Photo By Senior Master Sgt. Sarah Mattison | U.S. Army Staff Sgt. Bradley Cormier, a supply sergeant with the Army Mountain Warfare...... read more read more
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JERICHO, Vt. - Mountaineering harness, rope, webbing, belay devices, carabineers, ascenders and more … All of these items will become standard issue, as part of the new Army Mountaineering Kit (AMK). The AMK was issued to the Army Mountain Warfare School (AMWS) in Jericho, Vermont, as the first of four Army schoolhouses scheduled to receive the kits.
“It’s important to be fielded the equipment that the army at large will be using, so that we can incorporate it here into our training at the AMWS,” said Lt. Col. John Guyette, commander of the Army Mountain Warfare School. “By incorporating it into our training programs, soldiers will go back to their units and see the exact same equipment and be able to safely train and operate with the exact same equipment being fielded to their units.”
Continuity of equipment gives soldiers an enhanced capability of understanding what is in the system.
“The AMK uses standardized equipment that has been determined to be safe, meeting American Mountain Guides Association standards,” said 1st Sgt. Nathan Chipman, the first sergeant for the AMWS in Jericho. “It puts the safe equipment and right equipment in the soldier’s hands, where they have been adapting and using makeshift kits over the last few years.”
The Army Mountaineering equipment received by the AMWS incorporates three different types of kits. The High Angle Mountain Kit (HAMK), the Assault Climber Training Kit (ACTK), and the Snow and Ice Mobility Kit (SIMK).
The basic high angle mountaineering kit, which would be issued to a maneuver company in an Infantry Brigade Combat Team, gives the soldiers an ability to use a basic harness, ropes and associated equipment to maneuver in mountainous terrain, urban environments as well as other specialty environments such as well caches. The assault climber kit is used to set the protection in the climbing lanes or the necessary means to move the entire unit through an area that needs specialty equipment. Soldiers dealing with a range of environmental factors can utilize the snow and ice mobility kit, specifically while operating in austere conditions.
“It’s important that as these soldiers get this equipment, they have a resource here at the army mountain warfare school to get trained properly and safely,” Chipman said. “They need to be able to return to their units and to teach a basic utilization of the equipment. This will ensure that the soldiers that want to come here or that can come here, will have an opportunity to advance through our courses, whether it be the Basic Mountaineering course, the Assault Climber course or in our soon to be approved Mountain Planners, Mountain Riflemen’s and Rough Terrain Evacuation courses.
The AMKs will next be delivered to the remaining schoolhouses; the Northern Warfare Training Center in Alaska, the 5th Ranger Training Battalion in Georgia, and the Army Special Forces School in Colorado. Over the next 18 months, the Army will issue the kits to both active duty and National Guard units across the country.
| Date Taken: | 02.19.2014 |
| Date Posted: | 03.10.2014 17:10 |
| Story ID: | 121786 |
| Location: | JERICHO, VT, US |
| Web Views: | 1,687 |
| Downloads: | 1 |
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