Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
If I learned something about Alaska.
Speaker 2 (00:04):
And there is a program that I had never ever
heard of.
Speaker 1 (00:08):
But I want to see if I can find somebody.
And I don't know if you get stationed there or
if you get sent there to train to Alaska. Yes,
can I go to line two? Hi? Elliot the morning? Yes, sir,
who's this.
Speaker 3 (00:27):
Yep?
Speaker 4 (00:27):
This is Mike from Richmond.
Speaker 1 (00:29):
Hey, Mike, are you Are you in the Army? Are
you active duty or a retired Army?
Speaker 3 (00:34):
Yep?
Speaker 5 (00:34):
I'm I was in for six years and now I'm
in the National Guard.
Speaker 1 (00:38):
I got you very good. Thank you. Hey.
Speaker 2 (00:40):
Are you familiar with the Northern Warfare Training Center?
Speaker 4 (00:49):
Not top of my head?
Speaker 2 (00:50):
No, so does I guess everybody? Well, no, it doesn't
make sense that everybody would get sent there. And again,
I don't know if it's where you get stationed, but
it is located in.
Speaker 1 (01:03):
Black Rapids, Alaska.
Speaker 2 (01:07):
It's the name of the US Army Alaska Special Skills
Training Unit, and it is the Arctic, sub Arctic and
mountain environments. It's the only place in the US that
we have this.
Speaker 1 (01:20):
It sounds awesome.
Speaker 2 (01:22):
Yeah, yes, it sounds First of all, I mean, it
sounds like it could be a little bit miserable. It
sounds like it could be when I say, a touch
heavily grueling, but it.
Speaker 1 (01:35):
Sounds bad ass, like it sounds awesome.
Speaker 6 (01:42):
So who ends up going there?
Speaker 1 (01:43):
I don't know. That's what I want to find out.
That's what I want to find out. A thank you, sir,
thank you?
Speaker 2 (01:48):
Like I don't know, like if when you go in again,
I'm not in the army, Like, do you get to choose,
like after boot camp?
Speaker 1 (01:54):
Do you get to choose where you want to go?
I'm betting no, no, no, but like like maybe not
like I'm only going there, but do you get to
kind of rank where you want to go?
Speaker 6 (02:02):
This is like high school electives.
Speaker 1 (02:06):
No, wouldn't that make sense?
Speaker 4 (02:07):
No?
Speaker 7 (02:07):
I get the sense that you don't have a choice.
Speaker 6 (02:10):
Has Kristen heard of this place?
Speaker 1 (02:12):
Has Mike? No?
Speaker 2 (02:14):
Oh, Mike may have, sure, hmm. Its mission is to
provide relevant training to the leaders of the unit so
they can fight and win when in demanding cold weather
and mountain environments.
Speaker 4 (02:32):
Quote.
Speaker 1 (02:33):
A soldier trained in winter is also a good summer fighter.
Trained only in summer. He is helpless in the winter.
It looks so cold and it's right on the water.
So it's a mountain right on the water. You train
in the mountains, you train in the water. It is
(02:53):
freezing there.
Speaker 6 (02:55):
When did this open?
Speaker 1 (02:56):
Jeah, Well, I don't know when it opened. I know
that I know when the Army, at least from what
I was reading about it, started to focus on cold
weather training.
Speaker 6 (03:05):
Because some of these photos look like they're from the
forties and fifties.
Speaker 2 (03:10):
Yeah, they said the US Army started cold weather training
in the lead up to our entry into World War Two,
so nineteen forty one, And they said throughout history, cold
weather fighting, cold weather war was a huge problem, not
just for the United States, for everybody, just because you
(03:33):
were not trained and conditioned for temperatures and environments like that.
Speaker 1 (03:38):
So heading into what does it say here, specialized training
for units for cold weather and mountain warfare was not
seriously undertaken until the approach of two, until the approach
of World War II.
Speaker 6 (03:54):
Yeah, so the actual training center in Alaska has existed
since forty eight, but they were training in Washington State
in forty one.
Speaker 2 (04:06):
It looks bad ass, like I would sign up for that,
not currently, not currently, but like if I was in
and they were like, okay, you finished boot camp? Where
would you like to go? If I was ranking them?
That's pretty bad ass.
Speaker 6 (04:23):
Now do you have how big the operations are? Like
in terms of the personnel up there? What are we talking?
Speaker 2 (04:31):
Oh, there's people there. I have no idea. I have
no clue. But that's what I mean.
Speaker 1 (04:35):
I don't know if you get stationed there or you
just get sent there to train.
Speaker 6 (04:39):
But stationed or just they're temporarily. Like are we talking
five hundred people? One thousand people.
Speaker 1 (04:49):
More? What do I got room for?
Speaker 6 (04:50):
Oh?
Speaker 7 (04:50):
Look, warfare training centers have Google reviews. This one says
one of the greatest summer experiences.
Speaker 1 (04:58):
Oh, I can see.
Speaker 2 (04:59):
Down the but I need to go there for cold
weather training. Diane, Where am I going? Kristen, I'm sorry?
Line five?
Speaker 1 (05:06):
Hi Elliott the morning.
Speaker 8 (05:12):
Chill out?
Speaker 1 (05:12):
Yeah, Hi? Who's this?
Speaker 4 (05:14):
Hi?
Speaker 8 (05:14):
This is Joanne and Richmond.
Speaker 1 (05:16):
Yes, Hi, Joe Anne. How are you are you? Are
you army and you have family that's army.
Speaker 9 (05:21):
My husband's in the National Guard and he went it
was two years ago. He went to the Northern cold
Weather lastuff for I think it was like two and
a half three weeks in February.
Speaker 1 (05:34):
Oh, just here in that in February, it's like, uh,
touch chili? Hey? Did was it intense?
Speaker 8 (05:42):
It didn't sound as bad as I think are like
lead up expecting it to be. It was actually quite
warm for February. I think it was only like zero
out when.
Speaker 2 (05:52):
They did it, which, by the way, based on like
looking at a map, you would think that it's going
to be a hundred below like it is in the
middle of nowhere. It is I think about due east
of like Gnali. It is right up in the mountains,
right next to How cold is that water?
