- 5/18/2025
As ice caps in the arctic have melted and uncovered new shipping lanes and highly sought-after resources, the US Army has announced a new arctic strategy to establish a dominant presence and compete against countries like Russia and China. Key to this new strategy is the Army Mountain Warfare School in Jericho, Vermont, where soldiers are being trained on mountaineering, cold-weather skills, and high-elevation tactics.
Business Insider's senior producer Jake Gabbard spent 14 days inside the Army Mountain Warfare School, where service members train to fight, move, and survive in extreme cold temperatures and mountainous terrain. Fifty-one students begin the course, and only 40 will make it to graduation.
Business Insider's senior producer Jake Gabbard spent 14 days inside the Army Mountain Warfare School, where service members train to fight, move, and survive in extreme cold temperatures and mountainous terrain. Fifty-one students begin the course, and only 40 will make it to graduation.
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00:00This is the Army's Mountain Warfare School.
00:08Students in the 14-day training endure frigid temperatures and dangerous terrain.
00:16Those who complete the course become military mountaineers.
00:23Soldiers in mountainous countries like Russia and China are familiar with this type of terrain
00:29and the U.S. could be at a disadvantage if it isn't ready to fight in it.
00:35If you think about the specific domains that a soldier could be operating in, the Army
00:39recognizes a few.
00:40Jungle, desert, arctic, mountain.
00:43And if you put together a Venn diagram of all those things, the one commonality is actually
00:48mountains.
00:49That's why we think this training here is just so vitally important.
00:51That's a bad time to say I'm afraid of heights.
00:56He said, look down.
01:00The gods of the valleys are not the gods of the hills.
01:03It's a quote you'll see pasted all over the schoolhouse.
01:06It's a differentiator that tells soldiers in the mountains that they're different and
01:11that they need to be harder and they need to go further, faster, and they need different
01:16skills.
01:25The Army Mountain Warfare School is located at the Camp Ethan Allen training site in Jericho,
01:46Vermont, about 45 miles from the Canadian border.
01:53The government invested $30 million into a new schoolhouse that opened in 2023.
01:59It features a private ski hill and lift, supply and rope rooms, and a three-story climbing
02:06wall.
02:07Let's get her done.
02:12We train about 80 to 85% of the Army's military mountaineering requirements.
02:17Our primary course is the basic military mountaineering course.
02:19It's a two-week course founded on the basic principles of military mountaineering.
02:24During the course, the students are tested on knots, land navigation, and rappelling
02:32on steep cliff faces.
02:35Between 600 and 700 students begin the basic course each year, but only about 500 make
02:42it to graduation.
02:44We have five non-locking carabiners, we got two on each thumb, one in the middle, three
02:54locking carabiners.
02:56Before training begins, students check out up to 55 pieces of specialized mountain gear.
03:02I like to curl my toes, I don't know if that's good.
03:07Like how tight are your ears?
03:08The inner boot, you don't want it to be squishing your toes, you want to have like a little
03:12bit of room, maybe just like a quarter of an inch.
03:18Not everyone who attends the school is in the Army, like Captain Jake Murray.
03:24So I'm in the Air Force.
03:25I just want to see kind of what the Army school is like, kind of how they walk, talk and whatever.
03:30The 51 students split into three squads.
03:34We followed second squad, led by Staff Sergeant Nick Honeycutt, a student tapped to be squad
03:40leader.
03:42South Fort Bliss, Texas.
03:43No snow out there, and then to come here where it's 10 degrees, it's a little different.
03:50I'm coming from El Paso, it ain't, I mean it might get cold, but it ain't this cold.
04:04Among the students in second squad are the only two women in the course, 38-year-old
04:10Sergeant Jessica Norton didn't join the Army until she was 34.
04:14I always wanted to join the military, but I graduated after 9-11 and my brother was
04:20already in the Navy and my mom asked me to wait, and then kind of just life happened.
04:25Based at Walter Reed Medical Center, Lieutenant Megan Eiler is looking to get some hands-on
04:31experience in hazardous terrain.
04:33I'm that random medical person where everyone's like afraid I'm going to fall down the cliff.
04:37This is the kind of stuff that like, you go out with your units and you're like, I
04:42know the injuries theoretically that you're going to get, but you haven't lived it before
04:46so it's hard to help prevent them until you do stuff like this.
04:55This guy, he's always on me.
04:59He's always right here in my face.
05:02Just a week ago I didn't know any of them.
05:03I had a bunch of co-workers who loved tying knots, so they were just like, hey we'll show you.
05:10No, the inside is where it's going to come out, that's how you know you did it right.
05:13Okay.
05:14The knot test is about one week in on the course.
05:17We see that there's generally a 15% attrition rate, and of the 15%, the vast majority are
05:22from the knot test.
05:26What is a knot?
05:28A rope tied over itself.
05:32Yeah.
05:33Okay.
05:34Yeah, so there's loosened bites to create a loop or to create the rope into like a working
05:40mechanism.
05:4121-year-old Alex Sierra is a cadet in his senior year at nearby Norwich University in
05:47Vermont.
05:48Yeah, I just sit at my desk hours upon hours just practicing, to a point where like every
05:52night I go to bed and I like imagine in my head like how to do it properly.
05:56He joined the school when a walk-on spot opened up two weeks before the course began.
06:01You just show up with the right paperwork saying, hey, we're interested, is there any
06:04space for us to train?
06:05Like how does that work?
06:06Like you're going to miss classwork.
06:07I just told my professor, hey, I've only gone for two weeks.
06:10They're like, okay.
06:11I'm like, I'll try to do schoolwork if I have any service up here.
