CAMP GRAYLING, Mich. – 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’s 81 mm mortar.

Hunched over the mortar’s 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.

“Everything is just cold,” he said. “A lot of our equipment takes longer to start to work, or it just doesn’t really like working.”

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.

“This just offers that extreme weather and the ability to test your ability to maneuver and to test your unit’s ability to function and plan in a totally different environment,” said Army Col. Todd Fitzpatrick, the officer in charge of the exercise’s ground elements. “With the temperatures we have, it closely replicates a near-Arctic environment.”

Held at Camp Grayling Maneuver Training Center and the Alpena Combat Training Center — which together comprise the Michigan Guard’s National All-Domain Warfighting Center — the exercise’s location and terrain make it and the National Guard key elements of the Department of Defense’s Arctic strategy, said Fitzpatrick.

“Obviously, Alaska is an ideal [cold weather] environment to train in,” he said, adding that getting units and their equipment to Alaska for training can be both difficult and expensive. “So, this offers a very similar climate, very similar complex terrain and just is cost-effective for units to do that near-Arctic training.”

Northern Strike 24-1 focused on integrated air and ground operations. Elements of the Army’s 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.

The joint focus is another key element of the exercise, said Fitzpatrick.

“It’s really integral to Northern Strike because this is such a valuable training area for the joint force — air, maritime, land component — and, more importantly, across all domains of warfare,” he said. “The jointness and the all-domain nature of the exercise are really what separates it from others.”

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.

“It was actually a demand from rotational units,” said Fitzpatrick. “SOF-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.”

While the winter portion of the exercise is typically smaller — this year’s iteration included about 200 participants while the summer exercise often includes more than 7,000 — its challenges are no less complex.

For Fitzpatrick, those challenges include ensuring the exercise meets or exceeds the training needs of participating units.

“It’s not a cookie-cutter exercise,” he said. “We like to say that every unit is the main event. So, it’s challenging deconflicting all that training, integrating those joint, multinational, multicomponent partners.”

Planning starts about a year ahead of the exercise rotation.

“Because we have two exercises, we have two [planning] cycles running,” he said. “And, of course, we’re looking into the future. We’re already scheduling units for 2025 and beyond.”

For Vanderhoek and many other units on the ground, the challenges are often more immediate, such as ensuring the mortar’s baseplate is emplaced properly.

“We like to dig little holes if we’re operating in a place just so the base plate can settle down easier,” he said. “Obviously, it takes longer when the ground’s frozen to do that.”

The frozen ground also makes it more difficult to ensure the mortar’s bipod support legs are dug in. Simply placing them on the ground means the mortar may move.

“Then 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].”

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.

Though it took longer than expected, Vanderhoek dialed in the needed adjustments to the mortar.

“Gun 1 is up,” he called out. Shortly after, another Soldier came out of the tent that served as the fire direction center.

“Fire mission!” he shouted, as Vanderhoek and his team scrambled into position to execute.

By SFC Jon Soucy, National Guard Bureau

JOINT BASE LEWIS MCHORD, Wash. — Washington and Oregon National Guard Soldiers with the 81st Stryker Brigade Combat Team and 96th Troop Command started the new year with a bang by conducting new weapons training and fielding on Camp Murray and Joint Base Lewis-McChord Jan. 16-17.

The training began with classroom instruction on Camp Murray. The weapons being introduced were the M110A1 Squad Designated Marksman Rifle, MK22 Precision Sniper Rifle and the M3 Multi-Role Anti-Armor Anti-Personnel Weapon System.

Soldiers focused on the weapons systems’ functions, safety and maintenance. The next day, they brought their weapons to the rainy ranges of JBLM for some hands-on training.

The M110A1 SDMR enables infantry, scout and engineer squads to engage enemies as far as 600 meters away.

“One thing I have done with the M110A1 in my platoon is assigned it as a primary weapon system for my weapons squad leader,” said Sgt. 1st Class Tylor Anderson, an infantry platoon sergeant with Alpha Company, 1st Battalion, 161st Infantry Regiment, 81st Stryker Brigade Combat Team, Washington National Guard. “This means that he is utilizing the same caliber as his machine gun teams, forcing him to ‘think’ in 7.62 more consistently when planning for enemy engagements.”

The MK22 PSR, set to replace the Army’s existing M2010 and M107 sniper rifles, is outfitted with a modular, multi-barrel design, providing sniper teams with more diversity than its predecessors.

“It definitely improves our versatility when it comes to bringing the right tool for the job when we’re preparing for a mission,” explained Sgt. Remi Milslagle, a sniper with Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 3rd Battalion, 161st Infantry Regiment, 81st Stryker Brigade Combat Team. “We need to out-range enemy snipers, and we need ammunition that’s going to put holes through newer and stronger armor at those ranges.”

The M3E1 MAAWS, sometimes referred to as the “Carl Gustaf,” is an 84 mm lightweight, man-portable, direct-fire recoilless rifle, which is an upgrade from the AT4. It can fire a wide range of munitions effective against light and medium armor, personnel in open bunkers, and structural targets up to 1,300 meters.

