16 Feb. New York Times - A New Challenge Is Undertaken by an Army Division Born on Skis.

... The days when the division fought only in the mountains are long past. It now often combines ground troops with Blackhawk helicopters. This has made the 10th Mountain, along with the 82nd Airborne and 101st Airborne divisions, the workhorse of recent years, deployed to Somalia, Haiti, Bosnia and Kosovo, as well as Iraq and Afghanistan.

"It uses its feet to close with the enemy," said Lt. Col. Christopher Cavoli, a Princeton graduate with a master's degree from Yale who is a battalion commander. "It's an extremely light force intended to operate by its wits. It can be deployed quickly to mountains, thick forests or swamps to perform in an austere environment."

The now predictable operations tempo enabled the Third Brigade, formed in September 2004, to concentrate from the start on training for Afghanistan and to send noncommissioned officers for language training or schools for snipers and Rangers.

Capt. Chris Nunn, a company commander, for example, is in frequent contact with his counterpart now in Afghanistan, a captain in the 82nd Airborne."There are specifics about what the enemy is doing," Captain Nunn said. "It's been real good, giving me an idea how to start."

The brigade's command sergeant major, James Redmore, at the apex of the crucial leadership network of sergeants down through battalion, company, platoon and squad levels, said intensive training would sharpen the "warrior skill set" troops need.

The Afghanistan campaign is often fought by the smallest units, said Colonel Cavoli, meaning, "It's the midlevel sergeants who are key, the staff sergeants, the sergeants first class."

"In a counterinsurgency, the calibration of force is critical," he went on. "The sloppy application of force ruins the cultivation of the populace."