The Coldest Place
Norm Spivey Every January I am reminded of the coldest place I’ve ever been. While there are certainly colder locales on the planet, the military training areas in the Republic of Korea are the coldest places I’ve experienced!
I am not quite sure how, but during my three tours in Korea I always found myself in field training exercises during the month of January. My first experience was January 1999 when I was the battery XO of an ADA Bradley Stinger Fighting Vehicle Battery assigned to 1st Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division.
Not sure who planned a Brigade level training event in January, but there we were, a mass of freezing humanity and steel scattered throughout a training area known as “Twin Bridges” just north of the city of Uijeongbu. How cold was it? The highs during that two weeklong exercise averaged around 0 (Fahrenheit) and the lows occasionally dipped as low as -15. What’s more, it was a very bitter, dry cold as there is little moisture in that part of Korea in January.
While in the service, I was a firm believer in the truism, “train as you fight,” but it sure doesn’t make living out in the elements any easier. Nevertheless, operating in those conditions does build confidence in cold weather gear and equipment. On that note, there were a few comic moments when the heaters on the M2 Bradley’s would break.
Common practice is to leave the heater wide open on an armored vehicle as another military truism is if you turn it off it might not turn back on! Probably not the best idea and often the heaters would break. The Bradley would quickly turn into a steel icebox! Crews would stop in their tracks (pun intended) and refuse to move or continue participation in the exercise until their heater got fixed!
Can’t say I blame them. As a testament to US logistics and maintenance, the parts would get through the supply chain rapidly and out to maintainers who could repair just about anything in the field. The Bradley (and crew) would be back in the fight in no time!
Thankfully, the heater in my M577 tracked vehicle didn’t break, in fact it worked like a champ! The silver lining for me during this two-week exercise in exposure was my mid tour leave was scheduled shortly after returning from the field. I planned a vacation to Australia, where it was summer. Just a week after experiencing the freezing temps in Korea, I would be laying on a beach near Sydney!
Fast forward about 15 years to 2013. Just about every battalion on peninsula gets one week designated for weapons and small unit tactics training at an extensive range complex located literally right next to the DMZ. I always wondered whose idea it was to build a massive range training complex up against the DMZ.
The decision was pure brilliance! The ranges are in use nearly every day, both day and night by US or ROK forces. It must be a bit demoralizing for the North Korean forces stationed just across the DMZ to hear near incessant weapons fire while they have little resources to train with. However, I digress….
Probably the worst time to take your unit to this training complex is either July during the monsoon season or in January in the bitter cold. Of course, you can probably guess when an Air Defense Artillery battalion gets scheduled for their range week!
For two Januarys in a row, we deployed 400 soldiers from our home base near Seoul up to the range facilities on the DMZ. Unlike my 1999 experience, thankfully there were heated barracks for sleeping but when out on the ranges all day it was full exposure!
The temps were the same as I remembered from 1999. Highs at 0 or single digits and lows dipping down into the negatives. Fortunately, the cold weather gear in 2013 was much improved! The weeklong training event on the bitter cold ranges was tough, but watching soldiers gain confidence in their ability to operate in extreme environments was priceless. That being said, glad it was only once a year!
Whenever I started feeling sorry for myself about soldiering in the bitter cold, I always reflected on the Soldiers and Marines who fought in Korea. Korea was probably even more inhospitable during the winters from 1950-1953 and the equipment issued to GIs certainly was not of the caliber it is today. This week’s featured pic is from the Korean War.
One example of the impact of a harsh winter environment during the Korean War was the battle of the Chosin Reservoir. In late November 1950, General MacArthur sought to repeat the success of the Incheon landing and bring a quick end to the conflict by landing an Army and Marine force on the northeast coast of North Korea near the border with China. The decisive move would cut off the remaining North Korean forces and bring an end to the conflict just six months after it had begun.
There is a saying about the best laid plans. The weather was unfathomably cruel that winter. What’s worse, in winter of 1950, China entered the war, pouring tens of thousands of troops across the border. The greatly outnumbered American and ROK forces were suddenly in a life and death struggle taking incredible losses.
When considering the almost insurmountable challenges these heroes faced in the winter of 1950, it made a one- or two-week training exercise in January seem like child’s play. Remembering their sacrifice was one of the many coping mechanisms I used often while serving in Korea and when training in my personal coldest place.
If you want to learn more about the battle of Chosin Reservoir I highly recommend “The Frozen Chosen” by Thomas McKelvey Cleaver. It is a riveting account of one of the toughest yet often overlooked battles in history.
Next week I’ll stick with the leading theme and share some observations on strategy.
The views, opinions and biases expressed in this blog are the authors and do not reflect those of the U.S. Army or Department of Defense.
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