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FORT WAINWRIGHT, Alaska - Climbing the slippery rock face of a mountain, with just personal strength, climbing gear and the knowledge taught by the dedicated instructors at the Northern Warfare Training Center, is just one of the many obstacles students must tackle during the 15-day Basic Mountaineering Course.
Students spend most days outdoors getting hands-on training, climbing, learning to travel through mountainous terrain and of course, tying knots.
Learning to tie knots is one of the first things the students learn at the course. There are more than 17 knots the students must master to safely climb up and down treacherous mountains, cross deep ravines, and travel across glaciers and swift moving streams and rivers.
The students also learn how to package and move casualties in mountainous terrain.
“We get a lot of information over a short period of time and after we take in that information they test us all at once,” said 1st Lt. Ross Nelson, of the Forward Maintenance Company, 25th Brigade Support Battalion, 1st Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 25th Infantry Division. “Everything has five to 10 checkpoints to it, so it’s pretty rigorous, but also lifesaving.
The course is as mentally demanding as it is physically demanding.
Nelson said the biggest obstacle for him in the first half of the course was the land navigation.
“It was pretty rough. The terrain out there was pretty extensive and a lot of my points were far away,” Nelson said. “I was beating brush the whole time.”
“[Platoon leaders], platoon sergeants, everyone coming out here can take this back to their units so when they get out in the field they will be able to overcome any obstacle in the terrain,” Nelson said.
Staff Sgt. Zachary McGee, an NWTC instructor gave some insight on what the course has to offer to the soldiers and how it can help them in future missions
“It gives them general mountaineering experiences that can help them out in operations in Afghanistan,” McGee said. “Doing patrols out in the mountains, you never know when you’re going to find yourself in a situation where to get your soldiers from point A to B you might have to put in a fixed line, or to get down from a place.”
Soldiers who attend the mountaineering course leave with a wealth of knowledge and, according to McGee, that’s a win-win situation.
“[The BMC] helps them conduct their operations better and gives them something to do while they are here in Alaska,” McGee said.
| Date Taken: | 06.21.2012 |
| Date Posted: | 09.06.2012 16:01 |
| Story ID: | 94333 |
| Location: | FORT WAINWRIGHT, AK, US |
| Web Views: | 265 |
| Downloads: | 2 |
This work, Soldiers and Cadets Attend Basic Mountaineering Course, by SSG Patricia McMurphy, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
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