06:14So I'm going to try later tonight, try to do an assignment before going to bed.
06:27I'm going to be gassed.
06:32That's my prediction.
06:33And if I make it past that stick, as soon as we take a couple steps up that hill, I
06:38think I'm done.
06:39Everybody should be layered appropriately, meaning a little comfortably cool.
06:42I would say miserably cool, but it's not that cold out.
06:45Coming right out of the door, you should be feeling cold.
06:50Probably a better thing to say is starting off miserably cold is more like it most of
06:55the time.
06:56And what that's referring to is not wearing too many layers when you're going to be
07:01moving.
07:02Soldiers rely on Equixx, the extended cold weather clothing system, to keep them warm
07:08and safe in frigid temperatures.
07:11The seven-layer system, I think we started with three layers.
07:14And three layers is really what a layering system should consist of, which is a base
07:19layer, insulating layer, and a shell.
07:22Even today, with a light movement and not a lot of stuff, my pack is still around 50
07:27pounds, right?
07:28And 50 pounds with terrain like this, it's really going to add a lot of extra exertion
07:35for me.
07:36So what I don't want to do is I don't want to wear all these layers underneath to make
07:40myself extra hot.
07:41I wish I had a full-length mirror to see what the hell I look like.
07:44We're deploying people.
07:45I mean, all around Europe, my brigade's aligned with EUCOM.
07:50We could use maybe not mountaineering training, but definitely how to exist in a cold-weather
07:56mountainous environment.
07:57Students practice navigating the snowy environment with their new gear.
08:02I don't want to hear cheerleading.
08:04I don't want to hear talking at all.
08:05So we're going to move fairly slow today.
08:07I'm not trying to break anybody off.
08:09But if I hear talking, I'm just going to pick up the pace until I don't hear talking anymore.
08:14We don't typically yell.
08:16We just walk in silence.
08:19And they figured out pretty quickly that it's their own demons that are going to keep them
08:24paying attention and in line.
08:26The environment is all it takes to harass a student.
08:30We do not do that.
08:32The hill does it for us.
08:34Yeah, so I had surgery a few months ago.
08:36I had bilateral fasciotomy because of compartment syndrome in my legs due to training for selection.
08:45But now, I just need to keep challenging myself to make sure I'm still good to be where I'm at
08:50and working with the people that I work with because I don't want to let them down.
08:54This is kind of my first step back into anything tactical or difficult in the Army.
09:02When was your surgery?
09:04September, and then I was medically cleared in December.
09:06December 5th, I was jumping out of planes again.
09:08So you got to do what you got to do.
09:11I think one of the most important takeaways from this school is learning how to walk uphill.
09:17Looking at the history of warfare, most of what it is is just putting on a heavy load,
09:23grabbing a weapon, and moving uphill, up steep hills.
09:27And so one of those tools that we're using today is crampons.
09:32It's got spikes on it, and that's going to give us traction in the snow.
09:37So biggest issues that I remember I had with the general purpose crampons at first is getting the sizing.
09:45And then because also they don't know how to walk in it, it blows.
09:49Yeah, I mean I took two steps up there and they're off again after fixing them.
09:52It's just about dialing them in and adjusting them.
09:55Yeah, this is the day we kind of work out these little quirks.
09:58See that? That's good.
10:00So let's measure it to the other one.
10:02It's really not about getting your bowstring tight.
10:05Okay.
10:06It's really not. You're going to be fine just by doing like mortal strength tight.
10:12All right.
10:16The students learn to angle and place their feet with a technique called flat footing.
10:22It's really an art.
10:23It's really your biggest tool through the terrain that you guys are expected to be moving
10:28is just understanding how to use the crampons.
10:31That'll get you through most terrain that we expect you guys to be able to facilitate.
10:36Pointing those toes downhill.
10:44So I'm Vermont National Guard. I'm a specialist in a combat engineering unit.
10:48Why would you sign up for this school?
10:50It was one of the big things on my bucket list, honestly.
10:54Anything you're nervous about over the next two weeks?
10:58Maybe the knot test. Actually, no, probably the written test.
11:01I'm not very good with school knowledge and stuff like book smarts,
11:06but my real strength is being out and being hands-on.
11:17On day four, second squad rucks a couple of miles to an area called Castle Rock
11:24where they'll practice climbing and rappelling.
11:27The purpose is just to start getting them with a little bit more mileage as they go day by day
11:32and then starting to increase the slight bit of technicality in the movements that they're doing.
11:38So they'll go over flat ground one day and then we try to get a little bit more rocks,
11:41a little bit more incline, a little bit farther day by day.
11:44But first, they encounter an unexpected obstacle.
11:48So let's get one person up top to assess what's going on on the top.
11:52Is that a major?
11:53Yep.
11:54Expendable.
11:55Right on.
11:57I didn't want to say anything, but the fonts in your PowerPoint presentations, a little off.
12:04You give me three quarters of action how to fix it later on and I'll get it done.
12:12I got your foot.
12:18You got a loop right there, you got hands.
12:22I hate myself.
12:24I hate all of you.
12:27I like Jake, though, with the camera.
12:31So that's like one small factor of what we're trying to get into.
12:34Small obstacle, wouldn't show up on a map.
12:37Did the rope help us?
12:38Yes.
12:39Absolutely, right?
12:40In the summertime, we don't use the rope.
12:41This has always echoed to me is this very simple saying,
12:44no one gives a fuck what you did right.
12:47And it's the truth.
12:48And I don't mean that we're looking like for kudos or anything like that.
12:50We need you to be critical of every movement that you're doing through here
12:53and analyzing it and critiquing yourselves and each other as you go through,
12:57because we're only going to get one rep of that in that one time that we've done it.
