Cold War
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Fort Bragg, North Carolina is home of the 82nd Army Airborne Division and the Special Operations Command, it was one of the first U.S. military bases to send troops into Afghanistan.

Hi, I'm Bryan Yeaton and this is the Weather Notebook.

The base takes pride in its ability to mobilize soldiers quickly. but eastern North Carolina's wimpy winters and searing summers hardly offer the ideal opportunity for training soldiers to operate in a cold country like Afghanistan. Correspondent Leda Hartman explains how the army gets around the problem.

Winter usually lasts only two or three months at Fort Bragg. On a typical January day you'll get temperatures in the 40's and higher than that if the sun is out and the wind is down. Come summer you roast. Temperatures and humidity hang in the 90's from June to September. But, Fort Bragg's paratroopers and green berets' need to be able to operate in any climate, including the sub-zero snows of Afghanistan. So, what's an army base to do? It sends it's troops away. Public Affairs officer, Col. Roger King.

RK: We have options available for units and especially for unit leadership to go to cold weather training centers such as the one in Alaska. There's cold weather training opportunities at Fort Drum, New York.

At Fort Bragg soldiers get plenty of outdoor training and also classroom pointers in winter warfare. But, King says there's no substitute for hands-on experience.

RK: Particularly in Alaska, you have a very deep snowpack that evolves over the course of a winter. But, depending on what time you go there you can get training on how to build snow and ice houses, you get some mountaineering, how to cross glaciers.

The national guard and the army reserves in southern locations also head north for similar training to Camp Ripley, in Minnesota and a mountain training camp in Vermont.

Correspondent Leda Hartman reports from her command post in Pittsboro, North Carolina. The Weather Notebook is a production of the Mount Washington Observatory and is supported generously by the national Science Foundation. Thanks today to Producer Margaret Landsman. Related Links

U.S. Army nutritional requirements for the cold
http://www.usariem.army.mil/nutri/nuadcold.htm