{"id":29005,"date":"2023-01-25T17:35:46","date_gmt":"2023-01-25T17:35:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/uncategorized\/2023\/01\/25\/will-alaska-be-the-marine-corps-next-unit-training-location\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T21:07:10","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T21:07:10","slug":"will-alaska-be-the-marine-corps-next-unit-training-location","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/training-sim\/2023\/01\/25\/will-alaska-be-the-marine-corps-next-unit-training-location\/","title":{"rendered":"Will Alaska be the Marine Corps\u2019 next unit training location?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Lace up your intense cold weather boots<\/a>: The Marine Corps is considering training its troops in Alaska, according to the service\u2019s new training and education blueprint.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the planning document, the service notes the need to explore options to expand \u201cunit and service-level training into Alaska\u201d and whether the service requires a more permanent presence there.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Training and Education 2030 document, which was released on Tuesday, is the most recent report in a series of policy plans that aim to set a new direction for the service. Included in the report is a direction to analyze if the cold, remote environment of Alaska could offer Marines a new style of terrain they have not regularly had the opportunity to train with.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Currently, the Marine Corps Mountain Warfare Training Center in Bridgeport, California, is one of the only installations to offer Marines training in mountainous, cold-weather environments.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lt. Gen. Kevin Iiams, commanding general of Marine Corps Training and Education Command, said during a roundtable event with reporters at the Pentagon Tuesday, \u201cOur cold weather training range up at \u2026 Bridgeport, while large, is nowhere near as large as the training ranges in Alaska.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYou can put much larger forces into the field and exercise them then we can at our small training facility … at Bridgeport,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Marines also have conducted cold-weather training on deployments to Norway.<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Marines conduct a conditioning hike at Marine Corps Mountain Warfare Training Center, Bridgeport, California, Jan. 18, 2023. (Lance Cpl. Ryan Ramsammy\/Marine Corps)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe current T&E system is not preparing the Marine Corps for the future operating environment,\u201d the report said, noting that Marines need to be better equipped to handle all types of domains.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

With a renewed focus from the Marine Corps on the Indo-Pacific, and continual threats from countries like Russia, North Korea and China, the service is eager to resolve that dilemma.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cEvery clime, every place,\u201d Col. Mark Smith, the director of Training and Education Command\u2019s Range Training Programs Division, said at the roundtable.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

By April, the Marine Corps says it will \u201cidentify supplemental ranges, training areas, and federated [virtual simulator] venues\u201d to offer all types of training for troops, the T&E 2030 document notes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Service leaders are especially interested in the use of high-tech simulators as a modern means of training troops and are looking to operationalize what they call Project Tripoli <\/a>to connect Marine Corps, joint and partnered nation units around the globe.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Marines across installations will be able to jump into a virtual space and interact with one another in order to practice simulated missions, according to Iiams, meaning a lance corporal wearing ocular lenses on a range somewhere can look up and see a plane flying overhead operated by a pilot using another simulator.<\/p>\n\n\n\t