13:01But we should have a learning experience every little thing that we're doing
13:04about how to try to make it better for the next time.
13:11Slipping and falling is pretty likely, especially in these conditions.
13:15What methods do we have to move on a fixed rope?
13:20Students first get comfortable climbing using a hand-over-hand method.
13:34To come back down, the students employ what's known as a hasty rappel
13:39by wrapping the rope around their back and using their body to create friction.
13:44That's the break position.
13:45And that can even be more stretched, going right across your body.
13:48You see how you've lost friction there?
13:50Extend that out so more material is on your chest.
13:52Nope, this one.
13:53That one stays straight and tight.
13:55Lean into it, and then you can sit there and it locks out and you sit well.
13:59This is not getting warm at all.
14:01What are you trying to make here?
14:03Some spaghetti.
14:05Trying to put it in the heater that comes with the MREs.
14:08They don't work a lot of the time, though.
14:10This one seems to not be working.
14:12Is it cold spaghetti?
14:14Probably.
14:17What are you eating?
14:19Beef taco filling.
14:22No tortillas or anything?
14:24There's tortillas in here somewhere.
14:26I'm just lazy.
14:28I don't want to fuck around putting it together.
14:30It's all you don't want in time. It's fine.
14:33How is that hitting after being out in the cold all morning?
14:37Honestly, it's kind of terrible because it's colder than the outside is right now.
14:42Cold MREs are whatever, but icy MREs are a new level of interesting.
14:47As of yesterday, I hadn't had an MRE in six years, so this is my second one now in six years.
14:53Yesterday was my first one.
14:57Strawberry jam and peanut butter.
15:00That's it. Just the way I like it.
15:04I'm going to get a close-up of that right there.
15:08This is a bad time to say I'm afraid of heights.
15:17Students rappel down a 30-foot cliff face, a daunting task now,
15:22but merely a warm-up for the cliffs they'll face in the coming days.
15:27Are you fighting the rope pulling you one way or another, or are you feeling good?
15:31I'm feeling good.
15:33If you're going down, look down.
15:35You said look down?
15:37Yeah, that's where you're going.
15:39When you're walking, you don't look behind you, right?
15:41Try and have this one out of that face.
15:45So, I'm going to try and get this one out of that face.
15:49I'm going to try and get this one out of that face.
15:54So, what do you think happened there?
15:59I didn't get my weight over enough to keep myself in a position
16:08where that weight was centered on my feet as I came down.
16:11You hear a lot of coaching and rappelling,
16:13oh, wide feet.
16:15It's not necessarily the case.
16:16You're just staying in balance, staying in the fall line,
16:18choosing where your feet go and being deliberate.
16:23I got it.
16:24You're good.
16:38When you have gloves on, you know, you don't really,
16:41they get all gross, so you don't want to touch your zins, so.
16:45To help fight fatigue from the long hours of the school,
16:49many students use nicotine products like zin.
16:53You need a freshie?
16:54Yeah, I suppose I'll take a topper.
16:55No, dude.
16:56Yeah.
16:57So you know it's real.
16:58Mmm.
16:59That's hot.
17:00It does help to stay awake when you're tired, in my opinion.
17:03Most people don't think that, but I switched from chew
17:06just because it was getting a little gross and kind of sick of it,
17:09and this seems like it's better for you.
17:12It's approved by the FDA now, so thank you, RFK.
17:15What is an altimeter?
17:19Back in the classroom, students learn how to use an altimeter,
17:23an essential device they'll use tomorrow during their land navigation test,
17:28the first test of their skills that could tip the scale
17:31toward making graduation or going home early.
17:35Using an altimeter, you can locate caches
17:38and interpret and monitor changing weather.
17:42But bad weather can bring a change in barometric pressure,
17:46which can cause the device to give a false altitude.
17:49Barometric pressure not only changes with your altitude,
17:53but it's also constantly changing.
18:03The time limit is five hours.
18:05You must find four out of five points to receive 80%.
18:09There will be five points out there that you will plot.
18:12You must receive, you must get four out of five to get at least 80%.
18:16Mainly, the weather is going to be pretty brutal out there today.
18:19It is going to be a little bit of a soccer fest.
18:21We want to make sure that you are still cohesive, right?
18:24We want to make sure that your brain is still functioning correctly.
18:27We don't want you out there any longer than five hours.
18:37Outside, a winter storm has rolled into the area,
18:41creating near whiteout conditions.
18:45I'm not entertained.
18:47And threatening the accuracy of the students' altimeters.
18:51It's going to be tricky. It's going to be tricky.
18:54I'm kind of nervous. I've never done land nav in this kind of weather condition.
18:57The strategy is to try to stay calm as I can be, and I'll take my time.
19:02I can't think of any other place I'd rather be doing land nav at right now than...
19:07The beach would be nice.
19:09Jericho, Vermont.
19:11With the temperature being, you know, in the teens.
19:15Blowing snow.
19:17But we're just going to give it our best college effort.
19:21I already can't see a fucking thing.
19:24Could you see?
19:26If I come back here with nothing...
19:28I mean, you look at these conditions.
19:30I've never been in conditions like this before, so...
19:33I think I can forgive myself.
19:39♪♪♪
19:42♪♪♪
19:45♪♪♪
19:48♪♪♪
19:51♪♪♪
19:54A GPS device is attached to every student,
19:57monitoring their location in case of an emergency.
20:01♪♪♪
20:06When students find a point,
20:08they use a hole puncher to mark it on their score sheet.
