Worst WET

Max_Tab · 06-17-2004, 17:22

Here is a good question for anyone who spent anytime in 10th Grp. What was you'r absolutely worst WET.

Mine had to be my first one back in 2000. We went up to the Flattops, near Vail. Well the snow line was really high (about 8,000 ft) and we knew we were going to have to walk all the way up to it, before we could get our ski's on. Since we knew we were going to have to walk we decided to go without our polks >sp< so we had to go extremely light. Mistake number 1-we decided to leave all the tents. Since this was my first WET and I had come from Hawaii I didn't know anything about cold weather, and the advice I was given was go with the NATO death slats (the name should have given me a hint) and since we knew we had a good slog, they said wear your Reichle's. That would be mistake number 2 and 3. Well morning one started out bright and beautiful and the B-Team dropped us off as high as they could get (about 6500 ft) and we started walking. That night we hit the snowline, and set up camp. The next morning we started skiing, about noon the weather hit. We ran into a stationary front that unbeknownst to us at the time would stay over us for the next 5 and a half days. We had a long ski movement to our final location and we just kept pushing through, setting up a differant camp each night. Well using hindsight, we should of stopped and set up camp and waited out the storm, but we kept moving. We were on average getting about a foot of snow a night. The final straw, was the 5th night of the storm. We had used poncho's to try and cover our snow pit, but it snowed so much it broke through the ponch and cover us in snow, and because we had so much snow that night the snow from the side of the pit caved in and covered a couple people who were in there fart sacks, one of the guys while trying to crawl out of his sleeping bag unzipped it and the snow came inside his sleeping bag, drenching his bag. Well the next morning there are only a few people who do not have signs of frost nip, hypothermia, or trench foot. The Cpt makes the call and the NG guys from Vail (HATS) fly in through the blizzard and pull us out. We recover for a day and then we go back out and finish up the exercise.
Of course for the rest of the time we have great weather.

QRQ 30 · 06-17-2004, 18:06

Preuming you mean weather my worst would have been "FTX No Snow". We were scheduled for ski training at Berchtesgaden but there wasn't enough snow. Thus a substitute FTX "No Snow".

We jumped into the Chiemsee area and it commenced to snow as soon as we hit the ground. The next morning we had to dig ourselves out of our poncho tents. It continued to snow for the next fourteen days.

Since you mention Colorado, this was a little before your day.

Max_Tab · 06-17-2004, 19:33

WET is Winter Enviornmental Training, and yes I think that was before my time.

NousDefionsDoc · 06-17-2004, 20:37

Here's one for you. I was a certified Winter Northern Warfare Warrior. LOL.

I grew up in southeast Texas. We had snow (never stuck) but I had never seen SNOW. I hate being cold. The Army in its infinite wisdom sent a bunch of us to Alaska in February to learn how to do this thing.

My conclusion - when its 64 degrees below zero and the hawk is flying, you don't need to worry about the enemy. He, like you, will be too busy trying to keep his cojones from freezing off to even think about an attack. And this was what I told them.

Wars are supposed to be fought in jungles and deserts, not the North Pole in the freezin season.

**The Reaper** · 06-17-2004, 20:42

Unless you are fighting the Rooskies.

Germans learned the hard way about that.

TR

Max_Tab · 06-17-2004, 20:51

Quote:

Originally posted by The Reaper
Unless you are fighting the Rooskies.

Germans learned the hard way about that.

TR

Hell the Russian's learned it fighting the Finn's

QRQ 30 · 06-17-2004, 21:23

To tell the truth the worst time in Europe was other than winter. You could brush off the snow, but otherwise it was always raining and misting. Being constantly wet was the worst.

QRQ 30 · 06-17-2004, 22:21

I know this is the 10th SFG Forum but let me recall my last 6 months in the army in 1977 while in the 7th SFGA

In January we started off with WET at Ft. Richardson, Alaska. Draging an akio across the tundra for over 100 miles was physically the most demanding. Even though the temp was minus forty and below, we striped to shirt-sleeves to keep from working up a sweat.

When we returned to Bragg we had a week and then deployed to Ft. Gulick, CZ for TET..

We returned to Bragg only to be inserted into Pisqah to get acclimatized for deployment to Korea -- MET(miserable environmental training). We deployed to Korea for a few weeks. I must say I am glad I was born 10 years too late. Korea was the most miserable environment I have ever experienced -- mud mixed with snow and not a level spot in the entire country.

We returned to Bragg and I was then deployed to Ft. Stewart. In six months: Alaska, Panama, Korea and finally Ft. Stewart.