Photo By Scott Sturkol | A squad of 10 students practices pulling an ahkio sled Feb. 19, 2020, on a training...... read more read more
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Forty service members, which included Airmen for the first time, completed 14 days of training in late February for Cold-Weather Operations Course (CWOC) Class 20-04 at Fort McCoy.
More than 20 Airmen with the Tennessee Air National Guard’s 164th Security Forces Squadron at Memphis were among the trainees.
“They all did really well,” said CWOC instructor Hunter Heard, who coordinates training with fellow instructors Manny Ortiz and Joe Ernst.
All are with contractor Veterans Range Solutions, which works with Fort McCoy’s Directorate of Plans, Training, Mobilization, and Security (DPTMS) to complete the training. “Every branch really worked well together.
“I also really like the multibranch classes like this because I like to see the different services working together,” Heard said. “They can really learn from each other. The Airmen in this class brought a lot of experience with them, too. The collaboration between service members I saw in this environment was great to watch.”
In the Army, the Northern Warfare Training Center in Alaska has similar training to the course. Marines and Navy personnel have the Marine Corps Mountain Warfare Training Center in Bridgeport, Calif., which also has similar training.
But the Air Force doesn’t have a specific cold-weather training center, so for the security forces Airmen who came to CWOC Class 20-04, it was a welcome experience.
“I would be lying if I said there were no concerns for us going into the course,” said Master Sgt. John C. Hogue, class 20-04 student and the 164th SFS training manger. “Our Airmen have been in locations that have tested their willpower and determination. However, most of these locations are your standard hot, dry locations. Being from the southern states, that was not too much of a challenge. On the other hand, sustained single-digit temperatures we saw in this course took some adjusting.”
Hogue said the Airmen were pretty familiar with the cold-weather uniform wear that the Army and Air Force share.
“We were familiar … but not with the real-world applications,” Hogue said. “In 2017, myself and two other Airmen from our squadron participated in the Danish Long Range Patrol School. Our patrols took place at night, and we constantly were fighting hypothermia due to the perspiration buildup. Tech. Sgt. Andre Cox was one of the Airmen with me in Denmark, and he was also in this CWOC class. We both discussed how if we had the correct uniform and the layering training like what is taught during CWOC, our comfort and confidence would have increased dramatically.”
In addition to proper cold-weather uniform wear, CWOC students complete snowshoe training and skiing. They learn how to use ahkio sleds and the Arctic 10-person cold-weather tent and to build improvised shelters with materials found in the forest.
“We had some single-digit nights when they were staying in their improvised thermal shelters,” Heard said. “They did well in building their shelters, too. Many students said some of their warmest nights in the field were during the nights they made the improvised shelters.”
Students also learn terrain and weather analysis, risk management, developing winter fighting positions, camouflage and concealment in a cold-weather environment, cold-water immersion reaction and treatment, and injury prevention.
“The CWOC cadre put us in situations with the snowshoes and ahkio sleds that required us to develop confidence in the equipment,” Hogue said. “By the end of the week, we were not winning races, but we were completing them.”
Hogue said all the Airmen appreciated what the instructors brought to the training, as well.
“All the instructors demonstrated why they were teaching the classes,” Hogue said. “(There is) no doubt that these men have so much knowledge. … Their professionalism, attention to detail … made the training the focus and not the adjustment. Tennessee will definitely be present next year with a new wave of people from the Air National Guard and Army National Guard.”
CWOC training for the 2019-20 season continues until late March.
Located in the heart of the upper Midwest, Fort McCoy is the only U.S. Army installation in Wisconsin.
The installation has provided support and facilities for the field and classroom training of more than 100,000 military personnel from all services each year since 1984.
Learn more about Fort McCoy online at https://home.army.mil/mccoy, on Facebook by searching “ftmccoy,” and on Twitter by searching “usagmccoy.”
| Date Taken: | 03.11.2020 |
| Date Posted: | 03.11.2020 16:31 |
| Story ID: | 365002 |
| Location: | FORT MCCOY, WISCONSIN, US |
| Web Views: | 120 |
| Downloads: | 1 |
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