COLD REGIONS TEST CENTER, Alaska-- Stars shone on U.S. Army Cold Regions Test Center (CRTC) in February as Army Test and Evaluation Command (ATEC) commander Maj. Gen. Daniel Karbler made his first site visit.
Accompanied by Capt. William Viegas and ATEC Command Sgt. Major Andrew Connette and escorted by CRTC commander Lt. Col. Michael Kovacs and technical director Jeff Lispcomb, Karbler made a whirlwind tour of CRTC, visiting test ranges, support shops, and CRTC's automotive test track.
"I wanted to get a good sense for all that testing involves and all the lessons that testing helps teach us," he said.
Although this winter was considered relatively warm by interior Alaska standards, the mercury dropped to -25 degrees Fahrenheit the morning of Karbler's visit.
"I was impressed by the dedication of the workforce here to the mission of making sure the equipment we are going to give our Soldiers is thoroughly and rigorously tested in this very extreme environment," he said.
Testing of the Stryker Combat Vehicle and M109A7 Paladin 155 mm Artillery System was in progress as Karbler visited the ranges, and he rode in the former vehicle across some of CRTC's rugged road courses.
"It's very, very hard to drive something in a conditioning chamber. You can certainly chill it down to a certain temperature, but that's about the extent of it. When you want to put it in operation, put loads on it, and use it in the whole of the environment, it is totally different: a cold chamber has a place in initial testing, but once you put something into operation, you have to take it out into the environment."
Though impressed by the scope of testing conducted at CRTC, Karbler had particular kudos for the test center's leadership.
"The leadership up here is phenomenal," said Karbler. "You don't have a happy workforce in an extreme environment like this if you don't believe in what you're doing and if you don't have great leaders who are motivating you every day to do well."
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