Speaker 4 (06:11):
Though?
Speaker 1 (06:12):
I got a train in the water, Diane, you can't.
Speaker 2 (06:15):
Make a wetsuit thick enough for me to feel like
I'm going to be comfortable.
Speaker 1 (06:20):
Did he did he enjoy? Maybe enjoy is the wrong word,
but did he enjoy the experience?
Speaker 7 (06:26):
I think so.
Speaker 8 (06:27):
So he was doing like a leadership training and it
was I don't know how I think there are twenty
of them, I'm not sure. So they did a classroom
experience and then they went out into the wild, I
don't know, for a week and had to implement all
of the skill they learned. So the idea is that
he would then take that back and know how to
(06:48):
use alve the cold weather equipment, so like the stuff
he had packing leading up to it, I've never seen
and socks and clothing like this before.
Speaker 1 (06:58):
Oh I bet, I bet? All right, very good, very good.
Thank you, ma'am, thank you.
Speaker 6 (07:05):
Are there any well known attendees that you came across
and reading you know what?
Speaker 1 (07:09):
That's a great question and the answer is no. The
answer is no, like any famous like generals or something
that would have gone through. I don't I don't know that.
I didn't see. I'd never even heard of it before.
Speaker 6 (07:25):
Some of the like uniforms with the skis and the
polls and the big parkas. They look like the coolest
g I Joe figures, like the way like the snow squad.
Speaker 1 (07:40):
Yeah, right, Hi Ellie in the morning, Yes, sir, Hi,
who is this?
Speaker 4 (07:47):
Good morning? Mike?
Speaker 1 (07:48):
Hey Mike. What can I do for you? Sir?
Speaker 5 (07:51):
Yes, sir, my son retired twenty years in the army.
Speaker 1 (07:55):
Oh, that's awesome, that's awesome. Hey did you did he
did he ever do Northern Warfare Training Center in Alaska?
Speaker 5 (08:04):
Yes, sir, he did that, and he also trained at
Fort Drum, New York. They have a mountain mountaineering course
up there as.
Speaker 1 (08:11):
Well, the so going to and by the way, I'm
sure both of them are amazing experiences.
Speaker 5 (08:19):
Focusing on the extremely extremely difficult.
Speaker 2 (08:22):
I would think the one in Alaska, is it just
I mean, is it just rigorous?
Speaker 5 (08:30):
Very It depends on the time of the year, but yes,
they try and time it to where you're exposed to
the most brutal conditions possible.
Speaker 2 (08:39):
And how did how did he end up? Like do
you volunteer for that or you just sent for that?
Speaker 4 (08:46):
Uh?
Speaker 5 (08:47):
I think it depends on your your military, your mos,
on on your specific job at the time he went,
and he was assigned to special forces and it was
just part of the pipeline and part of your training.
Speaker 1 (09:02):
Now that would make sense. So is that so people
that are in special forces, whether army or others, do
they all cycle through there?
Speaker 5 (09:13):
Not all of them, No, sir. Depends on what special
forces group you're assigned to, is how I was how
it was explained to me. Depending on what type of
environment your specific group covers. There's some specific to Central America,
some specific to Europe, some specific to the Middle East.
(09:34):
It depends on where you're actually your focus is with
your special forces group.
Speaker 2 (09:40):
I gotcha, I gotcha. Hey, I appreciate the phone call.
Thank you, my friend, Thank you sir. You're very welcome,
because like when I lived in La every so often
we'd go down to San Diego and you would see
Camp Pendleton, which is on the beach of San Diego,
and you think, wow, this is beautiful, nice, this isn't bad.
Speaker 6 (09:55):
Yeah. From Kristen on Facebook, my dad was there in
the eighties. He's a retired colonel. He said, the Native
Alaskan unit there cooked them in wargames.
Speaker 1 (10:08):
Wait, so what is that?
Speaker 6 (10:10):
Isn't that just simulated?
Speaker 1 (10:11):
No?
Speaker 2 (10:12):
No, no, I get the wargames part. I get the
Native Alaskan what unit?
Speaker 6 (10:16):
So is that those are they grew up there troops
that just stay there?
Speaker 4 (10:20):
Oh?
Speaker 2 (10:21):
And so then they tell them, all right, we're bringing
We're bringing this crew in.
Speaker 1 (10:24):
It's time for war games.
Speaker 6 (10:27):
And obviously with the familiarity concerning the terrain and the conditions, well, yeah,
they know the.
Speaker 1 (10:33):
Area like the back of their hand.
Speaker 2 (10:34):
Right, isn't there something about it though that sounds inviting
is the wrong word, but just sounds badass.
Speaker 6 (10:44):
Yes to that inviting?
Speaker 1 (10:46):
No, that's what I mean.
Speaker 6 (10:47):
But like like you hone your skills.
Speaker 1 (10:49):
Yes, no, but it like draws you in. It draws
you in.
Speaker 6 (10:54):
Oh, Dawn graduated from there in eighty seven.
Speaker 1 (10:57):
Oh, how do you graduate from them? Like? You just
do the program?
Speaker 6 (11:01):
Sounds like that for her. It was a three phased course.
There was rock Week, River Week, and then Glacier Week.
Speaker 1 (11:10):
I'm gonna guess River week the worst it's on.
Speaker 6 (11:15):
Did you answer that?
Speaker 4 (11:16):
No?
Speaker 1 (11:16):
No, I mean you're like, Okay, Rock Week, I'm on rocks, Glacier,
Glacier Week, I'm on a glacier. You know, it sounds
horrible being submerged in a river in February where it's
one hundred below.
Speaker 2 (11:31):
That sounds like the worst. And they're not gonna start
you with the worst. We're gonna build to that.
Speaker 1 (11:37):
Yeah, Hi, elliot in the morning.
Speaker 10 (11:43):
Hellos, Hey, what's going on?
Speaker 1 (11:45):
Dude?
