Mountain
Warrior Recounts Chilean Mountain Warfare School Experience
by U.S. Army Capt. Matthew Pargett
March 1, 2019
“When you have a 60 meter rope, and you have to climb 120
meters…you are forced to climb to the end of your rope. From there,
your team is hanging at the middle of the mountain deciding if you
keep going up or back down.”
Soldiers training at the Chilean
Mountain Warfare School quickly learn why it is one of the most
respected climbing and survival schools anywhere. The rock climbing
requires Soldiers to make their own routes up cliff faces, day and
night, and secure their own anchors with their climbing partners.
For many of the Soldiers, it is the toughest course they will ever
complete.
November 30, 2018 - Students at the Chilean Mountain Warfare School
hike up a portion of the Chilean Andes during the winter portion of
the course. The CMWS is one of the most challenging mountain warfare
courses in the world. (U.S. Army photo by Staff Sgt. John Doe)
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Staff Sgt. Norberto Rodriguez, of the 10th Mountain Division’s
Light Fighters School, spent five months training in the Chilean
Andes alongside students from across central and South America. His
experiences are unique as one of a very small number of American
Soldiers who have successfully completed this world-renowned
mountain warfare and survival course.
“When you’re with
another army for five months, you learn a lot. You learn how they
work. It’s not the same as deploying with another army,” said
Rodriguez.
While he is no stranger to the cold and snow,
being stationed at Fort Drum, the winter conditions while training
in the Andes were very different from the weather and geography of
upstate New York. Rather than only see the obstacle, Rodriguez chose
to see it as a challenge and an opportunity to better himself.
“The first time I put on a pair of skis, I took two steps and
fell. Now I can ski with a weapon, no poles, and a full ruck sack
while skiing down a mountain.”
Mountain warfare is not new as
a discipline. At the United States Army Mountain Warfare School,
they train Soldiers from across the Army on how to fight effectively
in mountainous areas of operation.
[“Mountain warfare is an
important discipline because it essentially adds another major plane
of maneuver -the Z axis [for vertical infiltrations]”, said Capt.
Nathan Fry of the U.S. Army Mountain Warfare School in Vermont.
Fry further established that understanding how to use terrain
effectively is a major mobility enabler, especially in the vertical
terrain of rugged mountains.
“To be successful in operations
such as this, mountain warfare units must have soldiers who
understand how to live unplugged and off-the-grid…and know how to
dress for wild temperature swings, travel light enough to gain
thousands of vertical feet in a single day, procure water, and avoid
hazards such as rock falls or avalanches,” Fry stated.
The
Chilean Mountain Warfare School uses its proximity to the Andes to
its advantage when training students. Many of the students that
graduate find careers in mountain rescue and specialized mountain
infantry units.
Students at the Chilean Mountain Warfare School ski uphill carrying
their combat gear in the Chilean Andes as part of the winter portion
of the course. (U.S. Army photo by Staff Sgt. John Doe)
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As an infantryman, Rodriguez has experienced many patrols, both
in training and while deployed. Whether dismounted or from a
vehicle, many Soldiers are often able to rely on support or resupply
if it is needed during a mission. Mountain warfare units do not have
readily available resupply options.
“If you finish your
water, you have to know how to search for more. And if you finish
your food, you have to know how to hunt for it. That’s just one of
the things that you learn quick. This is mountain warfare. It’s just
different. It’s its own animal,” shared Rodriguez.
The
five-month course challenged Rodriguez every day. Across two seasons
he trained on hand-to-hand combat and is now qualified in mountain
survival and ski-borne tactical operations. He learned to work with
pack mules in mountainous terrain in day and night operations, and
became an experienced rock and ice climber.
“I’ve always
loved the outdoors. As an infantryman, you’re doing something wrong
if you don’t. But before I went to the Chilean Mountain Warfare
School, I wasn’t a rock climber. I wasn’t a skier. None of those
things. Those are skills they gave me,” Rodriguez said.
Rodriguez looks forward to sharing his new skills with his future
Soldiers, and shared that wherever the Army sends him, he knows he
has faced larger obstacles before.
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