Posted on 12/31/2019 8:52:15 AM PST by DUMBGRUNT
...gripping and unlikely story of the making of America’s elite Alpine fighting force
Meet the men of the 10th Mountain Division. Their peacetime achievements are themselves remarkable: Five of them were on the United States ski team in the 1948 Olympics, and a sixth was their coach. All told, five dozen ski areas across North America ...
“The Winter Army” comes at the same time as the republication of a rather different, and thoroughly engaging, volume on ski instruction in the military, the 1912 classic “Skis in the Art of War’’ (Northern Illinois, 246 pages, $37.95) by the Russian ski evangelist K.B.E. Eimeleus, a cornet in the Imperial Russian Calvary with the 9th Hussar Regiment of Kyiv. With a sweeping mustache and a sweeping writing style, he offers a plea for widespread ski training in the Russian military. The irony is that his treatise was read, and heeded, by the Finns, who, on skis, held off the Russians in the Winter War that prompted the creation of the 10th Mountain Division.
the volume holds wisdom for the contemporary skier as well, such as: “When it is cold, pay attention to the possibility of general cooling off as well as to the chilling of specific body parts.” Mark that down for your next outing on the slopes. Also, there is this warning about riding on skis while tethered behind a reindeer. Listen up, for this is news you can use: “Say, for example, that during a ride in the woods a downed tree is in the way: the reindeer leaps over it.” And the skier behind the surging beast? Our cornet with the 9th Hussar Regiment is ready with an answer: “Sometimes, all this ends with a fractured arm or leg and even worse injuries.” So watch out for that.
(Excerpt) Read more at wsj.com ...
Somehow? With his accent, Special Services became Special Forces. At one point he was assigned to train a Platoon in the Rockies. He said the first time out it was just lucky no one was seriously injured or killed. But he was a quick learner.
He completed a long and illustrious career with Special Forces.
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I was recently in the Hamilton College library, where the author Maurice Isserman teaches history. They had a display case filled with the equipment used by the 10th Mountain troops. How anyone could navigate on those planks, stay warm in that gear, and fight a war is unimaginable.
My son was 10th Mountain for 3 Iraq tours.
Don’t think he got to ski there though.....
Climb to Glory!
How anyone could navigate on those planks, stay warm in that gear, and fight a war is unimaginable.
My 1950’s Boyscout Troop had a large selection of WWII surplus ‘camping’ gear.
The heavy (thick) wool mummy bags with cotton(?)covers were not very warm!
Double bagging helped survive winter camping at Camp Crown Wi., maybe 20F.
10th Mountain saw a lot of ME action.
My son was 10th Mountain for 3 Iraq tours.
Our USMC Infantry son sent a photo of a thermometer, crazy numbers!
We sent him a gross of chemical ice packs.
He said, they would put them under the helmet and it would only last about a minute!
About 5-10 minutes cold around here.
Oh yes! I remember sending a TON of those ice packs over there! They did love them.
What Battalion was your son in?
I had a relative who was in the Mountain Division during WW2. He thought it strange that as a kid from NYC who knew nothing of horses got assigned to be a mule-skinner in the Army.
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