Speaker 10 (11:47):
So my daughter is currently stationed up there. She's part
of the eleventh Airborne Division, the Arctic Adels.
Speaker 1 (11:53):
Oh, the Arctic Angel sounds awesome. That sounds awesome.
Speaker 10 (11:59):
Because airborne paratrooper.
Speaker 6 (12:01):
Wow.
Speaker 1 (12:03):
Now, listen, I did jump out of an airplane in February.
Speaker 2 (12:08):
I went skydiving in February. It was very, very cold,
and that was also here.
Speaker 1 (12:14):
It was not in the Uh, it was not in
the mountains of Alaska.
Speaker 7 (12:19):
You're comparing a skydive jump to what this guy's daughter
is doing.
Speaker 1 (12:25):
She's jumping out of a plane. I mean, we're both
doing such an airborne same thing. Dude, How rough? How
rough is that program?
Speaker 10 (12:33):
It's pretty rough. She sent us pictures where she's out
of the field exercises with temperatures at fifty two below.
Speaker 1 (12:46):
Now is she how long is she therefore like? Or
is she stationed there?
Speaker 10 (12:51):
She is stationed there.
Speaker 5 (12:52):
She's been up there three years.
Speaker 10 (12:54):
She'll rotate out this coming summer.
Speaker 1 (12:55):
Three years. Oh my god, three years? Oh my god.
Does she love it or hate it? She loves it.
Speaker 10 (13:07):
She likes the Alaska environment. She doesn't like being so
far from home because she grew up here. And she said,
jumping out of an airplane is a very unnatural experience.
Speaker 1 (13:17):
Yeah, sure, sure, but I mean that's why you're there
in training. But I mean, think of the skills. Think
of the skills she's going to have for the rest
of her life.
Speaker 10 (13:25):
Yeah yeah, but yeah, three years has been a long
time up there.
Speaker 1 (13:30):
Yeah, I bet it has. But I'm very drawn to it.
For some reason.
Speaker 7 (13:33):
But is she coming back here when she's done her
she'd gets sent to a different place.
Speaker 10 (13:38):
She'll be sent to Arizona for training.
Speaker 1 (13:41):
Oh by the way, by the way, so hot, give
me Alaska all day, all day, All right, brother, I
appreciate it, Thank you, sir.
Speaker 6 (13:50):
Yes, Tom, you were wondering about notable members. A former
eleventh Airborne Division paratrooper was Rod Serling, the creator of
the Twilight Zone.
Speaker 1 (14:00):
Now are you serious? That's exactly what that guy's daughter
is doing.
Speaker 6 (14:03):
Yes, it is, And if you are searching yourself for it,
arcticangel dot com is unique jewelry and gifts. You're gonna
want to make sure you keep it plural.
Speaker 2 (14:18):
I bet they have an awesome challenge coin. Yeah, the
Arctic Angels. I bet that is an awesome challenge coin. Hi,
jelliad the morning.
Speaker 3 (14:28):
Yeah, I graduated Arctic Warfare soil back in like two
thousand and eleven.
Speaker 1 (14:33):
How what is the what is the training program? Like?
How long? How long were you there for?
Speaker 3 (14:39):
So it's only a few weeks? Like funny enough, You'll
love this story because you're a sarcastic guy. I'm a
sarcastic guy. I got it because I was running my mouth.
We got back from my rack and they were like, hey,
everybody got to do this really cool school. You got
to pick and I was like, I want to go
to ranger school or Special Forces and they're like pick one.
I said, go to school, but is it kiddy swim No,
so they said pick one. I said, arche Warfare. I
(15:00):
supposed got out the army in like six months. And
they said, hey, here's your orders. You gotta got Art
of Warfare. And I was like good, I was joking,
and you're like, both does so there I am. The
thing is is at the time, yeah.
Speaker 4 (15:15):
It was great. It was like dud.
Speaker 3 (15:17):
So I called branch branches when you got to call
the Pentagon and pretty much complain about your assignment, and
I called brands. So I was like, you don't get
on in six months? What are we doing here? And
they said, listen, it's a twenty man slot school. We
had some types that need to go through there. You're
the last dude, or we got to cancel the school blah,
and I was like, here we go. So you used
to run in two spots, so you run into Alaska
(15:37):
and they wrote used to run one in Fort Drum
for drums in New York aka the Socialist People's Republic
of You can't buy cigarettes here unless you spend that
arm of the lake right right exactly. So you go there,
it's about two two and a half weeks or so,
and you freeze the death and the four Drum is
really known for like nine foot snowdrifts and all this
(15:58):
other stuff. It's crazy, and they feature everything from get
erneath the snow to stay you know, stay warm, getting
naked beside your buddy and staying warm, how to keep
your weapon systems from freezing that you're gonna burn ten
million calories a day. So they give you these really
fat mrs that are awesome, but that's the only place
you get them at. Stuff like that?
Speaker 1 (16:20):
Is it?
Speaker 2 (16:20):
Looking back? Are you glad that you did those three weeks?
Speaker 3 (16:26):
I actually enjoyed it. I mean I was. It wasn't
bad for me. It was the people beside me that
looked like they were like ninety pounds. I was always
a bigger, broad shouldered guy, so.
Speaker 6 (16:36):
Yeah, not too fat.
Speaker 3 (16:37):
But I mean, you know, you gotta pass tight and
wait in the army. But I mean, like I was infantry,
so it's like we were always working out working whatever.
And then you get this lady who came in from
jag and you're like, have you ever slept outside before?
Like ye, they seek you out of like hypothermia and
stuff like that.
Speaker 1 (16:54):
Are you cold the entire time?
Speaker 3 (16:58):
Yes, the majority of on you're outside.
Speaker 7 (17:02):
Outde hey, it's only fifty I'm next to that jag la.