20:12♪♪♪
20:15♪♪♪
20:19Instructors drive around in suss-vies
20:22to help those who veered too far off course.
20:25You know, we're probably right in this area.
20:28If that's the tallest thing that's out here,
20:30and this point's the tallest thing, what do you think?
20:33It's up there.
20:34Could be.
20:36I got the wrong point on my card then,
20:39because I got to mark the point that was down there.
20:41Okay, well, let's see if you can find this one.
20:43All right.
20:48I just found another point on that peak.
20:51It was pretty exciting.
20:53I stopped just before the ridgeline to take a leak,
20:57and I was like, shit, I'm never going to find this.
21:00I walked like 10 more feet up, and I found it.
21:03So it's going good.
21:05How's it going?
21:07It's fine.
21:09I'm really bad at land map.
21:11I can, like, plot all the points,
21:12but the moment I got to, like, actually go out
21:14and find the stuff, it's bad.
21:17But I can get back to the schoolhouse,
21:19so that's really what I care about.
21:24I think I found it.
21:31I got one point.
21:33It's on the bottom.
21:35I'm going to go there,
21:39hopefully find that one,
21:40and then it's good enough for a pass,
21:43but I'll see if I can find the last one.
21:45So we got 2 hours, 15 minutes,
21:4712, 2 hours, 30 minutes, something like that.
21:50We got time.
21:51Just got to book it down there.
21:53Are you going to meet me at the next grid point?
21:55I have to do that.
21:56Can you?
21:57I just stand next to it with the armored vehicle
22:00so I can know where I'm going.
22:02After 3 1⁄2 hours,
22:04Murray is the first member of second squad
22:07to cross the finish line.
22:09How'd it go, Jake?
22:11Good, I think.
22:13Hoping it's right.
22:14Feels right.
22:16Only way to find out is to turn in the scorecard.
22:18Falling short on the land nav test
22:20won't send the students packing,
22:22but it can hurt their chances of graduating later.
22:26You start off Mountain School
22:28with 10 magic points, we call them.
22:31So every time you fail a test here,
22:34you lose 2 out of your 10 magic points.
22:37Once those 10 magic points are gone, you go home.
22:40How many did you get, Jake?
22:41All 5.
22:43Much to my surprise.
22:45Found 2 points.
22:48Obviously you need to freshen up on land nav,
22:50but it's completely different.
22:52I mean, the snow's all the way above your knee.
22:56Probably one of the more difficult land nav courses
22:59I've ever done, just terrain-wise and the elements.
23:03Real fun, though.
23:05It sucked, but I enjoyed it.
23:08I noticed you don't have any shoes on.
23:10What's up with that?
23:11I took the boots off now,
23:12so that way I didn't have to deal with it
23:14and let my feet air out.
23:16It's all cold anyway.
23:18You seem a little less enthused
23:19than you were last time I saw you.
23:21I found 2 points in, like, 20 minutes when you saw me left.
23:24I'm happy I found 4.
23:25If I only found 3, I'm happy with that, too.
23:27Nice job. 4 out of 5.
23:29Pretty good.
23:30Crushed it.
23:31Thanks a lot.
23:33See ya.
23:34When the test ended, 25 out of the 51 students
23:38had failed to find 4 out of the 5 points,
23:42a fail rate of 49%.
23:45Up next, the knot test.
23:48I'm pretty confident in the knots.
23:50I'm confident in telling y'all the definition.
23:54Like, y'all are going to be like,
23:55oh, what is this knot doing?
23:57I'm going to be like...
24:00It's tied to itself.
24:01I don't fucking know.
24:10The nerve to definitely start.
24:12Yeah, a little bit.
24:17The knot test is a venerable event
24:19for the Mountain School.
24:20It has made many, many students nervous.
24:23It's very nerve-wracking, and it's for a reason,
24:25and it should make you nervous
24:27because the consequences of doing something incorrectly
24:30are disastrous.
24:31Your cadre will tell you the knot that you're tying,
24:34the time standard that you need to tie it within,
24:36and they'll probably give you, like,
24:38if it's a 2-minute or 1-minute knot,
24:39they'll give you, like, a countdown
24:40when time is kind of getting close.
24:42Students are tested on 15 different knots
24:45and their purposes.
24:47A little nervous.
24:48Sure.
24:49It's one of those go home versus now go test, so...
24:53A correctly tied knot counts for 16 points,
24:57and a correctly recited purpose counts for 4 points.
25:00The purpose of the butterfly or coral
25:02is to prepare rope for carry.
25:05Students must receive 240 points
25:08out of a possible 300 to pass.
25:11I guess I'm as ready as I'll ever fucking be.
25:13This is what I would recommend.
25:15Don't book the pressure of a knee test.
25:17Just pretend it's another study.
25:19I'm going to ask for a lot of time to move on.
25:22We don't try to calm them down too much.
25:25It is what it is.
25:26But these knots have to be perfect.
25:29We like that you can do it under stress
25:32because that's what often we do in the military.
25:36I'm going to tell you what you're going to tie,
25:39what you're going to tie it with,
25:41and then I'm going to say it and repeat it twice,
25:46and then you'll begin.
25:48All right, you're going to start with it.
25:50Can I take my top off?
25:51Yeah.
25:55The purpose is to form an anchor around a...
25:59to form an anchor.
26:01You're going to grab your cord next,
26:04and you are going to tie a square knot.
26:08The purpose of a water knot
26:10is to join two pieces of tubular webbing.
26:16Prepare it.
26:17Good.
26:24The next thing you're going to tie is a prusa.
26:28All right.
26:34The purpose of a filet is to form a harness out of webbing
26:39for climbing or rappelling.
