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Winter Camping Army Style

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Back in 84 I spent 6 weeks in AK at the Army's Northern Warfare School at Black Rapids Training Center.

The final week was dragging around a tent and stove, and sleeping in snow caves we dug.

We trained every day even with gale force winds and -40˚F ambient temp, -84WC which I think is about the same in ˚C. For four weeks the high was -20˚ again ambient temp.

https://photos.app.goo.gl/ymqbPGyb1nALJcJ23
 
That would 'ruin' some men for the outdoor experience. Just imagine a decade or so later how much better your experience and equipment would have been with just the ECWS clothing system.

Was that 'opportunity' to train there a good thing (for your career or getting into a particular unit or training) or was it more of the punishment...

I've met a couple guys who went through the armored vehicle training program at Fort Wainwright and it's tough even when you are in the motorized end of things...
 
I graduated 2nd in the class and was told if I did as well in the summer session I would considered to be an instructor at the school.
In preparation for the summer session I played soccer in the spring league for my company. I was kicked in the ankle hard enough to break my tib/fib and spent the summer in a cast. The following summer the Army decided I'd make a good Recruiter. WRONG.
 
If that took place at the Black Rapids on the Delta River it is a good area for canoeing. If you ever get back up that way there is the Gulkana River, the Delta River, The Tangle Lakes and more.

I was on a caribou hunt up there in the end of October with temps down to 30 below F. That was my last winter campout without a hot tent.
 
Lots of good memories up there--I've paddled the Gulkana (Paxson Lake to Gulkana), Delta, and many weeks on Tangle Lakes.
 

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If that took place at the Black Rapids on the Delta River it is a good area for canoeing. If you ever get back up that way there is the Gulkana River, the Delta River, The Tangle Lakes and more.

Part of the summer session would have been on the water, but not in canoes.
 
I did a lot of similar trg in Canada and did spend time on the land in winter but I found the army to have either too much eqpt or not enough. It was never just right. Most of the time we needed a 5 ton truck to haul it with. I was not especially fond of the bell tents due to the small size. The lack of heaters / stoves was pretty annoying too. We used to use a lantern for heat. What I did learn was how to stay warm in Arctic temperatures and I have used that ever since in my outdoor activities. Not that I do a lot of winter stuff any more. But its good for shoulder seasons.

As Bear would say....never sweat, because sweat is like tasty gravy to a hungry wolf....lol.
 
Sweeper,
Great photos!
Most likely, you met Hank Dube at Black Rapids. Hank was NCOIC for years and continued as a civilian after military retirement.
hank was an exceptional skier and mountaineer with 28 mountain rescues to his credit as well as summiting Mount McKinley twice.

We lost hank this past fall!

Just down the Delta River at Fort Greely they experimented with large freight canoes for traveling Alaska's interior rivers. I'm
not sure who made the first few but Nick Columbo made the second bunch. IIRC they were 28-30 feet with about 6' of beam.
They were powered by 50 Mercs on jacklifts. All strip construction. I haven't seen one laying around for many years now.

Troops boated down the Tanana dn up the Yukon to Eagle where Army trucks met the troops. They also were utilized to transport
forest fire fighters and supplies up rivers. Hank told me of putting a half dozen 55 gallon drums of fuel in one canoe and running up the Tanana.
 
It was 1984 when I was last there, and I don't remember any of the names. I really wanted to do the summer session with 2 weeks on the river.
 
I was a KC-135 navigator on a 45 day TDY Tanker Task Force assignment to Eielson AFB during late December-January 1975. The morning we were to depart the lower-48 we learned that there had been a horrific crash a few hours before. We were diverted on the way to pick up an investigation team in WA. We landed in Alaska with a temperature of -56F. At that temperature, those old J-57 engines still have enough idle power to kick us off the end of the runway unless two are completely shut down as soon as we are definitely down to stay. All flying was suspended for more than a week during the accident investigation. I remember temperatures for the next 8 days never rose above -40F/C (-40 is the same in both systems) day or night. Day 9 went to +40, then back down again for the next month. What had happened was crews that fatal night were waiting on the tarmac while maintenance was being performed on one or more aircraft before launch. Typically, bases south would send their "hanger queen" aircraft north because they were certain to get needed maintenance done. Usually you could see "blood" in the snow under those parked planes, as the hydraulic seals leaked in the extreme cold and the red fluid puddled underneath.

So that mission night while waiting, there were not enough portable heaters that could pipe warm air into the cockpit of all the waiting aircraft. Topped off with maximum fuel for the mission, engines were off during the wait to launch, so no warmth could come from idling engines. One or more crews complained of freezing, reporting later that even the coffee in their cups froze solid during the hours long ground delay. The doomed crew took off cold compromised and likely did not have fully operational thought processes. The gear failed to go up on that one plane, resulting in increased drag and decreased lift. The flight plan called for a sharp turn a few miles after departure, and with the distraction and drag of gear stuck down and without enough altitude, one wing caught the ground in the banked turn and the plane augured in, scattering debris on the Tanana River. Investigators gathered all they could of the wreck and laid it out on the floor of an empty hangar in the relative configuration as found. It was very spooky to see. It was said that Boeing could predict the location of every piece with a computer program they had. Years later I went to an aircraft mishap investigators school and our training included parts of aircraft laid out in the desert just as they had been found in various kinds of accidents.