Speaker 3 (17:08):
So what's crazy is is they teach you like this
really kind of crazy thing. And I didn't think it
was true until I did it. So if it is
like negative twenty outside and you get underneath the snow, okay,
and you get to the ground level of the snow,
it's now twenty degrees at ground level. So what it
is outside when it cuts the wind drift and whatever
(17:29):
they call it the the what's it when the wind
kills you? What is that or whatever? There you go,
you tee, you're smart guy. What's up? So when you
cut that out right and you get load to the ground,
the ground retains heat. So we'll go from negative twenty
to twenty. And that's what they tell you. To dig
under each the snow and get in it. The issue
is you got to know how to dig in the
snow and maintain that structure because of not all collapse
(17:51):
on you. So they teach you that. They teach you
how to treat it's told weather casualties, stuff like that.
Speaker 1 (17:57):
Dear God.
Speaker 2 (17:58):
All right, very good, very good. I appreciated, Thank you, sir.
Line eight, Hi Elliott the morning.
Speaker 4 (18:05):
That's mean?
Speaker 1 (18:06):
Yeah?
Speaker 4 (18:06):
Hi?
Speaker 1 (18:06):
Who's this?
Speaker 4 (18:08):
This is Johnny? I was stationed up in Alaska.
Speaker 1 (18:11):
How long were you were you at the Northern Warfare
Training Center?
Speaker 4 (18:16):
Northern Warfare Training Center. We end up sending NCOs all
your leadership through and it comes back. Anybody stationed up
there goes through well. With the Infantry division up there,
you go through HALT, which is already light infantry training,
but it's cold weather casualties. As for keeping your weapons
systems running and then staying alive. Survival was lining your
(18:41):
snow once you dig in, lining it with pine branches
for your thermal layer, how to cover up with it?
It sucks?
Speaker 1 (18:51):
How long and how long were you there for?
Speaker 4 (18:54):
I was stationed up there three years and then rotated
out Afghanistan two thousand and three, two thousand and four.
Speaker 1 (19:01):
I feel like it you would know better than me.
Speaker 2 (19:04):
I feel like Northern Warfare Training Center better than Afghanistan.
Speaker 4 (19:09):
Uh, it depends where in the mountains of Afghanistan they
had us. This stuck there too?
Speaker 1 (19:17):
Hey for the three years? Is it ever? Is it
ever nice? Like? Is it ever pleasant?
Speaker 4 (19:25):
Alaska in the summertime, at least the Anchorage area beautiful,
no humidity compared to Virginia. Still have days where it's eighties, nineties,
the fishing, the outdoors amazing. Winter. I can't stand winter
in Virginia anymore. Like I can't wait to get to Florida.
Speaker 1 (19:43):
And this is nothing compared to what you were doing
for three years.
Speaker 4 (19:48):
No, no, this is this is very mild. I remember
waking up it was like April eighteenth, woke up and
looked outside and there it was like a fresh twelve
inches of snow on the ground. It was like, what
the hell is going on? Where did they send me?
Speaker 1 (20:00):
How did you end up? How did you end up there?
Like being stationed there for three.
Speaker 4 (20:03):
Years so you can actually get duty station a choice.
We're an enlistment bonus back when they were I don't
know if they're still doing it or not. But instead
of an enlistment bonus and taking twenty thousand dollars bonus
for going in which gets taxed and everything else. I
took duty station a choice. I wanted Fort Campbell, Kentucky.
(20:26):
Well I was platoon on or graduate got sent to
Airborne school. Well, that's volunteering for a school. So when
I graduated Airborne school started. Airborne handed me my orders
and it said Fort Richardon, Alaska. I was like, now
starting Airborne, something's wrong. You know I'm supposed to be
going to Kentucky. He said, you volunteer. I said, well yeah,
he said, oh, we changed your orders in Joy, Alaska.
(20:52):
I got the big green Weenie early on in my career,
to say the least.
Speaker 2 (20:57):
Hey, So there was there was somebody named Dawn that
that sent us a note?
Speaker 1 (21:02):
Is there? What was it? It was Rock, Glacier and river.
Does that sound Does that sound right?
Speaker 4 (21:09):
Uh? For your northern warfare training? Yeah, and not so
much rock.
Speaker 6 (21:14):
Uh.
Speaker 4 (21:16):
It's all cold, extremely cold where you're working at or
doing the training at. And then of course I was
with a airborne unit up there. So like Malamutez the
drop zone three sides of it or the river. So
when you're jumping in the wintertime, you hope you aren't
the first three out the door, the last three out
the door and you hope the wind's going the right way,
(21:36):
or you're landing in the river with your parachute.
Speaker 1 (21:40):
How cold is that water, dude? I know you hit
the water once. How cold is that water?
Speaker 4 (21:46):
It'll it'll have you turn an inside out down below
the waist, real quick man.
Speaker 1 (21:56):
That is something. How is it? How have I never
heard of that before?
Speaker 4 (22:02):
I guess it's not really a prestigious school. You know,
most of the time when you hear military, you're taking
short tab, long tab, your groups, your Q course, ranger school,
all of that. There's a bunch of little, small Nietzsche.
Speaker 10 (22:22):
Schools.
Speaker 2 (22:25):
And also but on a map, it looks like it
is in the middle of nowhere. So even if you
got like weekend leaves, where are you going?
Speaker 4 (22:33):
Yeah, funny story about that. So you're only supposed to
travel about I think it's four hundred and five hundred
miles about a leave for him and me and some
of the squad guys are like, oh, we're going to
Canada this weekend. We ended up in a place in
Canada where all the signs were in French and nobody
spoke English. Of course, all we're doing is drinking. Anyways,
(22:56):
being infantryman and to have your buddy wake up in
the trailer park with a female and not know where
he is and her not speak English to try and
find them before the ping my phone was a thing.
Speaker 1 (23:13):
You're the best, all right, dude. Hey, I appreciate the
phone call. Thank you, my friend. By the way, even
when you look at the map, it looks cold. I
mean it literally is in the middle of nowhere.
Speaker 6 (23:27):
And it's always every time you pull up a map
of North America a reminder of how large Alaska.
Speaker 1 (23:35):
Is and you're in the middle of it.
Speaker 6 (23:37):
You never, no matter how much schooling you have, grasp
the size of Alaska until you see it every so
often when you're zooming out and you're like, oh my goodness,
If I learned something about Alaska.