26:45So you got a 172 out of 240 allowable points, all right?
26:54Now, this is not the end of the world.
26:57With a failing score,
26:58Honeycutt is sent to 20 minutes of retraining,
27:01then one more chance to pass the test.
27:04I know how to tie the prusa,
27:05but I just can't ever get the knot in the right spot.
27:09So let's put it right where we want it, okay?
27:11Girth hitch.
27:12I'm pinching so I'm not changing its location, all right?
27:15Do it again.
27:18All right, running to center each time,
27:19and do it one more time.
27:21It's going to stay right there.
27:23I'm going to put you in the front a lot.
27:26Good luck.
27:27How'd you do, sir?
27:28Fucking terrible.
27:30That bad?
27:31I think you're supposed to go to the front a lot.
27:33I know.
27:34Yeah, I know.
27:35I'm taking my time.
27:38I want to see more people do the walk of shame like I did.
27:47How do you feel?
27:49Worse than before, honestly.
27:51Really?
27:52Yeah, worse on the purpose.
27:55Worse than I do on the knots.
27:57Don't get too hung up on the purpose.
27:59It's not a military thing.
28:03The purpose of the Prusik is to,
28:10is for a movable friction hitch
28:15under tension.
28:19Off to a good start.
28:21It's not my best knot.
28:23So this guy, you tied properly this hitch.
28:26You really got to cinch that down.
28:28That's what I have problems with.
28:30Yeah, it's a pain.
28:31You're cruising up until then.
28:32You're still good, though.
28:33Too easy.
28:34So a figure eight on a bite with the rope for 30 seconds.
28:37The purpose of a figure eight on a bite
28:39is to form a loop at the end of the rope.
28:43Twist in there.
28:44Functional knot in reality,
28:46but it's not to our standard, unfortunately.
28:48You're still cruising, man.
28:49You only got two knots down right now.
28:51Just got to finish strong.
28:54What do you think?
28:55I think it's good.
28:56I think it's good.
28:57Hopefully done.
28:58So the final one is the butterfly coil.
29:01The purpose of this knot is to prepare rope to be carried.
29:08Go ahead and take that off.
29:10You got to do it.
29:11Pop it on the ground so you can keep at it.
29:13See how loose this is already?
29:15It's because you didn't wrap and catch and then wrap up.
29:17You just wrapped down.
29:18And I want to say you also did this on the rock.
29:21So what did we miss?
29:22One, two, three, four knots.
29:25Four times 16 is 40.
29:27Six, 12, 24.
29:28That's 64.
29:30So that is 236, unfortunately.
29:33So you're just barely below four points on the required 240.
29:42Honeycutt failed the knot test by only four points.
29:48Dropped students must return their gear and head to the airport.
29:53What's next for you?
29:57I'm going to go home and reevaluate some things
30:02and maybe try to come back for the summer class.
30:05Along with Honeycutt, five other students failed the knot test
30:09and were dropped from the course, including Sierra.
30:15I like how it go.
30:17That's not good.
30:19The knot test is where we lose most of those folks,
30:21which is appropriate because if they don't learn the knots
30:25or show the capacity to learn at that point,
30:27then they won't be able to learn the follow-on systems successfully.
30:34It's always just like one little thing that gets me.
30:37Just one little thing.
30:42But that's about it. That's how it is.
30:46Excited to get back to warmth?
30:48Yeah, it's like 75 degrees in El Paso.
30:51It's going to be a drastic change.
30:53First thing I'm going to eat when I get back,
30:56depending on the time of day.
30:58If it's around dinner time, I'm probably going to make me
31:01either a steak or a couple of nice chicken thighs.
31:09And I'll have a Nevada at the time of day,
31:12I'll have a nice cold beer.
31:14And I'll drink one just for you, Jake.
31:33Help wanted. Mail.
31:34Experts in mountain climbing, skiing, or woodcraft, please apply.
31:38Uncle Sam needs you.
31:40Like most things between the Americans and the rest of the world,
31:43our history in mountain warfare is shorter.
31:46In the lead-up to World War II is the first time
31:49we really identified that need and started to address it.
31:52The National Ski Patrol, they're the core that formed
31:55the initial 10th Mountain Division
31:57and the Army's cold weather and mountain training programs.
32:00Mountain climbing is of prime importance in today's global war,
32:03for some of the roads to Berlin and Tokyo are only rocky ranges.
32:07After World War II, the Mountain Division was immediately disbanded.
32:11Until the 80s, when the Army really picked the ball back up,
32:14when they resurrected us, the Army Mountain Warfare School.
32:17What once seemed like specialized training
32:20is now key to the Army's Arctic strategy.
32:23The Arctic is strategically vital to U.S. national security.
32:27Russia continues to pose an acute threat to security and stability in the region.
32:32We know for a fact that the Arctic is becoming more important
32:37as ice potentially thaws, the Northwest Passage opens up,
32:40we've got more shipping going through the area.
32:43We know that the Arctic is rich in all sorts of natural resources
32:47that may become contested in the future.
33:08I'm Major Perry. Welcome to our club.
33:12So, made out of wood and snow, mostly.
33:19We have a foyer here, as you can see, and then incredibly cozy.
33:24With the critical knot test behind them, the students who passed get a reward,
33:29a night spent outside camping in the snow.
33:32It was probably approaching zero.
33:35They are not in a heated tent.
33:37They are just out there with their entire seven-layer system,
33:40the three-layer bivouac or sleep system.
33:43That was pretty good. Captain and I got to know each other in there.
33:46I think about it, midnight, I had to take a pee.
33:48We had to change the whole shelter around so I could get out.
