U.S. Army Soldiers assigned to 3rd Battalion, 509th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 2nd Infantry Brigade Combat Team (Airborne), 11th Airborne Division walk towards their next objective during Joint Pacific Multinational Readiness Center 25-02 in Donnelly Training Area, near Fort Greely, Alaska, Jan. 29, 2025. JPMRC 25-02, executed in Alaska with its world-class training facilities and its harsh Arctic environment, builds Soldiers and leaders into a cohesive team of skilled, tough, alert, and adaptive warriors capable of fighting and winning anywhere in the world. (U.S. Army photo by Spc. Brandon Vasquez)

The U.S. Army reactivated the 11th Airborne Division on June 6, 2022, sending a clear message to allies and adversaries of the increased U.S. prioritization on Arctic and Indo-Pacific security. Over the past three years, the Alaska-based Arctic Angels have united under a common purpose, striving to master both Arctic warfare and expeditionary operations across the nation’s priority theater — the Indo-Pacific. Uniquely positioned to rapidly respond in either region, Soldiers and Paratroopers of the Army’s newest division train in every environment from the mountains of Bardufoss, Norway, to the jungles of Baturaja, Indonesia. Trained to operate on such wildly different terrain at temperatures ranging from -50 to 100 degrees, Arctic Angels are adaptable, resourceful, and gritty. As the Army’s only Arctic division and its only airborne division in the Indo-Pacific, the Soldiers and Paratroopers of the 11th Airborne Division pioneer innovative solutions to some of the nation’s most unique and critical security challenges.

The 11th Airborne Division’s ties to the Pacific and cold weather operations are rooted in its history. Activated in 1943 at Camp Mackall, NC, the division quickly deployed to the Pacific Theater during World War II and played a critical role in the Philippines Campaign. The Angels destroyed multiple enemy divisions in the jungles of Leyte and later coordinated airborne and amphibious assaults to seize key terrain during the allied assault on Luzon. Most famously, the 11th Airborne Division liberated more than 2,000 civilians by raiding the internment camp at Los Banos, again synchronizing both airborne and amphibious operations. The division cut its teeth on cold weather operations during the Korean War, overcoming freezing temperatures and icy terrain during the Battle of Yongju. The 11th Airborne Division’s current mission is to conduct “Multi-Domain Operations in the Indo-Pacific theater and the Arctic, and on order decisively defeat any adversary in extreme cold weather, mountainous, and high-latitude environments through large-scale combat operations.” This proud past carries forward to meet today’s threats.

The Indo-Pacific and Arctic are increasingly contested and critical regions, and the 11th Airborne Division is uniquely positioned to accomplish U.S. National Security objectives in both. Indeed, the 2022 National Defense Strategy identifies the Indo-Pacific as the nation’s priority theater, recognizing the People’s Republic of China’s (PRC) expansion of military capabilities and aggression in the region. With the PRC striving to achieve the military capability to subjugate Taiwan by 2027, maintaining stability and deterrence in the Indo-Pacific is an urgent U.S. security concern. Also complicating theater stability is the longstanding belligerence of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea. Similarly, the Department of Defense’s Arctic Strategy, published in 2024, highlights the increasing geopolitical importance of the “High North,” largely due to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Sweden and Finland’s entry into NATO, and the increasing accessibility of the region due to rising temperatures. In fact, one of the main reasons behind the 11th Airborne Division’s reactivation was the nation’s growing focus on Arctic security.

Figure 1 — Arctic Region

Alaska’s strategic location, spanning both the Arctic and Pacific Oceans, enables the rapid deployment of Arctic Angels across the world’s largest ocean and over the North Pole. Anchorage is unequivocally closer by air to Beijing and Pyongyang than Honolulu, and it is also nearer than New York is to Moscow. As such, the 11th Airborne Division stands ready to confront many of the nation’s most acute threats in any environment through deterrence operations and, failing that, large-scale combat. The division’s strategic location, and the threats existing on its doorstep, results in a unique, dual focus for its Paratroopers and Soldiers: simultaneously enabling regional stability in the Indo-Pacific through assurance and deterrence operations while mastering Arctic warfare as the nation’s only Arctic airborne division.

The 11th Airborne Division pursues these two lines of effort by deploying ready, lethal forces across the Pacific in support of Operation Pathways and yearly rotations for its brigade combat teams through the Army’s newest combat training center, the Joint Pacific Multinational Readiness Center (JPMRC). A U.S. Army Pacific Command (USARPAC) strategic initiative to deter adversaries and assure allies and partners in the Indo-Pacific, Operation Pathways deploys lethal and ready U.S. forces across the Pacific to build partnerships and improve interoperability through international exercises. The 11th Airborne Division plays a central role in the operation’s success, executing more than a dozen of these training events annually, ultimately contributing to regional stability. MAJ Ben Torgersen discusses 2nd Brigade, 11th Airborne Division’s role in Operation Pathways in greater detail in the next article.

While Operation Pathways often takes Arctic Angels to the heat and humidity of Indonesian jungles or the Australian Outback, JPMRC tests their ability to operate in high-latitude, extreme-cold weather environments. With wind chills commonly below -50 degrees, 11th Airborne Division Paratroopers and Soldiers must adapt to the elements with innovative movement techniques and battle drills, over-the-snow mobility, extreme individual discipline and, critically, life-saving routine sustainment operations. LTC Cody Grimm and CPT Matt LaFleur’s article, “Arctic Warfighting,” expands on one battalion’s experience at JPMRC in 2025.

When not working to ensure regional stability in the Indo-Pacific or increase Arctic warfare expertise, Arctic Angels enjoy the unparalleled opportunities that service in Alaska and the nation’s only Arctic division offers. First and foremost, the 11th Airborne Division operates the Northern Warfare Training Center, the U.S. Army’s premier facility for extreme cold weather and mountain warfare training. Arctic Angels can enroll in several highly desirable courses, including Cold Weather Orientation and Leaders courses and the Basic and Advanced Military Mountaineering courses. Students learn how to ski, snowshoe, traverse mountainous terrain and fight in the Arctic. Additionally, Paratroopers and Soldiers can join the Denali Expedition team and summit the highest peak in North America.

A paratrooper from the 11th Airborne Division dismounts a J-3 Piper Cub specially fitted with skis during cold weather training.

Paratroopers from 2nd Brigade, 11th Airborne Division conduct airborne operations from a C-17 Globemaster III onto Malemute Drop Zone on Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson, AK, on August 24, 2022. (Photo by SrA Patrick Sullivan, U.S. Air Force)

MAJ Ben Torgersen is an Infantry officer currently serving as the 2nd Brigade, 11th Airborne Division operations officer.

CPT Alexander Block is an Infantry officer currently serving as executive officer of Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 3rd Battalion, 509th Infantry (Airborne).

CPT Max Sechena is an Infantry officer currently serving as the 3-509 IN (ABN) logistics officer in charge.

CPT Cole Jacobson is an Infantry officer currently serving as an assistant operations officer in 3-509 IN (ABN).

This article appears in the Summer 2025 issue of Infantry. Read more articles from the professional bulletin of the U.S. Army Infantry at https://www.benning.army.mil/Infantry/Magazine/ or https://www.lineofdeparture.army.mil/Journals/Infantry/.

As with all Infantry articles, the views herein are those of the authors and not necessarily those of the Department of Defense or any element of it.