33 JOINT BASE ELMENDORF-RICHARDSON – Aspiring innovators from across the 4th Infantry Brigade Combat Team (Airborne), 25th Infantry Division, also known as the Spartan Brigade, presented ideas during a SPARwerx meeting with top leadership at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson, Alaska, April 14, 2021.
Paratroopers from across the Spartan Brigade pitched their projects to brigade and battalion commanders. Each project offered to solve a unique challenge the brigade and its paratroopers face in an Arctic environment. The brigade and battalion command teams then voted whether to provide resources to the project or not.
“Spartan Paratroopers face environmental challenges seldom encountered in the lower 48 states,” said Col. Chris Landers, commander of the Spartan Brigade. “This kind of event gives our aspiring paratroopers a chance to present and pursue their unique solutions for the challenges we face daily in an Arctic environment.”
Working outside in 40 degrees below zero isn’t something a person generally thinks of doing, at some point, the numbers start to lose value and cold is just plain cold. But that didn’t stop the U.S. Army and Air Force from what they do every year for,
20 JOINT BASE ELMENDORF-RICHARDSON, Alaska – Working outside in 40 degrees below zero isn’t something a person generally thinks of doing, at some point, the numbers start to lose value and cold is just plain cold. But that didn’t stop the U.S. Army and Air Force from what they do every year for Exercise Arctic Warrior.
Primed with extreme cold-weather gear, a mind-over-matter tenacity and a varsity mentality, over 25 aircrew members assigned to the 374th Airlift Wing boarded four C-130J Super Hercules and short-notice deployed from Yokota Air Base, Japan, to support the more than 500 paratroopers of the 3rd Battalion, 509th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 4th Infantry Brigade Combat Team (Airborne), 25th Infantry Division (Spartan Brigade) for Exercise Arctic Warrior 21, at Donnelly Training Area, Alaska., Feb. 8.
Do Not Sell My Personal Information
When you visit our website, we store cookies on your browser to collect information. The information collected might relate to you, your preferences or your device, and is mostly used to make the site work as you expect it to and to provide a more personalized web experience. However, you can choose not to allow certain types of cookies, which may impact your experience of the site and the services we are able to offer. Click on the different category headings to find out more and change our default settings according to your preference. You cannot opt-out of our First Party Strictly Necessary
Army’s new Arctic strategy takes shape in Alaska’s frigid interior February 17 Paratroopers with 4th Brigade, 25th Infantry Division, cross a linear danger area during an assault at Donnelly Training Area, Alaska, Feb. 11, 2021. (Staff Sgt. Alex Skripnichuk/Army) Everything takes longer in sub-zero temperatures. Dismantling crew-served weapons, setting up a tent or simply keeping water from freezing solid are among the daily soldiering tasks that become markedly more difficult as temperatures drop and fingers numb. Curbing the cold’s deleterious effects on electronics, machines and the human body is something troops assigned to U.S. Army Alaska command once knew well, but two decades of deployments to the Middle East eroded much of that ingrained knowledge.