A large military exercise taking place in the interior is adding a side-mission in Nome. The "out-of-sector" operation will see a small contingent of troops rapidly deploy to the western Alaska hub community. The mission is a small part of a massive exercise put on by the Joint Pacific Multinational Readiness Center.
Liutenant Colonel Leah Ganoni said the exercise will help train and certify members of the 11th Airborne Division based out of Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson in Anchorage.
“We get to do what we do best, which is fight in the extreme cold weather and mountainous terrain," Ganoni said.
She said the exercise will also include troops from Hawaii's 196th Infantry Brigade, giving the unit an opportunity to train in an unfamiliar environment.
The three week exercise will primarily take place at the Donnelly Training Area near Fairbanks. Units will simulate combat against troops roleplaying as foes, also known as OPFOR.
During the exercise, a small contingent of troops will be tasked with rapidly mobilizing offsite. This year, they’re headed to Nome. A platoon of up to 40 troops and High Mobility Artillery Rocket System (HIMARS) will be loaded on C-130 aircraft for the one hour trip to Nome.
Ganoni says the out-of-sector mission might sound simple, but that it takes a lot of effort and expertise.
“So it is a training set in and of itself. They'll turn it on and make sure that it moves successfully and didn’t get broken in flight, and then they'll reload and pack up. As you can imagine, it's not quite as simple an execution as it sounds on paper.”
This isn’t the first time the JPMRC has conducted an out-of-sector mission. Last year, troops conducted a similar rapid infiltration test in Utqiagvik.
This year’s exercise will span three weeks, with the out-of-sector mission in Nome taking place between January 21 and 25.
