Photo By Staff Sgt. Patricia McMurphy | Spc. Ryan McGowan, with the 4th Brigade Combat Team (Airborne), 25th Infantry Division...... read more read more
Subscribe
BLACK RAPIDS TRAINING SITE, Alaska - Army soldiers and leaders must be able to adapt and overcome any obstacle in order to succeed their day to day missions. In today’s Army those missions are taking them more and more into some of the most remote mountainous regions of the globe.
In order to be able to succeed in these remote locations they must be trained to fight, maneuver and survive with whatever they can carry on their backs. At the Northern Warfare Training Center’s Black Rapids Training Site in Alaska, soldiers and leaders are taught skills to help them accomplish these missions safely and more efficiently.
During the Basic Mountaineering Course, the NWTC trains these soldiers to become Army Mountaineers, in a fast-paced, two week program offered during the summer.
The students learn over 15 different knots and the uses for each. They learn rope management skills, how to rappel, climb and accomplish various tasks over rocky terrain and glaciers.
One such task is the Prusik ascent, in which they must overcome up a vertical or overhanging obstacle, such as a cliff.
At the start of her ascent, Spc. Sarah Egbert, a Springfield, Mo. native, currently a linguist with B Company, 4th Brigade Special Troops Battalion, 25th Infantry Division, said, “I am ready to do it. We have had enough training that I feel confident that I can get up this with no problem at all. I am excited.”
Egbert said, “We practiced the technique and the knots; this one is more technique than strength.”
“You are going to mess up when you’re learning” she said, “but our instructors are great. They get certified every three months and they keep us safe.”
Knowing how to use their equipment and the skills taught during the course to maneuver and traverse the rugged mountain terrains will not only keep these soldiers safe on missions here in Alaska but also during the ongoing deployments to the harsh landscapes of Afghanistan.
Knowing how to maneuver quickly and safely will give the soldiers the advantages they need to succeed.
Speaking on a past deployment to the Paktika province, one of the most remote areas in Afghanistan, Sgt. Christopher Brooks, currently serving with the Warrior Transition Battalion at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson said, “The area we were in was very mountainous, about 9000ft. We found ourselves in situations trying to gain the high ground and it was very challenging. Some of the challenges we faced could have be alleviated had we had this training.
“There are things that we have learned here that will save time and energy. Those are the types of things I wish would have had,” said Brooks. “Everything [taught] here is absolutely necessary to be successful in this type of environment.”
Brooks said, “I learned that I have a little more endurance than I thought and I was able to meet the challenges and face them head on.”
“I am glad it’s over,” Brooks said. But if given the opportunity, he said he would definitely do it again.
The course is not only physically demanding, but mentally demanding as well.
Brooks said, “[The manual] is very detailed, very specific. It is important to the welfare of yourself and your soldiers to make sure you follow these steps.
Staff Sgt. Jeff Holman, an instructor with the Northern Warfare Training Center said, “I think the one rope bridge probably gets to the students the most because they have to pull their own body weight across and the mental part of how high they are messes with their minds.”
The short duration of the course and the amount of knowledge the student must learn to achieve a passing score can also cause mental stress on the students who strive to succeed.
Sgt. Cynthia Alderman, a Wilcox, Ariz., native, now an air traffic controller for F Company, 1/52 Aviation Brigade at Fort Wainwright, Alaska, said when she first arrived at the course she said she didn’t think she could do it. “I did not sign up for this,” she said. But she pushed herself to the limits and said she accomplished more than she thought she could.
Alderman said she looked forward to passing on the knowledge she gained from the course.
“Now I can train soldiers and that’s all that matters,” said Alderman.
The student must complete 49 required tasks to the standard in a set amount of time to receive their certificates, and not all of them pass. Each soldier is given one retest to prove that they have learned the task to standard; those who cannot are dropped from the course.
All the soldiers and leaders that attend this course leave with a greater knowledge of how to operate more efficiently and safely in the mountains and glacier regions. And for most, they leave with the satisfaction of being one of the few who have earned the title of an Army Mountaineer.
| Date Taken: | 06.22.2011 |
| Date Posted: | 07.12.2011 17:58 |
| Story ID: | 73612 |
| Location: | FORT WAINWRIGHT, ALASKA, US |
| Web Views: | 352 |
| Downloads: | 2 |
This work, The Northern Warfare Training Center, building Army Mountaineers, by SSG Patricia McMurphy, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
No keywords found.
