Soldiers with the Wisconsin National Guard's 120th Field Artillery conduct winter sling-load operations Jan. 28, 2026, at Fort McCoy, Wis., with support from UH-60 Black Hawks and a CH-47 Chinook helicopters from the 2nd Battalion, 147th Aviation Regiment of the Minnesota National Guard.
Training was held for several hours in extremely cold temperatures. It was designed to test equipment during cold-weather operations as well as gear Soldiers are issued for cold-weather survival.
The 120th trains regularly at Fort McCoy. For this day of training, weather temperature was below zero nearly the whole time they were out working this scenario.
Fort McCoy’s motto is to be the “Total Force Training Center.”
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 nearly every year since 1984.
Learn more about Fort McCoy online at https://home.army.mil/mccoy, on Facebook by searching “ftmccoy,” on Flickr at https://www.flickr.com/photos/fortmccoywi, and on X (formerly Twitter) by searching “usagmccoy.”
Also try downloading the My Army Post app to your smartphone and set “Fort McCoy” or another installation as your preferred base. Fort McCoy is also part of Army’s Installation Management Command where “We Are The Army’s Home.”