Cold-Weather Operations Course class 22-05 students make most of skiing training

More than 40 Soldiers and Airmen who are students in the Fort McCoy Cold-Weather Operations Course (CWOC) class 22-05 built up their skiing skills Feb. 28 at Whitetail Ridge Ski Area at Fort McCoy.

During their 14 days of training in CWOC, one entire day of training is dedicated to skiing, said lead CWOC Instructor Hunter Heard, who coordinates CWOC training with fellow instructors Manny Ortiz, Brian Semann, and Joe Ernst. All are with contractor Veterans Range Solutions, which works with Fort McCoy’s Directorate of Plans, Training, Mobilization, and Security (DPTMS) to complete the training.

“We spend the first half of the day getting set up at Whitetail and then moving as teams on cross-country trails at the ski area,” Heard said. “The afternoon is all about practicing downhill skiing with the Army-issue skis we have.”

Ernst said the ability to ski is critical for students.

“Skiing is a primary method of travel in an extreme cold-weather environment,” Ernst said. “We teach our students to do this by utilizing currently issued equipment and through a step-by-step approach.”

The first hours the students train on skis is learning how the equipment works and how to move on the skis, then they build more skills from there, Ernst said.

“We get a lot of students — I would say the majority of our students — who have never skied before,” Ernst said. “So, essentially, when they come here, they are starting from scratch. By the end of the skiing training, I would say on average that at least 90 percent of the students, maybe more, are competent in using the equipment.”

For the course, students get the latest type of skis for use. The skis are slightly shorter than traditional Army skis used by service members for cold-weather operations, and the skis have better bindings, Ernst said.

During the downhill skiing training for CWOC class 22-05, they first practiced going down a short distance and then worked their way further up the hill. The weather was also favorable with sunny skies and little wind.

Additionally, the ski hill they used was fully groomed with a thick snow base. The ski area is maintained by the Fort McCoy Directorate of Family and Morale, Welfare and Recreation.

“We appreciate everything the ski area staff does to help us complete successful training at Whitetail,” Heard said. “Having that area available for students to use is an incredible asset.”

In addition to skiing, CWOC students are trained on a variety of cold-weather subjects, including snowshoe training as well as how to use ahkio sleds and other gear.

Training also focuses on terrain and weather analysis, risk management, cold-weather clothing, developing winter fighting positions in the field, camouflage and concealment, and numerous other areas that are important to know in order to survive and operate in a cold-weather environment.

Fort McCoy’s motto is to be the “Total Force Training Center.” Located in the heart of the upper Midwest, Fort McCoy is the only U.S. Army installation in Wisconsin.

The installation has provided support and facilities for the field and classroom training of more than 100,000 military personnel from all services nearly every year since 1984.

Learn more about Fort McCoy online at https://home.army.mil/mccoy, on the Defense Visual Information Distribution System at https://www.dvidshub.net/fmpao, on Facebook by searching “ftmccoy,” and on Twitter by searching “usagmccoy.”

Also try downloading the Digital Garrison app to your smartphone and set “Fort McCoy” or another installation as your preferred base.