MEMOIRS
by RUSS JOHNSON
February
2002
The Sam Johnson of the 18th Century was said to have the greatest
mind and memory in the English speaking world. The Russ Johnson of
2002 has both children and grandchildren who insist that I not only
forget things but also remember things that didn't happen at all. This
should give you a backdrop for my "vivid" memories of 37
years ago.
Our
mission was certainly to develop and maintain the ability to provide
artillery support in an arctic environment, but to appreciate that you
have to understand the meaning of COLD. Once for 35 days the temperature
never went above 40 below, and that's straight thermometer reading; wind
chill often off the charts. Think of that in terms of vehicle
maintenance; forget the complicated stuff, just try starting your
vehicle up. Fortunately, we had on board the most talented maintenance
officer I have seen at any level, WO John Gronwald. He viewed the whole
thing as a personal challenge and developed and taught techniques that
beat the environment.
The
2/15 in Alaska was a fun loving, competent, "team" kind of a
group. This was largely because the environment provided a real enemy.
If young leaders did not think their actions through, men got frostbite
or worse; equipment broke or became non-operational. If lighter moments
were not provided, families were exposed to what was called " cabin
fever" during the never ending darkness of the winter months. It
was an "us against nature" thing that made command at all
levels relatively easy.
During
1965-66, a fire broke out close to Fairbanks, and for no particular
reason the battalion was called out around 10 PM to put it out.
What started as a seemingly minor mission turned out to be months of
fire fighting with the city of Fairbanks in danger. Since we were the
first unit on the scene, additional support units from the Army, Air
Force, and Bureau of Land Management were satellited onto us. The
commanding general and even the governor were visitors to our small
command post.
Fire,
like everything else in the arctic is different. Fire breaks don't work
because the fire can travel under ground in the tundra. We even fired
artillery at it. Once B battery was asked by the Air Force to form a
human arrow pointing at a particular hot spot so fire retardant could be
dropped. The RED retardant missed and landed on the men in the
battery. That evening the battery commander, John Dewey, asked if the
men with the red fatigues could keep and wear them, and they became
their "Red Badge of Courage." Eventually the fire was under
control ( rain finally put it out ) and the battalion, by the skill of
WO Gronwald returned to Fort Wainwright with ALL VEHICLES
OPERATIONAL.
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