The real cold war: US troops are training as winter soldiers, with chilly China, North Korea and Russia in mind
- Training for wintertime war against a hi-tech enemy in the ‘Far East’ reflects new priorities for the US military
- The weather at a snowy US Marine training site replicates weather in North Korea, officers say
Hunkered down behind a wall of snow, two US Marines melt slush to make drinking water after spending the night digging out a defensive position high in the Sierra Nevada.
Their laminated targeting map is wedged into the ice just below the machine gun.
Nearly 8,000 feet (2,440 metres) up at a training centre in the California mountains, the air is thin, the snow is chest high and the temperature is plunging. But other Marines just a few kilometres away are preparing to attack, and forces on both sides must be able to battle the enemy and the unforgiving environment.
The exercise is designed to train troops for the next war – one the US believes will be against a more capable, hi-tech enemy like Russia, North Korea or China. The weather conditions on the mountain mimic the kind of frigid fight that forces could face in one of those future hotspots.
“We haven’t had to deal with these things. We’ve been very focused on Iraq and Afghanistan,” said Major General William F. Mullen, head of the Marines’ Training and Education Command. “What we really have to do is wake folks up, expose them to things that they haven’t had to think about for quite a while.”