Photo By Staff Sgt. Patricia McMurphy | All the tools for surviving the arctic, nicely wrapped up in one spot.... read more read more
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Army Rangers, Navy Seals and Special Forces are all associated with the elite forces of the United States Military forces. They are all highly trained in their fields and are expected to be the best of the best.
But what if their helicopter was redirected to the frozen mountain range in Afghanistan? Would they know how to adapt and overcome the cold and rugged terrain? If they trained at the Northern Warfare Training Center in Alaska, the answer would be “yes.”
Who’s tough enough to train such an elite force? Soldiers like Staff Sgt. Paul Willey, an instructor at the NWTC, that’s who.
Willey actually experienced such a scenario when his unit was deployed to Afghanistan in 2003.
“One of the first things that happened was we got pulled into a QRF mission, we had to relieve the Rangers for an aircraft that had gone down and it was in the mountains.” Willey said, “We’re out there and there is snow everywhere, and these guys have their Gor-Tex jackets over BDUs.”
“There was a lot of rank and a lot of experience there, and they had no idea how to survive in the cold, but, here comes [Willey] literally walking around the perimeter trying to modify their uniforms
A staff sergeant asked Willey, “How do you know all this?”
“I just came from Alaska and I learned this at this school,” Willey said, referring to the Cold Weather Leader’s Course.
Willey attended the course at the NWTC in 2000 and has been an instructor there for the past three years.
He has trained soldiers how to survive in the arctic and to traverse difficult mountainous terrain. He has taught everything from the basics of skiing and snowshoeing to rappelling and crossing ravines.
“We teach how to move on snow shoes, we teach them how to move on skis, and they are always going to have their rucksack,” Willey said. “It is more than just a heavy piece of equipment they have to carry around; it has everything they need to survive in there.”
“The best way to survive an avalanche is to not be in one, that’s the first thing we teach them.” Willey said. To become an instructor you must be able to do all this and more.
“The time of year depends on which course they will do first,” said Willey. All instructors must be able to perform the tasks of the given course to standard and then attend an Instructor Qualification Course.
“They have to be able to pitch these classes back to us, their peers, before they even get in front of a student,” said Willey. This way any flaws can be fixed before they start and make sure the new instructors are not set up for failure.
“In the winter time we navigate as a squad,” Willey said. “We give a land navigation refresher and I have had [sergeants first class] that have failed. It’s amazing, because everyone is so reliant on their GPS,” Willey said. “What happens when the batteries die?”
“By the time they leave here they have a better understanding of how their equipment works and how to use it successfully,” Willey said.
“The great thing about teaching a student is that you are informing the uninformed and that’s why they have to teach us first,” Willey said. “That’s quality control.”
After the new instructors show they have learned the lessons they will teach, they are observed for a period of time to make sure they’re ready.
The instructors also take courses above and beyond what is taught at the NWTC, Willey said, “just to make us better instructors.”
The instructors go to Anchorage for advanced avalanche courses, Joshua Tree National Park in California for advanced mountain training, and go through a “[combat life saver] class on steroids,” said Willey.
“The training is relevant,” Willey said. It depends on how it’s applied.
NWTC instructors not only teach students and up-and-coming instructors, they are also called upon for search and recovery missions with the Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command because of their high level of training and skills in arctic and mountainous terrain.
Willey said he assisted at a JPAC at a recovery site. “We put in hand lines and cut the steps and did everything to make sure they could traverse to the top safely.”
“Now I know so many different ways to do the same task, but do it safely.”
Willey said, like that old adage: “You can’t teach what you don’t know; you can’t lead where you won’t go.”
Willey will soon be leaving Alaska for another duty assignment elsewhere. He said he will pass on his wealth of knowledge to his new soldiers and peers, so if one day, they ever encounter arctic or mountainous terrain, in Afghanistan, for example, they will know how to survive and accomplish their mission safely.
| Date Taken: | 02.18.2011 |
| Date Posted: | 02.25.2011 15:20 |
| Story ID: | 66091 |
| Location: | FORT WAINWRIGHT, AK, US |
| Web Views: | 107 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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