal marksmen.”

    Every Air Assault Course student is familiar with the rappel tower outside the MTG classroom. In 2024, MTG staff worked with Fort Drum Public Works personnel to reinforce the tower with four rock-climbing lanes to teach Soldiers the basics of that mountaineering discipline.

    Beyond its training mission, Fields said the advisory role that the MTG cadre has assumed will be a distinguishing factor of their organization.

    “We maintain an expeditionary advisory capability for the 10th Mountain Division to help train and advise units outside of the standard curriculum,” he said. “When the division sends platoons or companies or, in the future, battalions, to cold weather or mountaineering exercises with our NATO partners, the Mountain Training Group can send advisers as well.”

    The advisers can embed with the units participating in the exercise, while also sharing tactics, techniques, and procedures (TTPs) with the partner nation’s instructors and subject-matter experts.

    “The unique legacy of the 10th Mountain Division is that of innovation, determination, competency, and initiative,” Fields said. “We will continue to foster that legacy today as we uphold the division’s standards, regulations and alpine traditions and heritage.”

    NEWS INFO

    Date Taken: 02.05.2025
    Date Posted: 02.05.2025 08:35
    Story ID: 490139
    Location: FORT DRUM, NEW YORK, US

    Web Views: 13
    Downloads: 0

    PUBLIC DOMAIN