33:51When you're in the field and you pack the boys in like a bunch of sardines,
33:55you kind of got to sleep on your side.
33:58It wasn't the best, so I was waking up every once in a while because I got shift,
34:02and I'm like, oh, this isn't great.
34:04How do you feel now that you're kind of on the other side of that big test day
34:07and you're in the second half of the schooling?
34:09Oh, I feel great.
34:11I was a little nervous going into that knot test,
34:14but now that we're out of it, I feel much better.
34:18You just kind of returned after the surgery.
34:20How are you feeling, soreness-wise?
34:22I'm fine.
34:23Yeah, I'm not having any issues physically here, which is good.
34:27I'm still able to keep up with the boys, so to speak.
34:30With Honeycutt's departure, Norton was appointed as the new squad leader.
34:34You've been given the opportunity and the honor to be squad leader.
34:38How's that?
34:39The voluntold.
34:40You've been voluntold. Yeah, tell me about that.
34:42I have kids, so they probably think I'm bossy, but I just reiterate everything they tell me.
34:48I just, like, make sure everybody comprehends.
34:52Luckily, I'm working with a lot of soldiers that just know what they're doing,
34:56so it's really nice.
34:58After we finished filming the night before, one additional student failed a test,
35:03losing his last magic points, and was dismissed from the course.
35:10Climbing up the ice wall today?
35:11I am.
35:12That's exciting.
35:14Are you going to laugh when I fall?
35:15I can just hang out on a wall for a little bit.
35:17I'm like, I don't need to move. It's fine. I'm not going anywhere.
35:21Shortly after we filmed with her, Eiler was seen curled up on the ground.
35:27So they took her to the back of the suspee, warmed her up.
35:31She sounded like she was about to pass out.
35:34I think there might be dehydration.
35:37It's hard to force water in this environment.
35:40Is she all right?
35:41Yeah, she's doing all right.
35:42I think just overexertion and she's been beating the brakes off herself.
35:46Yeah, we'll bring her inside, warm her up for a little bit.
35:49See how she's feeling and we'll have a better idea then.
35:53But Eiler did not return to the course.
36:08Why are we standing at the base of an ice wall that's fifth class terrain?
36:12Because it's cool.
36:14If we think about it in terms of how long we have you guys,
36:17best case scenario, base course to advanced course, that's six weeks.
36:21If we can get you into this, since this stuff's pretty rad,
36:24maybe you'll go out and do it on your own.
36:26The mountain school features a 30-foot artificial ice wall
36:30that uses water from a nearby stream to keep it covered with ice throughout the winter.
36:35Looking at my feet, I have to put my hips away so I can look at my feet.
36:43Feet together.
36:46Underneath that high tool.
36:48Hips in to get my weight over my toes.
36:52Pretty fun.
36:54I've got you.
36:55Not super good at it yet, as you can tell.
36:59Is that cool in there for me?
37:03A little tiring. Ice to the face kind of sucks.
37:14[♪upbeat music playing♪
37:30Students learn to safely lower a casualty
37:33by using knots they learned during week one
37:36and building a rope system.
37:38So this breaks your end, right?
37:40Look at this.
37:42See how it's now being captured.
37:44Gotcha.
37:45The reason why we capture this break strand
37:47is so that it doesn't move or go anywhere.
37:49If we do an underhand, right, and we try to put it through here...
37:53It's just not going to catch.
37:54Right.
37:55Why are you doing such weird things with your hands?
37:57It's because you're making me nervous.
37:59Can you show me again?
38:00I don't know what to do with my hands.
38:01Check it. Look.
38:03It's because you just show up out of nowhere.
38:07I don't even have to look.
38:09See that?
38:10Well, I do.
38:11You are now the only woman in the course.
38:13What's it like being the only woman in the course
38:16for all these guys?
38:18Again, it's a little bit intimidating.
38:21I was a little sad yesterday
38:23because, I don't know, as women,
38:25you kind of just kind of...
38:28We were the only two,
38:29so you kind of just bond a little bit
38:31and make sure you're both on the same page
38:34getting the information.
38:35And she was a higher rank,
38:38so she's a lieutenant,
38:40so she had more confidence talking to all the guys
38:44and being comfortable around them.
38:46So now I have to kind of use my skills of communication
38:49to be able to get them all the information
38:52and make sure I have all the information
38:54that I'm doing the right thing.
38:57All right, who wants to quit?
38:59Anybody?
39:01Who wants to quit?
39:02Come on, Drago.
39:03You know you want to get on the bus.
39:05Here's your chance.
39:06Right on the bus.
39:07No quitters, huh?
39:10Fucking smoked.
39:18Is your hair frozen?
39:19Yeah.
39:21Well, my sweat seemed to turn nice already on that hill.
39:25Just on the top, though.
39:28Now to cover it up.
39:29Come on.
39:35Shooting the mountains isn't going to be on a nice, flat, grassy range
39:38like we're used to training on.
39:40It's going to be in broken terrain with rocks.
39:43It's also not the most comfortable position.
39:45The thing to remember with a high-angle range, though,
39:47is they're shooting the hypotenuse
39:49because they're at a certain distance higher than the target.
39:53In our case, it's about 300 meters higher.
39:56More or less, if you're just being shown to compensate for the angle,
39:58is if you're not seeing the impact on the target, to aim low.
40:02Each shooter has a spotter who observes the targets.
40:08Nothing observed.
40:09Go ahead and repeat that shot.
40:11All right.
40:15Impact.
40:16Weapons can freeze up when it gets cold enough.
40:19Powder burn rates decrease, which can affect the rate of fire.
