tip of the spear (pdf) - The Air Commando Association

Cold Warfare:
Tip of the Spear
38
NAVAL SPECIAL WARFARE COMMAND
Future SEALs get a first-hand lesson in northern exposure
By Petty Officer 3rd Class Christopher
Menzie
Naval Special Warfare Public Affairs
Frigid wind and strong snowstorms are no
strangers to Kodiak Island, Alaska during the
winter months. Even the strongest inhabitants on
the island seek shelter when the elements get
rough. Yet for Navy SEAL Qualification Training
students, rough weather is the best learning
environment for a month-long course in cold
weather survival training.
After Basic Underwater Demolition/SEAL
training, young Special Warfare Operators travel to
Kodiak for a 28-day block of instruction where
they will eventually apply as SEALs to sustain
themselves anywhere in the world.
“At some point in these students’ careers, even
if it isn’t in a cold weather environment, they are
going to learn something here they will use later
on,” said Lt. Steve Schultz, Officer-in-Charge of
Naval Special Warfare Advanced Training
Command - Detachment Kodiak.
Naval Special Warfare created a training
detachment in Kodiak to train winter warfare
students in 1987, the same year U.S. Special
Operations Command was established. Since that
time, the detachment’s purpose and instruction
methods have matured.
“I went through winter warfare platoon training
in 1989,” Schultz said. “At that time, we did not
have a written curriculum to back up the
instruction. There was a training department that
came up with the best possible training at the time
for winter warfare platoons. Now, everything is
written down to support instruction.”
The school is structured today to accommodate
all students training to be SEALs regardless of
what team or platoon they may be assigned. Prior
to the Global War on Terrorism, cold weather training
was designated for a few select SEAL platoons that were
assigned by geographical location. SEALs working in
locations known for snowy conditions would come to
Kodiak for training after receiving their coveted trident
pin.
“After 9/11 and the fighting that took place in the
Afghanistan mountains, the SEALs decided we needed
to come up with a more structured cold weather course,”
SEAL trainees participate in a long range navigation exercise high
in the mountains of Kodiak Island, Alaska. Special Warfare
Operators spend three days surviving in the mountains using
combined skills learned throughout the 28-day cold weather course.
Photo by Petty Officer 3rd Class Christopher Menzie.
Schultz said. “We weren’t prepared to fight in that
environment.”
By 2002, USSOCOM approved a SEAL
qualifications training course that would teach all post-
BUD/S students the skills they would need to survive in
a wilderness environment prior to earning their trident
pin.
“Today, any team can be deployed anywhere,
anytime, so guys who are going through training today