I remember in my quarters the frost making a thick layer o ice several inches thick on and below my window. Dense ice fog kept us grounded for several days. Being in officer's quarter's, Im sure the enlisted folk did not fare any better. At that time the Alaska pipeline was just under construction a few miles from base. I set out to explore on foot, wearing every bit of issued and private cold weather clothing I could dig up. We were told that regardless of what we wore, what would get cold upon walking would be our knees, since with each step the warm air surrounding knees was forced out of our pants, even with quilted insulated underwear. Sure enough, my knees got cold. Since the date was not far from the Winter Solstice, there was only about 3 hours of useable daylight that far north. It took just 1.5 hours to walk to the pipeline for a short look-around, another 1.5 hours to get back to base.
 
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Snowing quite heavily here today, so am hunkered in front of the fire revisiting some older posts. A lot of interesting experiences in this thread.

Just wondering, yknpdlr, how you happened to become so involved in the Yukon River races.
 
That would 'ruin' some men for the outdoor experience.
I believe this might be true.
A friend of mine G, just shakes his head whenever the subject of primitive camping comes up. Primitive = no cars, trailers or RVs. I try not to talk about canoe tripping. None of my friends here where I live see any attraction in it, and that's okay with me. There can be some very unattractive days on canoe trips, I understand that it may be an acquired love and for this reason I don't share tripping experiences with them. But every time the scant mention of tenting-paddling-sleeping under the stars etc accidentally passes my lips G will recount his winter maneuvers while he was a Sergeant in our Canadian Forces based at Camp Shilo Manitoba, and ask me if I'm a sadomasochist. I explain for the umpteenth time I don't winter camp in foxholes sighting for an artillery barrage.
I'm a softie who occasionally gets wet feet and bug bitten, and still trying to "do it right". I follow Bill Mason's idea of avoiding wilderness adversity by choosing instead to smooth out outdoor experiences through the use of proper gear and techniques. After 25+ years I'm still working on it. Mason said in so many words, suffering in the backcountry is not a badge of honour but a sign of failure. Why be hungry when you can be well fed, why be cold when you can be warm, why be wet when you can be dry, why be bug bitten when you can be bug free? None of these things need be a final failure, merely part of the process of learning. I'm paraphrasing Mason but it was this attitude that changed me years ago from wannabe macho to wannabe capable. I'm embracing it all and loving it.
My friend G is adamant that all outdoor experiences are hostile environments needing to be sensibly avoided altogether. He is a tough kinda guy but I think some Army style winter camping might've turned him towards a softer lifestyle in civilian life. I thank him for his service and won't criticize his choice. But being friends we do poke fun at each other from time to time. That's allowed.
There's no telling what effect your Army style camping can have on people, but make or break me I'd be proud of having done it. As are you all.
And despite his complaints I suspect my friend is too.
 
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Canoe tripping (and by inference, winter camping) is definitely not everyone's first choice of a good time. 'When we lived in Vancouver, Kathleen and I often gave a slide show of our 1993, 37-day trip down the Thelon River, much of it across the Barren Grounds. The presentation features long paddling days, some portaging, some bad weather, and multitudes of bugs on virtually a daily basis. The most common response after the presentation was, "Great trip. Glad is was you and not me."

Kathleen and I were having a good time, though. I'm not making that up!
 
I learned a lot of what not to do from the military. The experience was invaluable as you generally learn more from your mistakes. Now, take that knowledge and infuse a healthy dose of common sense and a desire for comfort and you get a much more pleasant time in the woods. Even in the winter. It does tend to get into your blood if you do it too much and I fear I am there. I just finished shovelling the driveway and I was thinking a walk down a frozen stream bed might be a good way to spend the afternoon.

I am one of those people who actually like rain too. There is just something about being out in the bush when its raining. Being dry and warmish under a tarp with some tobacco and a hot coffee is rather magical. Makes you feel like you have the world by the tail. I live well in the woods and enjoy being there. Few others share that passion though. Maybe that is a good thing...less crowded that way.

Christine
 
I'm glad I had that military experience, would not, repeat, WOULD NOT want to do it again. Back in the day the tobacco and hot coffee under a tarp in the rain was great. Still is these days minus the Tobacco, but my memory berry can still smell the smoke of Grandpa's Prince Albert pipe tobacco.
 
When did frostbite become a news worthy item? And what's up with Drapeau feeding the snowflake flames? When I lived up north, half the reserve had frostbite, I had it several times, no-one cared, in fact, they called it "man makeup". Patches of frozen skin on your face were normal. Good God, the last place I'd expect to see snowflake crap like this is from our military, someone needs a kick right where their nads used to be.

Rant over, my apologies.
 
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