40:23But more so than the physical things that are happening to the weapons
40:26is what's happening to the shooter.
40:28When we're cold, we don't shoot as well.
40:30We make more mistakes.
40:31We breathe on our optics, so now we can't see through them, right?
40:34Our glove gets in the way of the ejection port cover,
40:36and now we have a malfunction.
40:37Things like that.
40:46I'm missing a locker.
40:48On day 11, students must pass a test in casualty evacuation, or CASEVAC,
40:55using the lowering system they learned on day 9.
40:59Failing this test results in dismissal from the course.
41:03So they have 12 minutes to completely build the system.
41:08Their rucksacks represent the patient that they're being attended for.
41:14Gariri has two minutes left.
41:17I'm fucking up.
41:18Two minutes.
41:19We have 11.
41:21What am I doing wrong here?
41:23Five, four, three, two, one, time.
41:29Stop what you're doing.
41:31Fuck.
41:36So your mule isn't cinched down either.
41:40You can see that there would be a lot of play in that.
41:43All right.
41:44Can I get that?
41:45I want to protest it, okay?
41:46Okay.
41:47So we were told yesterday by Sergeant George that we would have those
41:51included tied in for our team.
41:53We wouldn't be timed on tying those in.
41:55So I think that if I had a little bit more time,
41:57I wouldn't have freaked out as much, because I messed up on the mule.
42:01Or not on the mule, but tying that initial prusik.
42:06Anchor.
42:08Prusik and lost time.
42:10And then as you were counting down, rushed through.
42:13According to Sergeant George yesterday during the study hall,
42:15he told everybody those would be pre-tied for us.
42:18We wouldn't be timed on them.
42:19So you think that this thing is all that fucking caution.
42:23I think that the time on that, I mean,
42:25like I wouldn't have fumble-fucked my way through it.
42:29Because I literally heard you going, I don't know what I'm doing.
42:32I did say that because I was frustrated trying to get that initial
42:36prusik knot tied.
42:38The 12 minutes is designed for that.
42:43So whether you were told that or not is kind of irregardless.
42:47Okay.
42:48Is this just falling apart or what?
42:50A little bit.
42:51It's okay, man. Pack it up.
42:53All right, Sergeant.
42:55Looks like I'm out.
42:57What happened?
43:00Just running out of time, kind of getting in my own head.
43:03I tried to challenge it, as you probably saw.
43:07But I don't think that's going to go in my favor.
43:10You made it pretty far.
43:11How do you feel making it to day 11?
43:14A little shitty.
43:15I mean, nobody likes failure, right?
43:17Do you think you're going to come back and try to do it again?
43:19Oh, yeah.
43:20This is a course that I've wanted since I joined the Army,
43:23so it'll be something.
43:27Maybe, you know, I've kind of done the winter part at this point,
43:30so maybe I'll come in the summer now.
43:32Hopefully I'll find Honeycutt.
43:34♪♪
43:39That's pretty deep there, bud.
43:41How are you doing today?
43:43Look at the size of that one.
43:44Wow.
43:46Who here has been to Afghanistan?
43:48Has anybody heard of the Karez system?
43:51The Karez system in Afghanistan
43:53is a series of unmarked centuries-old tunnels and trenches
43:57that was used by the Taliban to evade detection and hide weapons.
44:03Down you go, just like we taught you to rappel.
44:05That did come from a request, lessons learned from Afghanistan,
44:09folks going down into wells and discovering gaseous air,
44:12non-breathable air, and what do you do at that point?
44:17Nice and tight.
44:18We decided to take some old-school knowledge that we had
44:22of lashing a tripod together, give you some additional height,
44:25which is much easier than ripping somebody over an edge.
44:33All right, brother.
44:43So devise as close to the anchor as you can and slowly.
44:55It's pretty cozy in here. I might just stay.
45:00Remember, there's gases in here about to pass out.
45:02Ah, no, it's fine.
45:09What was that?
45:10Now what?
45:11I was more worried about the boys.
45:13You got to go back down?
45:14Now what?
45:26How you doing?
45:27Heavy guy.
45:29On the penultimate day of training, students ruck three miles to O.P. Hill.
45:35O.P. Hill training area, just below the high-angle range,
45:38is a 200-foot cliff high by a couple hundred feet in width
45:43with numerous difficulties of climbing, scrambling,
45:48and we set up three different routes for the soldiers, for each squad.
45:54This serves as a warm-up for the culminating event,
45:58the mountain walk at Smuggler's Notch.
46:01We lost some people yesterday, dude, you hear that?
46:04What a shame.
46:06Along with Giriri, Lieutenant Prost from 2nd Squad
46:10was cut from the course the night before after running out of his 10 magic points.
46:16Pass my test. I only got one question wrong.
46:19Really?
46:20Yeah, I was scared shitless for it. I can't test for shit.
46:25Left foot high. Swing right.
46:33Don't lean too far to your left.
46:35Actually, it'd be better if you bumped your left foot out to the left a little bit.
46:43In general, we really focus on fixed ropes during this class.
46:46It's not about individual movement or individual climbing techniques.
46:50We're not making world-class climbers here.
46:53We're making folks who are able to negotiate a fixed rope
46:56and install really simple fixed ropes.
47:09Carabiner first. Carabiner, carabiner, carabiner, carabiner, carabiner, carabiner, carabiner, carabiner.
47:12What's that?
47:13Carabiner first. The reason being? Tell me.
47:16So you have something locked into the next point?
47:18Yeah, otherwise you run the risk of falling all the way back down that section.
47:24Roger that.
47:29This is fun. Nice day, too. Not too cold and the sun's out.
