via Military.com
Currently, there are two major Army formations in Alaska: the 1st Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 25th Infantry Division, and the 4th Infantry Brigade Combat Team (Airborne), 25th Infantry Division. Those will be redesignated the 1-11 Airborne and 2-11 Airborne, respectively. U.S. Army Alaska will also be absorbed into the new division.
Army officials are in the middle of finalizing a plan to get rid of its roughly 320 Strykers in Alaska, possibly using them for spare parts for other units. In the meantime, the Stryker brigade in Alaska will convert to a regular light infantry force, but could be converted into an air assault element down the road.
"This isn't going to be like any other division. Here, we are having an airborne brigade, and there will probably be an air assault brigade," said Eifler, who will command the 11th Airborne Division. "It'll be different."
Eifler noted that plans for how the division will be organized aren't ironed out yet. Getting half of the division's soldiers air assault-qualified and setting up logistics for the training those soldiers could take years.
I find the removal of the Strykers a bit curious. They obviously didn't perform well in the conditions up there but the Army is also in the midst of selecting a new "snow" vehicle (forgot what they're calling it) so they should still have good ground mobility.
What has me a little miffed is that the last time I saw it, it didn't have weapons mounted. The Russian stuff is and I would bet the Chinese will probably winterize a bunch of their armor.
Aircraft are sometimes grounded in the far north due to weather so on call firepower is necessary.
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