“The AT4 with its ‘one-and-done’ loadout is not as adaptable as the M3,” said Staff Sgt. Dustin Davis, a section sergeant with Bravo Company, 1st Squadron, 82nd Cavalry Regiment, 81st Stryker Brigade Combat Team, Oregon National Guard. “The variety of munitions the M3 has proves it to be a very adaptable weapon.”

Fielding new weapons allows team leaders to gain knowledge and experience. It enables them to develop as weapons experts and take their newly honed skills back to their organization to train other Soldiers on operating and maintaining their new weapons systems effectively and safely.

As they become more familiar with the new weapons, they can develop and implement standard operating procedures for the additions to their arsenal.

“Soldiers can look forward to getting experience with these platforms and developing unit-level SOPs on how they are employed,” said Anderson. “Training is paramount when it comes to staying ahead of potential adversaries in combat. By adding newer and more capable tools to our arsenal, we allow technology to help us consistently maintain that edge on the battlefield.”

By SFC Nicolas A. Cloward, 122nd Theater Public Affairs Support Element

HANOVER, N.H. — If a critical part breaks in the Arctic, or other similarly remote and austere environments, forward-deployed warfighters can’t just order a replacement on the internet and have it shipped overnight. But what if they could manufacturer it onsite themselves?

That was the premise behind the Office of the Secretary of Defense Manufacturing Technology, or ManTech, Program’s first-of-its-kind Point of Need Manufacturing Challenge, held December 4-8, at the U.S. Army Engineer Research and Development Center’s Cold Regions Research and Engineering Laboratory, or CRREL, in Hanover, New Hampshire.

The event showcased technologies generated by member companies of the Department of Defense Manufacturing Innovation Institute. Six projects, selected for funding in March by ManTech and DoD expert judges, used the event to demonstrate that their systems could be deployed in a cold weather environment to help close supply chain gaps and enable warfighters to manufacture and utilize critical equipment right where they need it.

“Material performance in the cold is different,” said Dr. Steven Wax, acting Assistant Secretary of Defense for Science and Technology in the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering. “We must understand this to adapt to support current operations.”

According to Stephen Luckowski, an advanced manufacturing associate at the Combat Capabilities Development Command Armaments Center, CRREL was selected by the Office of the Undersecretary of Defense to host the event because of the unique capabilities that exist at the laboratory.

“The cold temperature capabilities at minus-60 degrees emulate the environments that we believe we will see in operations around the world,” Luckowski said. “This is a unique capability in the United States, and the only place where we could actually execute this type of work.”

One of the industry participants, Anusha Iyer, CEO and founder of Vienna, Virginia-based Corsha, said the opportunity to work in such extreme cold temperatures was invaluable.

“It’s been an incredible experience being able to come here and do this exercise at CRREL and really simulate that our platform can work at these kinds of extreme, austere temperatures and environments, and make sure that we’re putting in place technologies and solutions for the warfighter that will help them at point of need,” said Iyer, whose team demonstrated a platform that manages cybersecurity challenges presented by point-of-need manufacturing. “It’s only when you come into these types of settings that you see the unique constraints — everything that you take for granted sitting in an office or sitting in a secure data center that’s warmed up and continually connected — it’s a totally different playing field when you come into an environment like this. Everything from connectivity to cabling, to environmental constraints, are what we are solving for, and it’s great to do it in a live environment like this.”

Defense officials from allied partner nations joined senior leaders and general officers from the Office of the Secretary of Defense, the military services, defense agencies and the National Guard to witness manufacturing demonstrations in extreme cold temperatures.

Wax was joined by the U.S. Army Combat Capabilities Development Command Deputy Commanding General Brig. Gen. David Trybula and DoD ManTech Director Tracy Frost in attending the event and interacting with and congratulating the developers on their accomplishments advancing the defense technologies to meet the warfighters’ needs.

The event allowed CRREL’s scientists and engineers to demonstrate the laboratory’s capabilities and forge important relationships with defense industry and DoD personnel.

“Hosting the Point of Need Challenge provided an opportunity for the CRREL community of scientists and engineers to not only support a significant DoD technology demonstration, but also to connect with, and develop, new partnerships with the larger DoD community of stakeholders,” said Dr. Joseph Corriveau, director of CRREL. “Through these partnerships our ultimate goal is to work together on tomorrow’s challenges, today.”

Those new partnerships have already begun to pay dividends, according to Dr. Orian Welling, chief of CRREL’s Force Projection and Sustainment Branch.

“Since the event, I’ve talked to several researchers who’ve been invited to engage on numerous topics, including participating in events this winter with SOCOM, holding trainings for our staff in Picatinny, and collaborating with researchers at the U.S. Army Research Laboratory and Natick Soldier Center,” said Welling.

The projects covered three challenges — the Warfighter Medical, Health and Nutrition Challenge; the Staying in the Fight Challenge; and the Cyber Challenge — and were assessed in real time by Soldiers, Marines, National Guardsmen and engineers. ManTech will invest nearly $2.5 million, while industry partners will contribute nearly $700,000 in cost share.

By Justin Campfield