 Assignment, U.S. Army, Alaska, where the best of man is pitted against the worst of nature. Where courage and special skills are weapons to outwit a stubborn land, where survival is keyed to adversity. Alaska, America's last frontier and the first line of our national dependence. Has come a long way since its discovery in 1741 by Vitus Bering, a Danish sea captain in service of the Russian Tsar. Russian fur traders and trappers followed, building scattered settlements along the coast. Traces of the Russian period still remain. By the middle of the 19th century, the Russians were anxious to be rid of the vast distant land. And on March 30, 1867, Secretary of State William Seward arranged purchase of the territory for seven and a quarter million dollars, or about two cents an acre. Even so, many Americans called it Seward's Folly, and suggested that he might now want to purchase Iceland and Greenland. They were not far off. Seward said that Alaska, Greenland and Iceland were all important to America's defense. He was the first to recognize the strategic importance of the polar region. In mid-October, with a Marine Honor Guard participating in the ceremonies at Sitka, U.S. Army officials accepted the territory for the United States. General Jefferson Columbus Davis became commander of the military district. For the next ten years, the Army had the responsibility of governing the land in the absence of civilian rule. With almost no communications and transportation facilities, such semblance of government as there was was exercised by the commanding general of the troops at Sitka. Garrisons were built and some exploration carried out, but Washington showed little interest in Alaska. Finally, in 1877, the Army troops were withdrawn. For the next few years, the Coast Guard patrolled the shores of the Northern land, and then the Navy took on the responsibility for control and administration. Successive commanders of the vessels stationed at Sitka were, for all practical purposes, the government of Alaska. Finally, in 1884, Congress passed a bill which placed a civil government over Alaska. Years passed, with little happening to change the pattern of living in the remote region. The Army sponsored various expeditions to explore the interior, and men came back with much information concerning the geography and life of areas where few explorers had ever penetrated. During this period, Marine shipboard detachments helped keep law and order in the new territory. In 1896, with the discovery of gold in the Yukon and other parts of Alaska, the nation's attitude toward the territory changed dramatically. From throughout the world, adventurers traveled north to strike it rich. Complete towns were built almost overnight. The Alaskan gold rush enriched folklore with new and colorful names and legends that still perpetuate the magic of the far north. Once again, the Army was called north to help in law enforcement and to provide relief and medical aid in emergencies. Great storm destroyed large areas of Gnome in 1900. Army troops were essential in maintaining order, saving property, providing relief. No interest in the territory waned with the passing of the gold rush. The Army Signal Corps, under the leadership of such men as General Greeley and Lieutenant Mitchell, pressed forward with their ambitious plan for establishing the communications system, which brought the distant populated sections of the country together and linked it with the continental United States. This Alaskan communications system, as it is called, was expanded over the years to telephone, cable, radio and teletype communications, which was operated by the Army until 1962. Cableships put to sea to complete the link with the United States. With the establishment of the complete system in 1904, one of the greatest barriers to the development of the territory was removed. In the early 1930s, destitute farmers from the northern United States arrived under a government-sponsored resettlement program. Some became prominent residents, but Alaska remained primarily a forgotten neglected area. World War II changed that. Japanese troops occupied Attu and Kiska in the Illusion Islands, the first enemy occupation of American soil since 1814. A year later, the United States struck back. At last we understood the importance of Alaska. Seward had proved himself not only a shrewd statesman, but a far-sighted strategic plan. America would never turn its back on its northern territory again. Today, the bush pilot is to Alaska what the highway trucker is to the lower states. He flies out of Merrill Field, Anchorage's second airport, a busy strip that handles more takeoffs and landings than New York's Kennedy International. He flies a state more than twice the size of Texas, ten times the size of Illinois. He flies because road travel is slow and uncertain, and roads leave a lot of territory unexplored. The road network in Alaska covers 5,800 miles. Of this, only 1,300 miles are hard surfaced. Alaska's one railroad runs from the Port of Seward through Anchorage to Fairbanks. In contrast, there are more landing strips in Alaska than miles of railroad. More than 600 strips are sprinkled throughout the state. The immense face of our largest state is composed of countless mountain