Military Review English Edition November-December 2014 | Page 61

ARCTIC STRATEGY

the Arctic and high mountains require a particular
breed of man,” he observed.15 Hansen wrote this reflected the need for enthusiastic and committed volunteers
like those that populated the ranks of airborne and
special operations units. Hansen also noted that, in
addition to the mental demands of the extreme cold,
the techniques for operating in the cold often demand
acquisition of skills such as skiing, which only a fraction
of normal infantry troops can master.16 For the U.S.
Army and joint community, this means that developing
the proper equipment only partially solves the challenge of aligning the proper resources to the survivability principle.
There is a significant challenge in recruiting and
retaining personnel willing to spend considerable time
under stressful conditions mastering Arctic warfare.
As the United States moves toward implementing its
Arctic defense strategy, it must devote considerable
effort toward putting the proper resources in the
hands of the proper personnel to establish the f