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Ignoring the terrible world order destroying implications of this, I do have a question. Being assigned to the "premier Arctic and cold-weather formation" soun

Ignoring the terrible world order destroying implications of this, I do have a question. Being assigned to the "premier Arctic and cold-weather formation" sounds like the worst possible posting a young soldier could get. Is this drawing the shortest straw, or do people have any flexibility in getting deployed here? For something so remote/frigid/generally terrible, do you get shorter rotations?

forshaper 9mo ago
I requested it and did not get it, for whatever that's worth.
- 3eb7988a1663 9mo ago
  What was the appeal? Were there favorable career implications? Or you personally found the environment would agree with you?
CalRobert 9mo ago
For what it's worth, there was a period in my youth where something like this would've been up my alley. To each their own...
- CGMthrowaway 9mo ago
  1000%. The Alaska lifestyle has been aspirational for 100 years. "Deadliest Catch" and other shows brought that notion to the masses. Alaska has the single best fishing, hunting, skiing, climbing in the Western Hemisphere. And (like salmon canning and crab fishing) great economic opportunity for hard workers - think of the roughnecks from Landman. But people seem to have already forgotten. Now we get "Life Below Zero" which is .... a little more on the edge to be kind
normie3000 9mo ago
A lot of people in the armed forces want to prove that they're tough. Training for harsh conditions is one aspect of that. Others join to broaden their horizons and see the world. This unit would check that box too. Personally I'd love to go to the Arctic or Antarctic as a civilian as it would be an interesting challenge.
- CGMthrowaway 9mo ago
  > A lot of people in the armed forces want to prove that they're tough And for that I am grateful
- Esophagus4 9mo ago
  > Personally I'd love to go to the Arctic or Antarctic as a civilian as it would be an interesting challenge. This is actually possible! Friends of friends have done it (with NSF I believe). Research expeditions to the arctic sometimes take civilians as support (janitors, IT, cooks, medics, etc). It can be a cool way to spend a few months aboard a boat in the arctic. https://betterhumans.pub/how-to-join-a-scientific-expedition-and-go-somewhere-extraordinary-b899bed602d5 https://betterhumans.pub/how-to-join-a-scientific-expedition... https://science.nasa.gov/citizen-science/fjord-phyto/ https://science.nasa.gov/citizen-science/fjord-phyto/ https://news.airbnb.com/wanted-five-volunteers-to-join-scientific-research-mission-to-antarctica https://news.airbnb.com/wanted-five-volunteers-to-join-scien...
CGMthrowaway 9mo ago
No. Alaska is a three year tour. If you are an outdoorsman or a skier though, JBER (Anchorage) can be a dream post. Garrison life is pretty relaxed when you're not in the field. And you get all the latest best cold-weather gear.
deleted 9mo ago
[deleted]
pseudony 9mo ago
If you compare them to Finnish or Norse arctic troops and if it ever came to combat, yes, this isn’t the place a US soldier would want to be. (Hehe, ow, sowwie about triggering someone’s feelings. Fun to see that jingoism should have safe spaces even as the same electorate railed against it on college campuses).
- csa 9mo ago
  > If you compare them to Finnish or Norse arctic troops and if it ever came to combat, yes, this isn’t the place a US soldier would want to be. Thanks for coming out. These are the Arctic Airborne folks (11th division) — above average (which isn’t saying much), but not elite. They are tasked with rapid deployment, and they are good at that, but they aren’t the point of the spear. There are elite arctic troops who I am confident would sow fear into any opposition troops (arctic or otherwise). If you know any elite Norwegian or Finnish arctic troops, then they have either worked with or know someone who has worked with highly competent US counterparts. No need to conflate the two.
jcranmer 9mo ago
You do have some influence in where you get posted, but that is mediated by several factors including most importantly how desirable a posting is. While I'm not certain of how desirable an Arctic posting is, I do know that Antarctic postings are heavily oversubscribed (more demand than spots available), and I rather suspect that the Arctic stuff is in the same boat. It's not like there's a huge amount of spots that need to be filled, so even if getting an "Arctic soldier" tab appeals to only like 1% of the soldiers, well, that's enough to fill all the slots.
palata 9mo ago
Some people like the cold. Alaska sounds like an amazing place to me :-).

forshaper 9mo ago

I requested it and did not get it, for whatever that's worth.

