Bring Back the Sightseeing Sixth: The Case for an Arctic Division
R. F. M. Williams | 12.14.21
Bring Back the Sightseeing Sixth: The Case for an Arctic Division
Thanks to renewed emphasis on Arctic operations from potential adversaries, the United States Army has expressed a desire to form forces explicitly developed to fight in Arctic environments. Personnel from the Maneuver Center of Excellence at Fort Benning have begun meeting with soldiers assigned to US Army Alaska to discuss concepts for future units. Among the things they will undoubtedly discover is that the Arctic presents unique challenges to military forces and, consequently, the specialized experience required by the environment can only be found in units that routinely operate there. For now, the Army’s pursuit of an Arctic-optimized unit seems to be focused on the possibility of reshaping the Stryker brigade combat team stationed at Fort Wainwright. But as the service looks toward reestablishing division-level formations at the center of its force structure—a departure from the brigade-centric model that was oriented toward meeting the needs of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan—devoting a single brigade combat team to Arctic readiness seems out of step.
As of now, the Army’s ideas include making the Stryker brigade combat team at Fort Wainwright “almost entirely self-sustaining” with equipment developed explicitly for the Arctic. During the Cold War, the United States and the Soviet Union routinely clashed over polar interests. US Alaska Command reports intercepting more Russian military aircraft approaching the US coast in 2020 than any other time since the Cold War ended. Russian ambitions have expanded in the region, and China, despite no territorial proximity, has expressed interest in the Arctic. This comes on the heels of lawmakers questioning the US military’s readiness for cold-weather combat, exercises everywhere from the Aleutians to Deadhorse, and the announcement of a new Department of Defense Arctic Security Studies center in Anchorage. If cold-weather expertise is a requirement, then the next logical step for the country’s land component is to activate a headquarters in Alaska at a scale that will be impactful. Because operations in the Arctic require unique solutions and units prepared to operate in that environment, then rather than solely repurposing a brigade for the Arctic, the Army should dedicate a division to the challenge. Specifically, it should reactivate the 6th Infantry Division.
https://mwi.usma.edu/bring-back-the-sightseeing-sixth-the-case-for-an-arctic-division/