47:33Best news is, we've got all day tomorrow.
47:37Save something special for you.
47:39A little snowstorm, a little ice storm, a little elevation gain.
47:43You know, all that. The notch.
47:46Coming soon. To you.
48:16How you feeling?
48:17Fucking cold.
48:18Been trying to make it to this day the last two weeks.
48:20Just happy to be here.
48:22Last thing we've got to do.
48:24This is fucking nothing. It's full on up there, all right?
48:46Before beginning the climb, all students must put on avalanche transceivers, including our producer.
49:01All right, Jake, there's your transceiver on.
49:04So we can find you in case of an avalanche.
49:06Keep it underneath everything so that it's the last thing to get ripped off your body.
49:12We're going to delay 30 minutes and go in there and then get out of the wind, all right?
49:18Students take cover from the storm and latrines, while cadre decide what to do next.
49:24Yeah!
49:26Yeah!
49:30It's good golfing weather.
49:33As long as you're hitting with the wind, you're all right.
49:36Dude, my shank would be crazy in this weather.
49:40After 30 minutes, avalanche signs have been reported on the notch.
49:45This morning we sent out our advance crew, as we always do, to just scout the route
49:51and decided that there was naturally occurring small slab avalanches, which is an extreme danger sign,
49:58increasing the avalanche danger to the considerable level,
50:02and there's no reason that we need to expose our soldiers to that.
50:07Yeah, we just got the bad news, man. We're not doing the notch.
50:11We had to adapt to the environmental conditions today.
50:13Then we had some avalanche problems that we decided to pull down to lower elevation training.
50:18And I went to school in Vermont here for four years, always heard about the notch.
50:22Quick and excited to do it.
50:24Now we're not doing it, so I guess we drew the short straw today, Jake.
50:30But we'll figure it out. We'll still do something cool.
50:33Instructors set up an adapted training area at a much lower elevation.
50:37Are you ready to get out of here?
50:38I am ready to get out of here, yeah.
50:40I got a seven-month at home and a seven-year-old at home that I'm ready to get back to.
50:44So I'm pretty pumped.
50:46What's it like being away from them this long?
50:48I do it often, so I get used to it, but towards the tail end of the trip it always sucks a little bit.
50:5729.
50:59I had to just kind of pull a little bit more advanced techniques with some of the more familiarized things
51:05they had learned through the course with avalanche mitigation going through with beacons, shovels, and probes.
51:12Yeah, keep it going up. Try to get that low number.
51:15A little higher.
51:171.2.
51:18You know what?
51:191.1.
51:20Make sure it's the same height.
51:22Okay, a little higher.
51:24Okay.
51:25Keep going.
51:27Okay, and then mark that area somehow.
51:29Like with your foot or like hand or whatever.
51:32Okay, right there.
51:34Get the probe.
51:36And when you probe, make sure it's perpendicular to the hill.
51:39So it's like going like that angle.
51:42Is it kind of bouncy?
51:44No? Okay.
51:45Now do that cloverly. Yeah.
51:51Go up.
51:55Check.
51:57That's it, yeah.
52:00After completing the avalanche training, students ascend to an area of the notch,
52:05protected by cliff faces, to practice movements along fixed ropes.
52:11It just shows our students the benefit of this training
52:16and how a simple fixed rope can move people through otherwise inaccessible terrain.
52:27It's kind of a satisfying feeling.
52:52But we're really good to climb the notch.
52:55But, I mean, everything else we got to do today was really fun.
52:58So it was a nice little cherry on top.
53:02But I guess I'm ready to go back to the desert.
53:07Are you going to be rushing to get back out in the snow anytime soon?
53:10I think a little part of me is going to miss the snow, but I did not miss the cold.
53:14That's for sure.
53:20Let's do it.
53:26Currently, Soldiers who graduate from the Basic Military Mountaineer course,
53:30they get what's called the Ram's Head device,
53:33which has its lineage all the way back to Camp Hale in Colorado.
53:36This country needs you.
53:39Won't anybody take that away from you?
53:42We've heard all kinds of narratives about the military,
53:45and a lot of folks thinking that, well, I guess if you can't do anything better,
53:49you should probably join the military.
53:52That's probably one of the most ignorant things I have ever heard.
53:56You look at your professionalism, your expertise, your work ethic,
53:59and what you bring to this nation, you're simply the best that we have to offer.
54:05Geopolitics is nonlinear.
54:07We love to sit right now with the status quo, the way things currently are in the world,
54:13and we say, well, we can't imagine ever having a conflict between India and China.
54:18That would never happen because the Himalayas are just too big.
54:22The more that we're equipped to send a unit to that area and operate in that complex terrain
54:27without completely falling apart because they don't know how to walk up a hill,
54:30the more equipped we are to potentially preempt conflict as well.
54:34It's done. It's over. How do you feel?
54:36I'm excited, proud.
54:38You're the only female to graduate. How does that feel?
54:42Just proud, and it definitely just sets the standard and expectation that women can do it as well.
54:50Sad that I have to leave the boys, but, like, wicked happy to go home.
54:55We came, we saw, we completed the course, we got our little ram saddle.
55:00We think about this idea of return on investment.
55:02The way that I think about and experience mountain training and mountain warfare
55:08and being in a mountain unit is really, it's one of the best places to get that return on investment.
55:14What's demanded from these soldiers on a day-to-day basis
55:16is often above and beyond what's demanded from just normal Army training.
55:24I grabbed the wrong bag. My pants are in the other bag.
55:38I've never been anywhere where it just snows this much at one time.
55:42Like, it's just accumulated so much since we've been here already, and it's crazy.
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