3eb7988a1663 9mo ago
What was the appeal? Were there favorable career implications? Or you personally found the environment would agree with you?

CalRobert 9mo ago

For what it's worth, there was a period in my youth where something like this would've been up my alley. To each their own...

CGMthrowaway 9mo ago
1000%. The Alaska lifestyle has been aspirational for 100 years. "Deadliest Catch" and other shows brought that notion to the masses. Alaska has the single best fishing, hunting, skiing, climbing in the Western Hemisphere. And (like salmon canning and crab fishing) great economic opportunity for hard workers - think of the roughnecks from Landman. But people seem to have already forgotten. Now we get "Life Below Zero" which is .... a little more on the edge to be kind

normie3000 9mo ago

A lot of people in the armed forces want to prove that they're tough. Training for harsh conditions is one aspect of that. Others join to broaden their horizons and see the world. This unit would check that box too. Personally I'd love to go to the Arctic or Antarctic as a civilian as it would be an interesting challenge.

CGMthrowaway 9mo ago
> A lot of people in the armed forces want to prove that they're tough And for that I am grateful
Esophagus4 9mo ago
> Personally I'd love to go to the Arctic or Antarctic as a civilian as it would be an interesting challenge. This is actually possible! Friends of friends have done it (with NSF I believe). Research expeditions to the arctic sometimes take civilians as support (janitors, IT, cooks, medics, etc). It can be a cool way to spend a few months aboard a boat in the arctic. https://betterhumans.pub/how-to-join-a-scientific-expedition-and-go-somewhere-extraordinary-b899bed602d5 https://betterhumans.pub/how-to-join-a-scientific-expedition... https://science.nasa.gov/citizen-science/fjord-phyto/ https://science.nasa.gov/citizen-science/fjord-phyto/ https://news.airbnb.com/wanted-five-volunteers-to-join-scientific-research-mission-to-antarctica https://news.airbnb.com/wanted-five-volunteers-to-join-scien...

CGMthrowaway 9mo ago

No. Alaska is a three year tour. If you are an outdoorsman or a skier though, JBER (Anchorage) can be a dream post. Garrison life is pretty relaxed when you're not in the field. And you get all the latest best cold-weather gear.

deleted 9mo ago

[deleted]

pseudony 9mo ago

If you compare them to Finnish or Norse arctic troops and if it ever came to combat, yes, this isn’t the place a US soldier would want to be. (Hehe, ow, sowwie about triggering someone’s feelings. Fun to see that jingoism should have safe spaces even as the same electorate railed against it on college campuses).

csa 9mo ago
> If you compare them to Finnish or Norse arctic troops and if it ever came to combat, yes, this isn’t the place a US soldier would want to be. Thanks for coming out. These are the Arctic Airborne folks (11th division) — above average (which isn’t saying much), but not elite. They are tasked with rapid deployment, and they are good at that, but they aren’t the point of the spear. There are elite arctic troops who I am confident would sow fear into any opposition troops (arctic or otherwise). If you know any elite Norwegian or Finnish arctic troops, then they have either worked with or know someone who has worked with highly competent US counterparts. No need to conflate the two.

jcranmer 9mo ago

You do have some influence in where you get posted, but that is mediated by several factors including most importantly how desirable a posting is. While I'm not certain of how desirable an Arctic posting is, I do know that Antarctic postings are heavily oversubscribed (more demand than spots available), and I rather suspect that the Arctic stuff is in the same boat. It's not like there's a huge amount of spots that need to be filled, so even if getting an "Arctic soldier" tab appeals to only like 1% of the soldiers, well, that's enough to fill all the slots.

palata 9mo ago

Some people like the cold. Alaska sounds like an amazing place to me :-).