ranges, stretches of low tundra, and a longer coastline than that of the original 48 states. In today's Alaska, the Army, long a partner in the development of this northern land, maintains a key link in the overall defense of the Western Hemisphere. With its atomic power plant and its frequent visitor, the wild buffalo, is one of the Army's most sophisticated training grounds. The Northern Warfare Training Center is located here. Graduates of the center learn to move with military effectiveness over any type of terrain. Fort Greely is also an ideal location for the Arctic Test Center. The center uses U.S. Army Alaska facilities in the frigid winters to prove material and equipment. Fort Wainwright, near Fairbanks, is our northernmost fort. Temperatures here range from 75 below zero to as high as 90 degrees. Troops keep in condition for field training to come. Training designed to overcome the adverse effects of extreme cold on both men and equipment. Special attention is given to clothing and how to prevent cold injury, while moving and working when the bottom drops out of the thermometer. And in top physical condition, can battle cold and conquer mountains. A soldier assigned here soon discovers that his personal gear spells survival. He's in Alaska, and that's for sure. Fort Richardson, a few miles north of Anchorage, is headquarters for U.S. Army Alaska, operationally combined with the Navy and Air Force in the Alaska command for defense of the far north region. Special exercises produce the information needed for preparation of field manuals on both summer and winter operations. They are also excellent tests of combat effectiveness and specialized warfare skills in the Arctic environment. Here the commanding general attends a conference for the planning of such an exercise. Gentlemen, the Funch Park 9 will be a joint exercise with the Air Force and the National Guard. Fort Wainwright will be the assembly area and staging base for the tactical units involved in the exercise. Alaska is not always cold and snowbound. Summers are a delight, temperatures hitting 90 degrees with 19 hours of light each day. But summer does not mean idleness for the soldier. His varied training includes learning to move over rough country, vertically as well as horizontally. How to cross chasms and streams, cross-country vehicular movement becomes extremely difficult. The soldier is trained in inland waterways operations. He learns to read the river's natural signs. And to detect shallows by observing ripples in the current. He learns to avoid the hazards of sweepers, fallen trees still attached to the bank. And sleepers, fallen trees under the water's surface. Before long, he can navigate the big lakes and swiftly moving rivers with safety and confidence. In case around on the other side we'll bib-wack here and get an early start tomorrow morning. And the primary trade of the soldier, combat, is not neglected. The exercises are rugged and realistic. Red rover, red dog over. This is red dog under enemy fire at last point. Request instructions over. Red dog, red rover suggest hold cover. Take aggressor and night action over. This is red dog Roger out. Johnson take the grenades and move around the far right. We'll draw the fire from here. The far right. But the army gives primary emphasis to winter training. And for this, Alaska is ideal. During the long winters, the daylight hours steadily diminish. Until for two months there is constant darkness. The soldier soon learns that much of his early training is spent in learning how to get from here to there. He learns the value of the ancient snowshoe. Excellent for small confined areas but difficult to use on steep grades. He gets a thorough grounding in how to move on skis. This includes military downhill skiing and fighting techniques in high winds and poor visibility. Ski jarring, being towed at speeds up to 15 miles an hour as part of his education. A 10-man rifle squad can be towed by a single light-tracked vehicle. He learns to use the occhio, a light sled designed to carry an entire squad's equipment for several days on the trail. He may get to operate some of the new snow machines undergoing army tests. The wide variety of vehicles to operate in snow conditions. Well, as different types of aircraft, at training in the snowy environment is heavily stressed. Besides this, prisoners are captured, disarmed and interrogated. Although normally attempted escape from prisoner of war camps would be part of the game, the rules of most winter exercises preclude this, to avoid subjecting men to possible isolation and cold injury. Exercises such as this one have proved that with proper training, proper equipment and good leadership, troops can operate under the most adverse Arctic winter conditions. In Alaska, as elsewhere, defense is not always a military matter. It is concerned as well with protecting and conserving the precious gifts of nature. The Wildlife Museum at Fort Richardson is the finest in the north. We're transporting our bear around. Once in a while you'll see our vehicle out here and you might see the cage in it with a black bear in it. You wonder what's happening with that bear? Well, the only problem is we've got too many in one location. So the first thing we've got to do is