{"id":1221,"date":"2024-04-29T00:53:17","date_gmt":"2024-04-29T00:53:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/daily-bullet.com\/?p=1221"},"modified":"2024-04-29T00:53:17","modified_gmt":"2024-04-29T00:53:17","slug":"arctic-mobility-sustainment-system-tested-at-armys-cold-regions-test-center","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/daily-bullet.com\/?p=1221","title":{"rendered":"Arctic Mobility Sustainment System Tested at Army’s Cold Regions Test Center"},"content":{"rendered":"
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FORT GREELY, Alaska \u2014 Deployed Soldiers are constantly loaded down with gear, but nowhere more so than when operating in a cold weather environment.<\/p>\n

In addition to their conventional weapons, Soldiers need to utilize heavy equipment like space heaters, cooking stoves, fuel and heavy-duty thermal tents to survive operations in the Arctic.<\/p>\n

Candidates to serve as the Army\u2019s Arctic Mobility Sustainment System underwent rigorous testing at U.S. Army Cold Regions Test Center, or CRTC, this winter with the help of Soldiers from the Army\u2019s 11th Airborne stationed at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson, Washington.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen they go out in zone seven operations, this is the new stuff they will be pulling out there with them to set up shelters,\u201d said Danielle Schmidt, assistant test officer. \u201cWe went through a lot of changes since the test started up here all based on learning what works and what doesn\u2019t in the cold.\u201d<\/p>\n

The system selected as a result of this testing will eventually replace the legacy Ahkio sled and 10-person tent the Army currently uses. Testers expected and coveted extreme cold for the multi-week test, with the interior Alaska winter delivered more than they expected.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe whole time the test was going it didn\u2019t get above minus 20 Fahrenheit,\u201d said Isaac Howell, senior test officer. \u201cIt was good test conditions for what we were doing, but it was difficult on the Soldiers. Sustained movement in the Arctic day in and day out at those temperatures is not easy.\u201d<\/p>\n

On a typical day Soldiers would pack the Arctic Mobility Sustainment System sled under test with the tent, a heater and their basic standard issue items for Arctic infantry operations. The Soldiers would then pull the sleds in either nine-Soldier squads or four to five Soldier teams with CRTC\u2019s test personnel led the way. Moving the heavy sleds across CRTC\u2019s hilly tundra and thickly forested areas is challenging in any conditions, but particularly so in the extreme cold and deep snow of winter.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur snow is so dry and powdery,\u201d said Howell. \u201cYou don\u2019t stand on it at all, whether you are in skis or snowshoes \u2014 you don\u2019t go across the top of it, you go through it. You are plowing snow the entire day regardless of whether you are wearing snowshoes or not.\u201d<\/p>\n

After a two-and-a-half-hour movement, testers kept track of how long it took the Soldiers to emplace and erect each tent and get the space heaters operating. Following a cold weather Meal Ready to Eat for lunch, the Soldiers disassembled the tent and heater and returned to their day\u2019s starting point following a different route. Following a survey and hot meal, the Soldiers reassembled the tents and heaters and prepared to sleep in the long, cold Arctic nights, which sometimes approached minus 50 degrees Fahrenheit.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Soldiers were instrumented for safety purposes to make sure they didn\u2019t get too cold or hypothermic,\u201d said Schmidt. \u201cIf they did get too cold, they could pull themselves. We had noxious gas sensors in the tents where the heaters were operating as another safety precaution.\u201d<\/p>\n

Despite the hardships, the participating Soldiers gave high marks to CRTC\u2019s test crew.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was pretty cool being able to experience that and see what all the new equipment is like,\u201d said Pvt. 1st Class Tyler Worrell.<\/p>\n

By Mark Schauer<\/em><\/p>\n

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FORT GREELY, Alaska \u2014 Deployed Soldiers are constantly loaded down with gear, but nowhere more so than when operating in a cold weather environment. In addition to their conventional weapons, Soldiers need to utilize heavy equipment like space heaters, cooking stoves, fuel and heavy-duty thermal tents to survive operations in the Arctic. Candidates to serve […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1222,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-1221","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-army"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/daily-bullet.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1221","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/daily-bullet.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/daily-bullet.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/daily-bullet.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/daily-bullet.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1221"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/daily-bullet.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1221\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1223,"href":"https:\/\/daily-bullet.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1221\/revisions\/1223"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/daily-bullet.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1222"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/daily-bullet.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1221"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/daily-bullet.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1221"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/daily-bullet.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1221"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}