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The U.S. Army’s Arctic Strategy, “Regaining Arctic Dominance,” generates a renewed focus on increasing the Army’s ability to operate in extreme cold-weather, mountainous, and high altitude environments such as those prevalent in Alaska.
The Arctic strategy lays out goals to equip and train forces, cooperate with Arctic allies and partners, and improve quality of life for those stationed in Arctic regions.
With many of the permanent Army forces in the Arctic and sub-Arctic stationed in Alaska, United States Army Alaska will once again become the hub for cold-weather operations.
At a press conference on Joint-Base Elmendorf-Richardson, Maj. Gen. Peter Andrysiak, USARAK commanding general, spoke about how USARAK will be resourced as a “proponent for cold-weather training.”
As the strategy title points out, the Army in general, and USARAK specifically, has to regain perishable skills lost over previous decades of focusing on operations outside the Arctic, Andrysiak explained.
Andrysiak pointed to the recent Arctic Warrior 21 exercise as an opportunity to demonstrate USARAK’s capabilities and identify areas for improvement in equipping and training an Arctic force. From Feb. 8-19, paratroopers from the 4th Brigade Combat Team (Airborne), 25th Infantry Division participated in Arctic Warrior 21, an annual cold weather training event at Donnelly Training Area near Fort Greely.
This year’s exercise tested the Soldiers’ ability to face a near-peer threat and validated winter field training in an Arctic environment.
“The Army sent out experts from our centers of expertise and the Combined Arms Center to collect data to do gap analysis,” Andrysiak said. “This data will help the Army figure out where they need to focus their reinvestment or development efforts.”
As USARAK continues to refine its skill craft in cold-weather operations, Andrysiak emphasized the importance on learning about Arctic survival from the United States partners, allies and the Native Alaska population.
“Canada participated in the Arctic Edge training exercise this year,” Andrysiak said. “We are doing the coordination to determine whether other allies and partners can participate in future exercises.”
USARAK hosted a cultural immersion event March 25 at Education Center on JBER with Alaska Native leaders to learn how the indigenous population operates in this environment and lives off of the land.
“We’ve got to continue to grow and cultivate,” Andrysiak said, “We’re trying to forge a relationship from an Army perspective, so we can continue to execute this strategy. As USARAK continues build its knowledge base from its allies, talent management will play a key role in executing this Arctic strategy.”
USARAK has received support from U.S. Army Marketing, Recruiting Command, and Human Resource command in their talent management efforts to recruit and retain Soldiers with the right skillsets for excelling in an assignment to Alaska.
“We are trying to change how we recruit,” Andrysiak said. “We want to make sure that we can reach out to those who are more apt to thrive in this environment. You're going to be able to sign up at a recruiting station and say, I want to go to Alaska because I grew up in Colorado. I like to ski and I know that's a key component of being able to operate in and through the Arctic.”
Because of the unique skills Soldiers develop in here, individuals may also have the option to extend their time in Alaska or have the option to come back after leaving this assignment.
Declaring an Arctic Strategy will position USARAK as the Army’s premiere cold weather force and designate its units as Arctic units, but regaining the Arctic Ethos and other perishable skills will take time.
“Our ability to conduct effective and extended operations in the Arctic requires a lot more than just a couple of pieces of unique equipment. This is really a wholesale change in terms of doing this correctly," Andrysiak said, “What we do here, it’s got to be measured in years, because this is just a very unique environment.”
| Date Taken: | 03.01.2021 |
| Date Posted: | 04.26.2021 19:50 |
| Story ID: | 394817 |
| Location: | JBER, AK, US |
| Web Views: | 237 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
This work, USARAK returns to extreme cold weather focus, by SSG DeMarco Wills, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
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