I saw this story on Jalopnik. Go there to read it...
But the issue that stands out to me is the lack of dedicated US ground forces to this region. The Russians have arctic troopers. The Canadians have regular forces that train extremely hard in arctic conditions
While other nations are dedicated their navies and ground forces to this soon to be vital region, we have done nothing.
The US Marines already have a world class mountain and cold weather training facility in Bridgeport. Maybe its time to leverage the winter package and create a SPMAGTF-Arctic and co-locate them at Ft. Wainwright to deal with this opportunity. The summer packages served us well for the mountains of Afghanistan so lets do it for this future battlefield.
As a former member of the CF (Canadian Forces) I wouldn't put a lot of weight on the Arctic Rangers. They are natives issued with WWII Lee Enfield Rifles and told to call if they spot anything suspicious. In the cold war they upped the funding and gave them a hammer as well - to smash any periscopes they find.
ReplyDeleteThe regular CF is still tasked with defending the far north, and that's one of the many reasons the CF trains so hard for winter ops. The other reason being for 4-6 months of the year it is honest to goodness winter in most of Canada.
i stand corrected and will make the appropriate changes above. but the point remains. Canada is making an honest to goodness effort in the frigid north while the US isn't.
ReplyDeleteshameful.
Isn't the Arctic only going to become more important as the ice melts? Does the American belief that climate change is a commie plot not influence the decision not to send troops to go play in the snow when they quite obviously need to be preparing for the deserts of I-ran.
ReplyDelete....sorry went all stereotype on you there, my apologies.
Seriously, it'd be a good idea to invest in a little more cold weather time, the Russians already seem to be taking the lead up there, and there are resources a plenty that'll make for future antagonism as the arctic countries squabble over them.
its a rush for resources whether you believe in global warming or not. the only real problem that most Americans have with the whole idea is that it morphed into a tax scheme. take out that dynamic and you would have alot less resistance to the whole idea.
ReplyDeletebut you're right. as it now stands, the Russians will be the first there with the power to keep all that they claim....unless we act now.
by the way doesn't the UK have claims there too?
Nah the UK doesn't have any claims up there, never have as far as I know. We have Iceland and Scandinavia sat North of us who have claims I believe.
ReplyDeleteWe have a large area in Antactica claimed though as part of the Falkland/South Georgia territories though (overlaps partially with Argentinian and Chilean claims).
We also train our Marines to quite a high cold weather standard I believe, they all train up in Norway as part of the Commando course (sorry not my area of expertise, I'll have to ask one of my mates in the Marines. )
On an unrelated note, not sure if you've heard of this but this film looks right up your street Sol:
http://www.moviefone.com/movie/act-of-valor/54283/main