 If there's a place once you're dead, it does not like us in the wintertime. You've got to get zen with the environment that you're in. And it doesn't matter if it's arctic or jungle or what have you, you have to understand where you are. Being pushed all the way to the edge and then figuring out what you can handle. And this schoolhouse definitely does that. Sometimes, enemies don't fire weapons. Adversaries, like ice, wind and snow, have slowed down and even halted military campaigns. The primary thing that we're trying to teach here at NWTC is over snow mobility and sustainment. Historically, if you look at the Russo-Finnish war, being able to sustain through harsh conditions pretty much wins the battle. Nestled in the heart of the Alaskan mountain range, the Northern Warfare Training Center is an offshoot of the 10th Mountain Division from World War II. It's been training soldiers to thrive in austere environments since 1948. You have to understand the environment that you're going into. And that applies whether it be arctic or jungle, desert, whatever the case may be. You have to understand where it is you are. And you have to understand its peculiarities and the special skill sets that are required to go into that environment and be successful. In a place where it's not uncommon to see icicles forming on your friends' faces. Doesn't feel great. A skill you need to know is one that seems pretty basic. Here, it's every layer, every piece has a purpose. My socks have a certain purpose. My tops have a certain purpose. How many I put on and what order, it's all important. And they learn that here. In addition to cold and snow, this region of Alaska is also known for being remote, which can mean less infrastructure for getting around. The United States is a very machine dependent army. So for a lot of folks to get away from their machines and away from their roads and their infrastructure is sometimes shocking to their system. And without their machines, they have to use snowshoes or skis to move over snow. But some of these students have never even seen skis before. The skiing was difficult. I was never a skier. Never touched skis. I didn't fall coming down that one though. Glad about that. It's not like snowshoeing. It's like, okay, I've ruck with snowshoes before. And then boom, skis. We basically gave you your introductory ski courses that you would get at a resort or something. It's the baby steps. This is how you stand. This is how you walk. This is how you go downhill. This is how you stop. You know, once I got on the skis and fell a bajillion times, it just makes you want to keep getting better. You know, you get back up and you go back down the hill and you go back up the hill. Even being able to use snowshoes is important, but skiing adds speed to the element and stealth show. Getting dressed and moving around will only get you so far. Eventually, you have to sleep and eat and... I pooped in a box for six days. They learned to set up a patrol base using 10-man tents and arctic stoves, which is about 200 pounds of gear they'll pull on a sled called an accio. And then we also teach them how to big whack, how to live out here in this. And they have a six-day field problem where they're out there in it. They don't come back to the building. And for some of them, it's a significant emotional event for them. That's pretty accurate statement. That was one of the design concepts that we came up with when we did this, is to keep the students outside as much as possible. A lot of people include in myself, like, when I heard I got orders to Alaska, I'm like, I'm about to die. It's going to be cold. I'm not going to like it. Oh, my God. Which is something the instructors hear a lot of. It's kind of good to know that I know probably better than you do what you can handle. And I love seeing them get pushed to the breaking point. And then they break through it. And then they have nothing but the utmost respect for what we do here. Because it does get rough. I learned a lot. Because I had no idea that the Army is training to repel down mountains, being this type of weather. And that puts the future of the Army in perspective. Like, we might be fighting people in this kind of weather, having to do this kind of training. You don't ever want to forget the things you took so long to learn. It would be a huge mistake on our part. When people think of this school, if there was one word that you wanted people to think of, what would it be? Hmm. Essential. Essential. It would be one word descriptor, absolutely essential.