A group of Navy SEALs parachute into Marmot Bay from an altitude of 8,000 feet, braving freezing water temperatures as part of a special operations exercise.
ABOARD A U.S. MILITARY AIRCRAFT OVER KODIAK ISLAND — To the uninitiated, this felt like madness. From an altitude of 8,000 feet, six Navy SEALs were about to parachute into Marmot Bay, where the water temperature was just barely above freezing.
The sobering takeaway, it was instantly clear, is that any conflict in the High North would be an unmitigated nightmare for those sent to fight it.Navy SEALs prepare to jump from an MC-130J transport plane near Kodiak, Alaska, on Feb. 25. Capt. Bill Gallagher, who commands the SEAL unit involved in the exercise, characterized the Arctic as perhaps the most rugged and extreme place for any military to operate, saying even the most routine functions can be an existential threat.
The twin challenge has forced the Defense Department to look inward at its own shortcomings, some of which are revealed in the Arctic. A substantial portion of the oil and gas interests that make Russia an energy powerhouse is located across the Arctic, flanked by nuclear-capable submarines ported on the White Sea. China, too, has asserted that its status as a “near-Arctic nation” grants Beijing a say in the region’s governance, as Asian nations also have a stake in the commodities transported across the Northern Sea Route.
Meanwhile, as U.S. military planners game out the potential consequences of a feared Chinese assault on Taiwan, a key partner in the Pacific that President Biden has pledged to defend, there is growing concern about the threat of “spill over,” officials say. With any casualty incurred in this environment, hypothermia can set in within minutes. Significant blood loss compounds the challenge. If a medic has to provide a transfusion, they must account for the fact that doing so will further reduce their patient’s temperature.
But the Arctic’s sheer expanse, and the advanced targeting capabilities possessed by the Russian and Chinese militaries, have raised doubts about the feasibility of that here. “You had the golden hour back then,” a Special Forces medical sergeant said. “Now it’s like, do you have a golden day?” Eventually, the process became more fluid. As a full moon emerged on the horizon, members of a Danish commando force, among the NATO personnel most specialized in the tundra, readied their night vision goggles. A soldier zoomed his snowmobile into the belly of the Chinook, followed by another. The helicopter lifted off and orbited the training area a final time.
As national security officials grow more concerned about the prospect of a conflict with Russia or China, they’ve argued that, rather than being prepared to fight on its own through brushfire counterinsurgencies, reliant on other parts of the military to aid its missions, Special Operations needs to complement the larger force.
Navy Seals Parachute Freezing Waters Special Operations Exercise
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