capture the bear and take it out here and put it somewhere where we don't have any bear. This is just overpopulated. We've just moved another area where they've got more food and more terrain to run around with. Joe and I don't know if you've all had a chance here yet or not or even know about it, but here on Fort Richardson we have a large cooling pond out here where we raise our own face. This year we've raised 320,000 king and silver salmon out here. We fin-clipped each and every one of these salmon, released them out here in the stream. Now you want to know why we fin-clip them. That's the first question we'd have. We fin-clip them so we've got a marking on them so two to three years later when we come back we'll catch them, we'll know exactly where they came from. At the Army Alaska Field Station near Fairbanks, Army scientists have tunneled back into time in search for clues to man's prehistory. Notice the wood is well preserved. It hasn't been petrified or altered in any manner. It has been carbon dated to about 14,000 years. To understand the present, one must study the past. Still another Army involvement in Alaska is to ensure an endless and ready supply of fuel to our air and ground forces. Defensive aircraft alone consume over 50 million gallons of fuel every four months. Two fuel lines serve Alaska. One runs well over 600 miles from the all-season port of Haynes to Fairbanks. Following the Alaskan Highway, it carries the fuel needed by our most northern air and ground forces. The second pipeline shown here runs from the all-weather port of Whittier, traversing the peaks of the Chugach Mountains. It is capable of delivering 700 barrels an hour to the anchorage storage tanks, from where the Army distributes it to all the air and ground forces in the Fort Richard Scenario. Both pipelines are multipurpose, capable of transporting in tandem the many varieties of military fuel required. U.S. Army Alaska maintains these lifelines of defense, keeping a step-by-step check on quality and purity of product. In the summer, camping, fishing and hunting excursions are popular with military personnel and their dependents. Salmon and trout fill the streams, and a variety of game is found everywhere. Alaska offers strong compensations for the soldier who is an outdoors man. The Army's concern in Alaska is not solely for the soldier. It is also vitally interested in his equipment, as shown by activities at the Arctic Test Center at Fort Greene. Here, all kinds of material are subjected to grueling tests in extreme Arctic conditions. The Army also conducts, participates in and supports many kinds of research efforts. As a typical example, the Army constructed this rocket launch site near Fairbanks in the dead of winter. The purpose was to fire rockets into the high atmosphere, where they would release a cloud for scientific measurement. Despite the extreme cold, supplies were trucked in from Fort Wainwright. A shelter was erected for the crew, and preparations for the experiment began. On test day at the Launch Control Center, the countdown is on. First cloud appears in the night sky. It is illuminated by solar rays high overhead. This experiment expanded our knowledge of the upper atmosphere. Knowledge needed to improve long-distance communications. Contributing to the defense of Alaska is a unique intelligence organization, the Eskimo Scout. As a full-time soldier in Alaska's National Guard, he is on constant duty. During his regular hunting day, he is on the lookout for unusual movements or incidents. He serves with loyalty and uncanny instinct along Alaska's 33,000 miles of coastline. The intelligence information is transmitted to Fort Richardson in a matter of minutes for a decision. Alert intelligence, instant communications, still another facet of the helping hand characterizing the military in Alaska. The U.S. Army Alaska also ensures that all Army reserve components maintain the required degree of readiness. Administers the Alaskan ROTC program, supports civil defense activities, and performs search and rescue operations. For the soldiers who man the remote Alaskan air defense sites, a part of the North American Air Defense Command, there is an added sense of urgency. Capability for immediate response is vital, for early warning could be very brief indeed. These mountaintop sites, small cities within themselves, are often inaccessible by road. Here a chaplain pays a weekly call. Within the concrete blockhouse, a small chapel provides a haven for the men's spiritual needs. For more mundane requirements, the troops' quarters and command center contain all modern living facilities. Every man in the battery takes part in periodic practice launching. Realism is the keynote. Missiles in Alaska are not stored underground. When a missile is needed, it rumbles out on rails. To be raised skyward on the concrete launching pad. Air defense is an all-weather responsibility. The soldier in Alaska lives a vigorous, rugged life. The skills he learns are many. He enjoys some of the world's most impressive scenery. He knows the special comradeship of those who share hardship. But perhaps most important of all is development of the self-confidence and resourcefulness that is the price of survival in this big country to the north.