U.S. alpine warfare capabilities?

[ganulv]

I lived at 2350 meters for a year in Central America. A couple of days after my arrival I was invited in on a game of pick-up football with the members of a catechism class. Despite being in reasonable condition, about five minutes later I was feeling a kind of pain I had never known before. And 2350 meters isn’t really that high!

Acetazolamide can help acclimatization but it isn’t a Golden Hammer. Being in Royal Marine condition at sea level would certainly speed acclimatization but no more than that. Seems a lot of time and money to spend on an exercise which was bound to fail.

[blueblood]

Well, the Royal Marines were on their way home from Astan when this exercise happened and IIRC Marines train in Norway for arctic warfare but then Snowy plains of Norway are no Himalayas. I agree with Fuchs, not sure about 6 weeks though. During Kargil, Indian Army's non mountain infantry were acclimatized for 15 days. Brig Ray may know better.

[Firn]

Altitude sickness is one of the reasons why India has such a high number of troops stationed high up in the Himalaya. As Ganulv worte, the thin air doesn't care how tough and mentally strong you are.

Every decent alpinist who has climbed in the Himalaya or other really high mountains (should) know the various procedures. The usually tight schedules of tourists for climbs like the Kilimanjaro are not quite ideal, and many suffer accordingly. IIRC in the Kargil conflict some Indian units suffered due to military necessity a quick rush up from the plains to the higher regions, with similar results. Every rushed meter of altitude increases the pain and the risks.

As usual it all depends on context, training and then especially one the T's of METT-TC. Maybe it should be spelled out fully as METWTS-TC, as the importance of weather and support is great indeed, as the mountain warfare has shown in the last hundred years.

[blueblood]

Altitude sickness is one of the reasons why India has such a high number of troops stationed high up in the Himalaya. As Ganulv worte, the thin air doesn't care how tough and mentally strong you are.

Every decent alpinist who has climbed in the Himalaya or other really high mountains (should) know the various procedures. The usually tight schedules of tourists for climbs like the Kilimanjaro are not quite ideal, and many suffer accordingly. IIRC in the Kargil conflict some Indian units suffered due to military necessity a quick rush up from the plains to the higher regions, with similar results.

As usual it all depends on context, training and then especially one the T's of METT-TC. Maybe it should be spelled out METWTS-TC, as the importance of weather and support is especially great, as the mountain warfare has shown in the last hundred years.

Yes, initially when the mobilization was not fully completed IA units from plains were called in since most mountain units were engaged on the eastern border with China. Thus, they suffered from altitude sickness and other problems but as soon as the brass realized this, they initiated acclimatization program for the rest of the troops. So, now Indian Army has a policy to impart mountain warfare training to every infantry soldier, mountain unit or not. My cousin is a Major in artillery regiment and his first posting after his commission was to man a post at 3000m on LOC.

Most western armies don't need to emphasize on mountain warfare as it does not fit the criteria for their area of operations. Like Indian Army and Navy were never too interested in raising a Marine divison.

[Morgan]

Though it's been 20 years (good god!!), the Mountain Warfare School at CP Ethan Allen in VT was pretty damn good. Two phases, summer and winter with each phase lasting two weeks. After completion of both phases, one is awarded the Ram's Head device, only authorized for wear in Vermont.

The Army's mountain/ winter warfare school in in Alaska and is 6-weeks long. Don't know much about it since I've neer been there but I'm told it's pretty good.

Last I knew, the only unit in the 86th IBCT that was an actual mountain unit was 3-172d INF...had lead climbers, assault climbers, etc. Not sure if that's the case now.

It'd be great if every one of our light infantry brigades had at least one company dedicated as a mountain unit. It's great that we send so many of our joe's to jump school but mountain training has a more practical application.

[ganulv]

I agree with Fuchs, not sure about 6 weeks though. During Kargil, Indian Army's non mountain infantry were acclimatized for 15 days. Brig Ray may know better.

I guess it may be an issue of semantics. Does ‘acclimatize’ imply nothing beyond “no more altitude sickness at a given altitude” or does it imply “optimized for a given altitude”?

From Zubieta-Calleja, et al.’s article “Altitude adaptation through hematocrit change”:

Adaptation = Time/Altitude, where High altitude adaptation factor = Time at altitude (days)/Altitude in kilometers (km). The time in days required to achieve full adaptation to any altitude, ascending from sea level, can be calculated by multiplying the adaptation factor of 11.4 times the altitude in km.