FORT GREELY, Alaska -- Nothing says arctic more than the frozen lakes and rivers of Alaska's 'Final Frontier'. The residents of Alaska embrace the brutal winters and short summers. Those born here are used to the conditions and it doesn't bother them. Those from the "lower 48" look at the residents and think to themselves, "how can one survive that'? But for someone who considers the "lower 48" the cold north, how do they do in that environment? What would it take to adjust to a place as harsh as this.
It takes patience, and a little more layers of clothes explained Sergeant Francisco Marrero, a native-born Puerto Rican. He is a part of the 49th Missile Defense Battalion, 100th Missile Defense Brigade (Ground-Based Midcourse Defense) and serves as the Headquarters and Headquarters Battery's armorer.
Marrero though, grew up the youngest of three children on an island where year round the high temperature is usually around 85 degrees with the lows around 68 degrees.
The army is what brought him to this place. Marrero's grandfather and father were both in the military. And having that strong influence on him made him decide to join as well. During his junior year of high school, he signed up into the Puerto Rico National Guard and went straight to basic training after graduation in 2002 and was trained as a military policeman.
"It was my first time I'd seen snow when I was in basic," laughed Marrero. His basic training was in Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri and little did he know how accustomed to snow he would soon be a few years later.
After basic training, he went back home to his unit on the island for eight months before hearing that he was to be deployed to Afghanistan. During the train up leading to the deployment at Fort Bliss in Texas, the unit was asked to stay at Bliss and perform military police duties on the post instead of going overseas. So for the next year, he stayed there doing what he calls 'real' police work.
"We dealt with real crimes and real stuff," said Marrero. "One night we caught twenty-three illegals (crossing over the border between Mexico and the U.S. where Fort Bliss sits). We also caught people with a lot of drugs during our year there."
It wasn't long after they finished their deployment that the call came from Alaska offering Francisco a job.
"As we were getting ready to de-mobilize from there (Texas) was when Sgt. Maj. Mazulla, which was the first sergeant here (at the 49th MDB) heard that we were MP's and talked to us before we left (Texas) and said they needed MP's," said Marrero. So Marrero applied for a position
Four months later, the call came asking if he was still interested in coming to Fort Greely. Yes was an easy answer for him since it was a place he has always wanted to go.
"For me," said Marrero, "since I was little I've always wanted to go to two places, Australia and Alaska, so I figured I'd check that off my list".
So from there, he got ready to head off to a land he'd wanted to go to, but had never been. The day he left for his new job, it was eighty degrees in Puerto Rico and when he landed in Fairbanks it was 40 degrees below zero that January day in 2005.
"The first couple of days, I thought to myself, 'what did I do''', said Marrero. "But believe it or not, you get used to the cold."
Marrero got acclimated to the extreme cold in the next few months.
"Once you get past the cold, it's awesome. You can go hunting and ice fishing. It's mainly the thing that keeps me here, I hunt every year."
He spent his first four years with the 49th as a military policeman, and then he moved over to the motor pool for about four years before coming to the armory for HHB.
During that time, he went back to Puerto Rico to marry Andrea. He and Andrea met while he was in high school and had just started dating seriously at the same time he moved up to Alaska. Shortly after they were married, he had her come up during the summer of 2008.
"She liked it here (when she first came up) since it was in the summer and then she saw her first winter which was rough," he said. "But her second winter was nothing and now is just normal."
"I like how it's calm here" said Andrea, "The drives here are beautiful."
And despite the cold, she has decided that it is home and isn't looking to move back anytime soon.
"The Our hearts are back there (back in Puerto Rico) but as far as living there again, I don't think I could go back to the busy lifestyle anymore."
Now that both have been up here for over four years, they have adjusted nicely.
Some of the things Marrero has learned as far as dealing with the cold is that you have to ease into wearing all the cold weather gear that gets issued.
"One of the best things you can do is wear as little (warm weather gear) as possible for as long as possible,' said Marrero. "Because If you wear all your warm weather gear when it's just a little cold, then when it's really cold, you don't have any more to put on and you can't get any warmer and you will always feel cold."
Marrero now sees Alaska as a place he'd like to spend the rest of his life. When Francisco retires from the military, he says that he would like to seek employment as an airport police officer in Fairbanks. When he thinks back to living back in Puerto Rico, he misses family but not things like the traffic and crowdedness that comes with the high population on an island that's only 100 miles by 35 miles.
"One of the things I've found after being here in Alaska this long," said Marrero, "Is that, when I go back to visit family, I get antsy, I can't deal with so many people."
He dislikes traffic so much now, he even avoids going to Anchorage because of the traffic that's there.
Recently there has been an addition to his family, a son Jonathan was born this September and demands his attention.
Raising a baby here will certainly be different from doing so in Puerto Rico. Marrero plans to introduce hunting to him "as soon as he can hold a gun," laughed Andrea.
"We are planning on teaching him Spanish and English," said Marrero. "Some of the customs will be lost but not many hopefully."
Fort Greely has provided this outdoorsman and his family a little piece of serenity.
His advice to others coming up here,
"If you can get past the initial shock of the cold weather and learn how to deal with the cold, you'll be fine."
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