Artic Warfare?

Question

I have considered joining the military and going into artic warfare i can snowboard however am not very familar or good with skis? do you have to cross country ski or downhill ski anybody know?

Answer 1

The us military has basically given up when it came it skiing (this was before snowboarding).  During WW2 there was a small division that were trained in skiing and climbing.  Turns out Italy had a record high and the mountian pass was nothing but mud.  So since then the praticality of skiing (and snowboarding) and the military does not match.  If we had artic warefare we would use snowmobiles!

Answer 2

10th group special forces trained on skis at Ft. Devens MA

but they closed that post

but I'm sure they train somewhere on skis and every other imaginable terrain - they do it all

Answer 3

I've been researching the history of military skiing for about a year now. From what I have been able to tell, the US uses Randonee (Alpine Touring) style skis. These are wider skis with a metal edge. The bindings can be used in a free-heel manner while traversing rolling terrain and then the heel can be locked down to ski long downhill runs. Climbing skins are attached to the bottom of the skis in order to make uphill skiing easier.

I looked into buying a set of army skis last year for backcountry use. A set of surplus skis with skins and bindings was $50 at my local surplus store. I haven't bought them yet because I haven't figured out exactly what boot I can use with the binding. It doesn't use a standard telemark, cross country, or alpine touring boot, nor do standard combat boots seem to work either. Apparantly the Cold-weather "Mickey Mouse" boots are what the bindings were designed to fit, but I don't feel like spending the $150 on a pair of those just to find out.

Rottefella makes military use bindings. You can get the info on these from thier webpage.

Also

http://stevespages.com/page7c.htm

This page has dowloadable field and training manuals. Mountain operations and skiing are files you can dowload.

From what I have got from veterans who recently left military service (within the past 5 years), some troops assigned to bases in Alaska do get ski-combat training. Likewise some troops assigned to the 10th Mountain Division also take ski training. Some of this takes place in Vermont both at Camp Johnson (VTNG) and apparantly in the state forset lands near Jay Peak and Stowe. I've also discovered that a few National Guard units, mostly from VT, MN, ID, WI, and WA state have ski troops. I don't know to what extent infantry companies in these Guard units use them, but apparantly it is still taught and troops still train on skis.

Answer 4

Don't believe the army when they say they'll give you "artic warfare."  Rest assured you'll see warfare, but it's gonna be in the desert.  They'll tell you ANY T H I N G to get you to sign up.