Speaker 2 (00:04):
And there is a program that I had never ever
heard of.
Speaker 1 (00:08):
But I want to see if I can find somebody.
And I don't know if you get stationed there or
if you get sent there to train to Alaska. Yes,
can I go to line two? Hi? Elliot the morning? Yes, sir,
who's this.
Speaker 3 (00:27):
Yep?
Speaker 4 (00:27):
This is Mike from Richmond.
Speaker 1 (00:29):
Hey, Mike, are you Are you in the Army? Are
you active duty or a retired Army?
Speaker 3 (00:34):
Yep?
Speaker 5 (00:34):
I'm I was in for six years and now I'm
in the National Guard.
Speaker 1 (00:38):
I got you very good. Thank you. Hey.
Speaker 2 (00:40):
Are you familiar with the Northern Warfare Training Center?
Speaker 4 (00:49):
Not top of my head?
Speaker 2 (00:50):
No, so does I guess everybody? Well, no, it doesn't
make sense that everybody would get sent there. And again,
I don't know if it's where you get stationed, but
it is located in.
Speaker 1 (01:03):
Black Rapids, Alaska.
Speaker 2 (01:07):
It's the name of the US Army Alaska Special Skills
Training Unit, and it is the Arctic, sub Arctic and
mountain environments. It's the only place in the US that
we have this.
Speaker 1 (01:20):
It sounds awesome.
Speaker 2 (01:22):
Yeah, yes, it sounds First of all, I mean, it
sounds like it could be a little bit miserable. It
sounds like it could be when I say, a touch
heavily grueling, but it.
Speaker 1 (01:35):
Sounds bad ass, like it sounds awesome.
Speaker 6 (01:42):
So who ends up going there?
Speaker 1 (01:43):
I don't know. That's what I want to find out.
That's what I want to find out. A thank you, sir,
thank you?
Speaker 2 (01:48):
Like I don't know, like if when you go in again,
I'm not in the army, Like, do you get to choose,
like after boot camp?
Speaker 1 (01:54):
Do you get to choose where you want to go?
I'm betting no, no, no, but like like maybe not
like I'm only going there, but do you get to
kind of rank where you want to go?
Speaker 6 (02:02):
This is like high school electives.
Speaker 1 (02:06):
No, wouldn't that make sense?
Speaker 4 (02:07):
No?
Speaker 7 (02:07):
I get the sense that you don't have a choice.
Speaker 6 (02:10):
Has Kristen heard of this place?
Speaker 1 (02:12):
Has Mike? No?
Speaker 2 (02:14):
Oh, Mike may have, sure, hmm. Its mission is to
provide relevant training to the leaders of the unit so
they can fight and win when in demanding cold weather
and mountain environments.
Speaker 4 (02:32):
Quote.
Speaker 1 (02:33):
A soldier trained in winter is also a good summer fighter.
Trained only in summer. He is helpless in the winter.
It looks so cold and it's right on the water.
So it's a mountain right on the water. You train
in the mountains, you train in the water. It is
(02:53):
freezing there.
Speaker 6 (02:55):
When did this open?
Speaker 1 (02:56):
Jeah, Well, I don't know when it opened. I know
that I know when the Army, at least from what
I was reading about it, started to focus on cold
weather training.
Speaker 6 (03:05):
Because some of these photos look like they're from the
forties and fifties.
Speaker 2 (03:10):
Yeah, they said the US Army started cold weather training
in the lead up to our entry into World War Two,
so nineteen forty one, And they said throughout history, cold
weather fighting, cold weather war was a huge problem, not
just for the United States, for everybody, just because you
(03:33):
were not trained and conditioned for temperatures and environments like that.
Speaker 1 (03:38):
So heading into what does it say here, specialized training
for units for cold weather and mountain warfare was not
seriously undertaken until the approach of two, until the approach
of World War II.
Speaker 6 (03:54):
Yeah, so the actual training center in Alaska has existed
since forty eight, but they were training in Washington State
in forty one.
Speaker 2 (04:06):
It looks bad ass, like I would sign up for that,
not currently, not currently, but like if I was in
and they were like, okay, you finished boot camp? Where
would you like to go? If I was ranking them?
That's pretty bad ass.
Speaker 6 (04:23):
Now do you have how big the operations are? Like
in terms of the personnel up there? What are we talking?
Speaker 2 (04:31):
Oh, there's people there. I have no idea. I have
no clue. But that's what I mean.
Speaker 1 (04:35):
I don't know if you get stationed there or you
just get sent there to train.
Speaker 6 (04:39):
But stationed or just they're temporarily. Like are we talking
five hundred people? One thousand people.
Speaker 1 (04:49):
More? What do I got room for?
Speaker 6 (04:50):
Oh?
Speaker 7 (04:50):
Look, warfare training centers have Google reviews. This one says
one of the greatest summer experiences.
Speaker 1 (04:58):
Oh, I can see.
Speaker 2 (04:59):
Down the but I need to go there for cold
weather training. Diane, Where am I going? Kristen, I'm sorry?
Line five?
Speaker 1 (05:06):
Hi Elliott the morning.
Speaker 8 (05:12):
Chill out?
Speaker 1 (05:12):
Yeah, Hi? Who's this?
Speaker 4 (05:14):
Hi?
Speaker 8 (05:14):
This is Joanne and Richmond.
Speaker 1 (05:16):
Yes, Hi, Joe Anne. How are you are you? Are
you army and you have family that's army.
Speaker 9 (05:21):
My husband's in the National Guard and he went it
was two years ago. He went to the Northern cold
Weather lastuff for I think it was like two and
a half three weeks in February.
Speaker 1 (05:34):
Oh, just here in that in February, it's like, uh,
touch chili? Hey? Did was it intense?
Speaker 8 (05:42):
It didn't sound as bad as I think are like
lead up expecting it to be. It was actually quite
warm for February. I think it was only like zero
out when.
Speaker 2 (05:52):
They did it, which, by the way, based on like
looking at a map, you would think that it's going
to be a hundred below like it is in the
middle of nowhere. It is I think about due east
of like Gnali. It is right up in the mountains,
right next to How cold is that water?
