Alpena CRTC hosts Northern Strike exercises
News Photo by Temi Fadayomi Northern Strike participants participate in joint firefighter exercise on Tuesday.
News Photo by Temi Fadayomi Northern Strike participants participate in joint firefighter exercise on Tuesday.
News Photo by Temi Fadayomi Northern Strike participants participate in joint firefighter exercise on Tuesday.
News Photo by Temi Fadayomi Northern Strike participants participate in joint firefighter exercise on Tuesday.
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ALPENA -- The Alpena Combat Readiness Training Center is once again this month hosting Northern Strike exercises which see military members engage in specialized training to help prepare them for real world scenarios.
That training was on display Tuesday at the CRTC during a joint training exercise that saw firefighters execute a variety of maneuvers as well as preparing for certain scenarios and positions. The participants in that training were a mixture of American and Latvian firefighters.
"We are currently working on propelling and familiarization with our rope systems," Airman Lucas Shelton, a firefighter with the 127th wing, Selfridge Air National Guard base said. "Later in the week, we are going to be doing some live fire burnings as well as car fires, confined space rescue."
Other training exercises held at the CRTC included tactical cyber training, which saw Northern Strike participants train to prepare for current and future scenarios that they could face in the realm of cyber and electronic warfare.
There was also airdrop training that saw participants take off in an aircraft and practice airdropping items that could prove valuable in real world situations.
Northern Strike is an annual exercise sees more than 7,000 participants from more than two dozen states, one territory, and four international partners meet at the National All-Domain Warfighting Center, which includes the Camp Grayling Maneuver Training Center the Alpena CRTC, the Selfridge Air National Guard Base, and the Oscoda-Wurtsmith Airfield for training focused on expeditionary skills, command and control, sustainment, and joint integrated fires.
Northern Strike participants like Shelton say that the Alpena provides the ideal environment for the kind of collaborative training that is done during North Strike.
"Alpena is very very special because there are not many places where we can come together in a joint environment and train and get hands-on real world experience," Shelton said.
Northern Strike began on Aug. 5 and goes until Aug. 19.