{"id":101078,"date":"2024-01-25T23:00:00","date_gmt":"2024-01-26T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/?p=101078"},"modified":"2024-01-27T09:19:48","modified_gmt":"2024-01-27T09:19:48","slug":"northern-strike-24-1-tests-winter-warfare-skills","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/?p=101078","title":{"rendered":"Northern Strike 24-1 Tests Winter Warfare Skills"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\n Spc. Emilio Bailey, an indirect fire infantryman with Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 1st Battalion, 125th Infantry Regiment, Michigan Army National Guard, makes adjustments to an 81 mm mortar during exercise Northern Strike 24-1 at Camp Grayling Maneuver Training Center, Michigan, Jan. 21, 2024. Northern Strike 24-1 is the winter warfare component of the annual National Guard Bureau-sponsored Northern Strike exercise series. (U.S. Army photo by Sgt. 1st Class Jon Soucy)
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\n Spc. Emilio Bailey, left, and Spc. Ryan Brust, both indirect fire infantryman with Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 1st Battalion, 125th Infantry Regiment, Michigan Army National Guard, make adjustments to an 81 mm mortar while taking part in exercise Northern Strike 24-1 at Camp Grayling Maneuver Training Center, Michigan, Jan. 21, 2024. Northern Strike 24-1 is the winter warfare component of the annual National Guard Bureau-sponsored Northern Strike exercise series. (U.S. Army photo by Sgt. 1st Class Jon Soucy)
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\n Spc. Emilio Bailey, an indirect fire infantryman with Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 1st Battalion, 125th Infantry Regiment, Michigan Army National Guard, signals to others in his unit while sighting in an 81 mm mortar during exercise Northern Strike 24-1 at Camp Grayling Maneuver Training Center, Michigan, Jan. 21, 2024. Northern Strike 24-1 is the winter warfare component of the annual National Guard Bureau-sponsored Northern Strike exercise series. (U.S. Army photo by Sgt. 1st Class Jon Soucy)
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CAMP GRAYLING, Mich. \u2013 A frigid winter wind fluttered past the snow-covered landscape as Sgt. Shane Vanderhoek, an indirect fire infantryman with Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 1st Battalion, 125th Infantry Regiment, Michigan Army National Guard, adjusted his team\u2019s 81 mm mortar.<\/p>\n

Hunched over the mortar\u2019s sights, the sun lit up his breath steamy and bright each time he exhaled while painstakingly making the needed adjustments. Though seemingly minor in their movement, each change took longer to make than expected.<\/p>\n

\u201cEverything is just cold,\u201d he said. \u201cA lot of our equipment takes longer to start to work, or it just doesn’t really like working.\u201d<\/p>\n

Learning to navigate those cold weather issues is one of the goals of exercise Northern Strike 24-1, a weeklong winter warfare training exercise hosted by the Michigan National Guard. Vanderhoek and his unit supported friendly elements while squaring off against both opposing forces and Arctic-like conditions.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis just offers that extreme weather and the ability to test your ability to maneuver and to test your unit\u2019s ability to function and plan in a totally different environment,\u201d said Army Col. Todd Fitzpatrick, the officer in charge of the exercise\u2019s ground elements. \u201cWith the temperatures we have, it closely replicates a near-Arctic environment.\u201d<\/p>\n

Held at Camp Grayling Maneuver Training Center and the Alpena Combat Training Center \u2014 which together comprise the Michigan Guard\u2019s National All-Domain Warfighting Center \u2014 the exercise\u2019s location and terrain make it and the National Guard key elements of the Department of Defense\u2019s Arctic strategy, said Fitzpatrick.<\/p>\n

\u201cObviously, Alaska is an ideal [cold weather] environment to train in,\u201d he said, adding that getting units and their equipment to Alaska for training can be both difficult and expensive. \u201cSo, this offers a very similar climate, very similar complex terrain and just is cost-effective for units to do that near-Arctic training.\u201d<\/p>\n

Northern Strike 24-1 focused on integrated air and ground operations. Elements of the Army\u2019s 5th Special Forces Group operated with close air support from Air Force and Michigan Air National Guard units while Michigan Army Guard units provided mortar and helicopter support.<\/p>\n

The joint focus is another key element of the exercise, said Fitzpatrick.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt’s really integral to Northern Strike because this is such a valuable training area for the joint force \u2014 air, maritime, land component \u2014 and, more importantly, across all domains of warfare,\u201d he said. \u201cThe jointness and the all-domain nature of the exercise are really what separates it from others.\u201d<\/p>\n

Northern Strike began in 2011, typically taking place each August and often including participants from all U.S. military services and components as well as international partners. It was expanded to include a winter portion in 2020 after feedback, specifically from special operations forces, indicated a need for cold weather training.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was actually a demand from rotational units,\u201d said Fitzpatrick. \u201cSOF-oriented units wanted a place to train the way we do in a near-Arctic or winter setting with a complex maneuver space like we have here.\u201d<\/p>\n

While the winter portion of the exercise is typically smaller \u2014 this year\u2019s iteration included about 200 participants while the summer exercise often includes more than 7,000 \u2014 its challenges are no less complex.<\/p>\n

For Fitzpatrick, those challenges include ensuring the exercise meets or exceeds the training needs of participating units.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt’s not a cookie-cutter exercise,\u201d he said. \u201cWe like to say that every unit is the main event. So, it’s challenging deconflicting all that training, integrating those joint, multinational, multicomponent partners.\u201d<\/p>\n

Planning starts about a year ahead of the exercise rotation.<\/p>\n

\u201cBecause we have two exercises, we have two [planning] cycles running,\u201d he said. \u201cAnd, of course, we’re looking into the future. We’re already scheduling units for 2025 and beyond.\u201d<\/p>\n

For Vanderhoek and many other units on the ground, the challenges are often more immediate, such as ensuring the mortar\u2019s baseplate is emplaced properly.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe like to dig little holes if we’re operating in a place just so the base plate can settle down easier,\u201d he said. \u201cObviously, it takes longer when the ground’s frozen to do that.\u201d<\/p>\n

The frozen ground also makes it more difficult to ensure the mortar\u2019s bipod support legs are dug in. Simply placing them on the ground means the mortar may move.<\/p>\n

\u201cThen we’re running the risk of the legs sliding out when we’re firing, which will cause a round to go somewhere completely different [than intended].\u201d<\/p>\n

None of those were challenges faced by the unit during its recent deployment to the Middle East, but the winter iteration of Northern Strike prompted them to find solutions to those challenges.<\/p>\n

Though it took longer than expected, Vanderhoek dialed in the needed adjustments to the mortar.<\/p>\n

\u201cGun 1 is up,\u201d he called out. Shortly after, another Soldier came out of the tent that served as the fire direction center.<\/p>\n

\u201cFire mission!\u201d he shouted, as Vanderhoek and his team scrambled into position to execute.<\/p>\n

For more National Guard news<\/a><\/p>\n

National Guard Facebook<\/a><\/p>\n

National Guard X (Twitter<\/a>)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

1 \/ 3 Show Caption + Hide Caption \u2013 Spc. Emilio Bailey, an indirect fire infantryman with Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 1st Battalion, 125th Infantry Regiment, Michigan Army National Guard, makes adjustments to an 81 mm mortar during exercise Northern Strike 24-1 at Camp Grayling Maneuver Training Center, Michigan, Jan. 21, 2024. Northern Strike 24-1 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":101080,"comment_status":"close","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-101078","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/101078","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=101078"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/101078\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":101084,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/101078\/revisions\/101084"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/101080"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=101078"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=101078"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=101078"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}