Speaker 4 (06:11):
Though?
Speaker 1 (06:12):
I got a train in the water, Diane, you can't.
Speaker 2 (06:15):
Make a wetsuit thick enough for me to feel like
I'm going to be comfortable.
Speaker 1 (06:20):
Did he did he enjoy? Maybe enjoy is the wrong word,
but did he enjoy the experience?
Speaker 7 (06:26):
I think so.
Speaker 8 (06:27):
So he was doing like a leadership training and it
was I don't know how I think there are twenty
of them, I'm not sure. So they did a classroom
experience and then they went out into the wild, I
don't know, for a week and had to implement all
of the skill they learned. So the idea is that
he would then take that back and know how to
(06:48):
use alve the cold weather equipment, so like the stuff
he had packing leading up to it, I've never seen
and socks and clothing like this before.
Speaker 1 (06:58):
Oh I bet, I bet? All right, very good, very good.
Thank you, ma'am, thank you.
Speaker 6 (07:05):
Are there any well known attendees that you came across
and reading you know what?
Speaker 1 (07:09):
That's a great question and the answer is no. The
answer is no, like any famous like generals or something
that would have gone through. I don't I don't know that.
I didn't see. I'd never even heard of it before.
Speaker 6 (07:25):
Some of the like uniforms with the skis and the
polls and the big parkas. They look like the coolest
g I Joe figures, like the way like the snow squad.
Speaker 1 (07:40):
Yeah, right, Hi Ellie in the morning, Yes, sir, Hi,
who is this?
Speaker 4 (07:47):
Good morning? Mike?
Speaker 1 (07:48):
Hey Mike. What can I do for you? Sir?
Speaker 5 (07:51):
Yes, sir, my son retired twenty years in the army.
Speaker 1 (07:55):
Oh, that's awesome, that's awesome. Hey did you did he
did he ever do Northern Warfare Training Center in Alaska?
Speaker 5 (08:04):
Yes, sir, he did that, and he also trained at
Fort Drum, New York. They have a mountain mountaineering course
up there as.
Speaker 1 (08:11):
Well, the so going to and by the way, I'm
sure both of them are amazing experiences.
Speaker 5 (08:19):
Focusing on the extremely extremely difficult.
Speaker 2 (08:22):
I would think the one in Alaska, is it just
I mean, is it just rigorous?
Speaker 5 (08:30):
Very It depends on the time of the year, but yes,
they try and time it to where you're exposed to
the most brutal conditions possible.
Speaker 2 (08:39):
And how did how did he end up? Like do
you volunteer for that or you just sent for that?
Speaker 4 (08:46):
Uh?
Speaker 5 (08:47):
I think it depends on your your military, your mos,
on on your specific job at the time he went,
and he was assigned to special forces and it was
just part of the pipeline and part of your training.
Speaker 1 (09:02):
Now that would make sense. So is that so people
that are in special forces, whether army or others, do
they all cycle through there?
Speaker 5 (09:13):
Not all of them, No, sir. Depends on what special
forces group you're assigned to, is how I was how
it was explained to me. Depending on what type of
environment your specific group covers. There's some specific to Central America,
some specific to Europe, some specific to the Middle East.
(09:34):
It depends on where you're actually your focus is with
your special forces group.
Speaker 2 (09:40):
I gotcha, I gotcha. Hey, I appreciate the phone call.
Thank you, my friend, Thank you sir. You're very welcome,
because like when I lived in La every so often
we'd go down to San Diego and you would see
Camp Pendleton, which is on the beach of San Diego,
and you think, wow, this is beautiful, nice, this isn't bad.
Speaker 6 (09:55):
Yeah. From Kristen on Facebook, my dad was there in
the eighties. He's a retired colonel. He said, the Native
Alaskan unit there cooked them in wargames.
Speaker 1 (10:08):
Wait, so what is that?
Speaker 6 (10:10):
Isn't that just simulated?
Speaker 1 (10:11):
No?
Speaker 2 (10:12):
No, no, I get the wargames part. I get the
Native Alaskan what unit?
Speaker 6 (10:16):
So is that those are they grew up there troops
that just stay there?
Speaker 4 (10:20):
Oh?
Speaker 2 (10:21):
And so then they tell them, all right, we're bringing
We're bringing this crew in.
Speaker 1 (10:24):
It's time for war games.
Speaker 6 (10:27):
And obviously with the familiarity concerning the terrain and the conditions, well, yeah,
they know the.
Speaker 1 (10:33):
Area like the back of their hand.
Speaker 2 (10:34):
Right, isn't there something about it though that sounds inviting
is the wrong word, but just sounds badass.
Speaker 6 (10:44):
Yes to that inviting?
Speaker 1 (10:46):
No, that's what I mean.
Speaker 6 (10:47):
But like like you hone your skills.
Speaker 1 (10:49):
Yes, no, but it like draws you in. It draws
you in.
Speaker 6 (10:54):
Oh, Dawn graduated from there in eighty seven.
Speaker 1 (10:57):
Oh, how do you graduate from them? Like? You just
do the program?
Speaker 6 (11:01):
Sounds like that for her. It was a three phased course.
There was rock Week, River Week, and then Glacier Week.
Speaker 1 (11:10):
I'm gonna guess River week the worst it's on.
Speaker 6 (11:15):
Did you answer that?
Speaker 4 (11:16):
No?
Speaker 1 (11:16):
No, I mean you're like, Okay, Rock Week, I'm on rocks, Glacier,
Glacier Week, I'm on a glacier. You know, it sounds
horrible being submerged in a river in February where it's
one hundred below.
Speaker 2 (11:31):
That sounds like the worst. And they're not gonna start
you with the worst. We're gonna build to that.
Speaker 1 (11:37):
Yeah, Hi, elliot in the morning.
Speaker 10 (11:43):
Hellos, Hey, what's going on?
Speaker 1 (11:45):
Dude?
Speaker 10 (11:47):
So my daughter is currently stationed up there. She's part
of the eleventh Airborne Division, the Arctic Adels.
Speaker 1 (11:53):
Oh, the Arctic Angel sounds awesome. That sounds awesome.
Speaker 10 (11:59):
Because airborne paratrooper.
Speaker 6 (12:01):
Wow.
Speaker 1 (12:03):
Now, listen, I did jump out of an airplane in February.
Speaker 2 (12:08):
I went skydiving in February. It was very, very cold,
and that was also here.
Speaker 1 (12:14):
It was not in the Uh, it was not in
the mountains of Alaska.
Speaker 7 (12:19):
You're comparing a skydive jump to what this guy's daughter
is doing.
Speaker 1 (12:25):
She's jumping out of a plane. I mean, we're both
doing such an airborne same thing. Dude, How rough? How
rough is that program?
Speaker 10 (12:33):
It's pretty rough. She sent us pictures where she's out
of the field exercises with temperatures at fifty two below.
Speaker 1 (12:46):
Now is she how long is she therefore like? Or
is she stationed there?
Speaker 10 (12:51):
She is stationed there.
Speaker 5 (12:52):
She's been up there three years.
Speaker 10 (12:54):
She'll rotate out this coming summer.
Speaker 1 (12:55):
Three years. Oh my god, three years? Oh my god.
Does she love it or hate it? She loves it.
Speaker 10 (13:07):
She likes the Alaska environment. She doesn't like being so
far from home because she grew up here. And she said,
jumping out of an airplane is a very unnatural experience.
Speaker 1 (13:17):
Yeah, sure, sure, but I mean that's why you're there
in training. But I mean, think of the skills. Think
of the skills she's going to have for the rest
of her life.
Speaker 10 (13:25):
Yeah yeah, but yeah, three years has been a long
time up there.
Speaker 1 (13:30):
Yeah, I bet it has. But I'm very drawn to it.
For some reason.
Speaker 7 (13:33):
But is she coming back here when she's done her
she'd gets sent to a different place.
Speaker 10 (13:38):
She'll be sent to Arizona for training.
Speaker 1 (13:41):
Oh by the way, by the way, so hot, give
me Alaska all day, all day, All right, brother, I
appreciate it, Thank you, sir.
Speaker 6 (13:50):
Yes, Tom, you were wondering about notable members. A former
eleventh Airborne Division paratrooper was Rod Serling, the creator of
the Twilight Zone.
Speaker 1 (14:00):
Now are you serious? That's exactly what that guy's daughter
is doing.
Speaker 6 (14:03):
Yes, it is, And if you are searching yourself for it,
arcticangel dot com is unique jewelry and gifts. You're gonna
want to make sure you keep it plural.
Speaker 2 (14:18):
I bet they have an awesome challenge coin. Yeah, the
Arctic Angels. I bet that is an awesome challenge coin. Hi,
jelliad the morning.
Speaker 3 (14:28):
Yeah, I graduated Arctic Warfare soil back in like two
thousand and eleven.
Speaker 1 (14:33):
How what is the what is the training program? Like?
How long? How long were you there for?
Speaker 3 (14:39):
So it's only a few weeks? Like funny enough, You'll
love this story because you're a sarcastic guy. I'm a
sarcastic guy. I got it because I was running my mouth.
We got back from my rack and they were like, hey,
everybody got to do this really cool school. You got
to pick and I was like, I want to go
to ranger school or Special Forces and they're like pick one.
I said, go to school, but is it kiddy swim No,
so they said pick one. I said, arche Warfare. I
(15:00):
supposed got out the army in like six months. And
they said, hey, here's your orders. You gotta got Art
of Warfare. And I was like good, I was joking,
and you're like, both does so there I am. The
thing is is at the time, yeah.
Speaker 4 (15:15):
It was great. It was like dud.
Speaker 3 (15:17):
So I called branch branches when you got to call
the Pentagon and pretty much complain about your assignment, and
I called brands. So I was like, you don't get
on in six months? What are we doing here? And
they said, listen, it's a twenty man slot school. We
had some types that need to go through there. You're
the last dude, or we got to cancel the school blah,
and I was like, here we go. So you used
to run in two spots, so you run into Alaska
(15:37):
and they wrote used to run one in Fort Drum
for drums in New York aka the Socialist People's Republic
of You can't buy cigarettes here unless you spend that
arm of the lake right right exactly. So you go there,
it's about two two and a half weeks or so,
and you freeze the death and the four Drum is
really known for like nine foot snowdrifts and all this
(15:58):
other stuff. It's crazy, and they feature everything from get
erneath the snow to stay you know, stay warm, getting
naked beside your buddy and staying warm, how to keep
your weapon systems from freezing that you're gonna burn ten
million calories a day. So they give you these really
fat mrs that are awesome, but that's the only place
you get them at. Stuff like that?
Speaker 1 (16:20):
Is it?
Speaker 2 (16:20):
Looking back? Are you glad that you did those three weeks?
Speaker 3 (16:26):
I actually enjoyed it. I mean I was. It wasn't
bad for me. It was the people beside me that
looked like they were like ninety pounds. I was always
a bigger, broad shouldered guy, so.
Speaker 6 (16:36):
Yeah, not too fat.
Speaker 3 (16:37):
But I mean, you know, you gotta pass tight and
wait in the army. But I mean, like I was infantry,
so it's like we were always working out working whatever.
And then you get this lady who came in from
jag and you're like, have you ever slept outside before?
Like ye, they seek you out of like hypothermia and
stuff like that.
Speaker 1 (16:54):
Are you cold the entire time?
Speaker 3 (16:58):
Yes, the majority of on you're outside.
Speaker 7 (17:02):
Outde hey, it's only fifty I'm next to that jag la.
Speaker 3 (17:08):
So what's crazy is is they teach you like this
really kind of crazy thing. And I didn't think it
was true until I did it. So if it is
like negative twenty outside and you get underneath the snow, okay,
and you get to the ground level of the snow,
it's now twenty degrees at ground level. So what it
is outside when it cuts the wind drift and whatever
(17:29):
they call it the the what's it when the wind
kills you? What is that or whatever? There you go,
you tee, you're smart guy. What's up? So when you
cut that out right and you get load to the ground,
the ground retains heat. So we'll go from negative twenty
to twenty. And that's what they tell you. To dig
under each the snow and get in it. The issue
is you got to know how to dig in the
snow and maintain that structure because of not all collapse
(17:51):
on you. So they teach you that. They teach you
how to treat it's told weather casualties, stuff like that.
Speaker 1 (17:57):
Dear God.
Speaker 2 (17:58):
All right, very good, very good. I appreciated, Thank you, sir.
Line eight, Hi Elliott the morning.
Speaker 4 (18:05):
That's mean?
Speaker 1 (18:06):
Yeah?
Speaker 4 (18:06):
Hi?
Speaker 1 (18:06):
Who's this?
Speaker 4 (18:08):
This is Johnny? I was stationed up in Alaska.
Speaker 1 (18:11):
How long were you were you at the Northern Warfare
Training Center?
Speaker 4 (18:16):
Northern Warfare Training Center. We end up sending NCOs all
your leadership through and it comes back. Anybody stationed up
there goes through well. With the Infantry division up there,
you go through HALT, which is already light infantry training,
but it's cold weather casualties. As for keeping your weapons
systems running and then staying alive. Survival was lining your
(18:41):
snow once you dig in, lining it with pine branches
for your thermal layer, how to cover up with it?
It sucks?
Speaker 1 (18:51):
How long and how long were you there for?
Speaker 4 (18:54):
I was stationed up there three years and then rotated
out Afghanistan two thousand and three, two thousand and four.
Speaker 1 (19:01):
I feel like it you would know better than me.
Speaker 2 (19:04):
I feel like Northern Warfare Training Center better than Afghanistan.
Speaker 4 (19:09):
Uh, it depends where in the mountains of Afghanistan they
had us. This stuck there too?
Speaker 1 (19:17):
Hey for the three years? Is it ever? Is it
ever nice? Like? Is it ever pleasant?
Speaker 4 (19:25):
Alaska in the summertime, at least the Anchorage area beautiful,
no humidity compared to Virginia. Still have days where it's eighties, nineties,
the fishing, the outdoors amazing. Winter. I can't stand winter
in Virginia anymore. Like I can't wait to get to Florida.
Speaker 1 (19:43):
And this is nothing compared to what you were doing
for three years.
Speaker 4 (19:48):
No, no, this is this is very mild. I remember
waking up it was like April eighteenth, woke up and
looked outside and there it was like a fresh twelve
inches of snow on the ground. It was like, what
the hell is going on? Where did they send me?
Speaker 1 (20:00):
How did you end up? How did you end up there?
Like being stationed there for three.
Speaker 4 (20:03):
Years so you can actually get duty station a choice.
We're an enlistment bonus back when they were I don't
know if they're still doing it or not. But instead
of an enlistment bonus and taking twenty thousand dollars bonus
for going in which gets taxed and everything else. I
took duty station a choice. I wanted Fort Campbell, Kentucky.
(20:26):
Well I was platoon on or graduate got sent to
Airborne school. Well, that's volunteering for a school. So when
I graduated Airborne school started. Airborne handed me my orders
and it said Fort Richardon, Alaska. I was like, now
starting Airborne, something's wrong. You know I'm supposed to be
going to Kentucky. He said, you volunteer. I said, well yeah,
he said, oh, we changed your orders in Joy, Alaska.
(20:52):
I got the big green Weenie early on in my career,
to say the least.
Speaker 2 (20:57):
Hey, So there was there was somebody named Dawn that
that sent us a note?
Speaker 1 (21:02):
Is there? What was it? It was Rock, Glacier and river.
Does that sound Does that sound right?
Speaker 4 (21:09):
Uh? For your northern warfare training? Yeah, and not so
much rock.
Speaker 6 (21:14):
Uh.
Speaker 4 (21:16):
It's all cold, extremely cold where you're working at or
doing the training at. And then of course I was
with a airborne unit up there. So like Malamutez the
drop zone three sides of it or the river. So
when you're jumping in the wintertime, you hope you aren't
the first three out the door, the last three out
the door and you hope the wind's going the right way,
(21:36):
or you're landing in the river with your parachute.
Speaker 1 (21:40):
How cold is that water, dude? I know you hit
the water once. How cold is that water?
Speaker 4 (21:46):
It'll it'll have you turn an inside out down below
the waist, real quick man.
Speaker 1 (21:56):
That is something. How is it? How have I never
heard of that before?
Speaker 4 (22:02):
I guess it's not really a prestigious school. You know,
most of the time when you hear military, you're taking
short tab, long tab, your groups, your Q course, ranger school,
all of that. There's a bunch of little, small Nietzsche.
Speaker 10 (22:22):
Schools.
Speaker 2 (22:25):
And also but on a map, it looks like it
is in the middle of nowhere. So even if you
got like weekend leaves, where are you going?
Speaker 4 (22:33):
Yeah, funny story about that. So you're only supposed to
travel about I think it's four hundred and five hundred
miles about a leave for him and me and some
of the squad guys are like, oh, we're going to
Canada this weekend. We ended up in a place in
Canada where all the signs were in French and nobody
spoke English. Of course, all we're doing is drinking. Anyways,
(22:56):
being infantryman and to have your buddy wake up in
the trailer park with a female and not know where
he is and her not speak English to try and
find them before the ping my phone was a thing.
Speaker 1 (23:13):
You're the best, all right, dude. Hey, I appreciate the
phone call. Thank you, my friend. By the way, even
when you look at the map, it looks cold. I
mean it literally is in the middle of nowhere.
Speaker 6 (23:27):
And it's always every time you pull up a map
of North America a reminder of how large Alaska.
Speaker 1 (23:35):
Is and you're in the middle of it.
Speaker 6 (23:37):
You never, no matter how much schooling you have, grasp
the size of Alaska until you see it every so
often when you're zooming out and you're like, oh my goodness,
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