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ANCHORAGE, Alaska (KTUU) – Fourteen soldiers and noncommissioned officers traveled to Alaska in July to compete in the Army National Guard Best Warrior Competition.
In what is considered a once-in-a-lifetime career competition for service members competing in Alaska, each state takes turns hosting the competition every 54 years.
“This was our opportunity — I’m glad I was around for it,” Sgt. Maj. Mike Grunst with the Alaska Army National Guard said.
Grunst said during soldiers’ time in service, they have a lot of moments that will define their time in uniform. This, for many Alaskan soldiers, will be that moment.
“We are going to have a lot of opportunities for those throughout our career, and this is the one my Alaskan soldiers are going to remember for the rest of their lives,” he said.
Competitors traveled to Alaska from all around the country — including Maine, Connecticut, West Virginia, Virginia, Tennessee, Georgia, Iowa, Minnesota, Montana, Wyoming, South Dakota, and Hawaii. Together, soldiers from the 12 states represent seven regions across the United States.
Competitions kicked off July 7, when soldiers and NCOs squared up to compete in a variety of over 25 tests that challenge both the mental and physical traits of a competitor to see who is considered the best of the best when it comes to the Army National Guard.
“It’s not going to highlight anyone who’s just a shooter; it’s not going to highlight somebody who’s just a really good speaker. It’s going to get somebody who can really understand the totality of being a soldier in the current operating environment,” Grunst said. “They are also competing on marksmanship. So, they’ve been using every individual weapon in the army inventory, they are using crew serve mission guns, they are serving on basic soldier task.”
The events gave soldiers and NCO’s a close-up experience of serving in Alaska, no matter the weather.
“Apparently rain avoidance, bear avoidance, moose avoidance, porcupine observation for the wildlife skills,” Grunst said when asked what competitors are facing.
The top five noncommissioned officers and soldiers will move forward to compete in a competition, pitting the U.S. Army during the U.S. Army Best Squad competition in the fall.
“There will be an amazing opportunity for us to show what the National Guard is capable of, which is winning,” Grunst said.
Competitions wrapped up on July 14. Spc. Luke Harrison from the Wyoming Guard dominated the competition and was named Soldier of the Year. Sgt. Bailey Ruff from the South Dakota Army Guard was named NCO of the Year. Army Guard members from Minnesota, West Virginia, and Missouri will be joining them to compete as a squad in the Army Best Squad Competition later this fall.
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The Anchorage Hillside is at high risk of wildfires, and between the abundance of flammable materials and the low number of roads, residents of the area could be in danger if a large fire breaks out. On this episode of Alaska Insight, host Lori Townsend and her guests discuss the ways researchers and the local fire department are working to help inform and prepare for wildfires in Anchorage.
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The U.S. Forest Service is planning to build a few dozen new cabins in the Tongass and Chugach National Forests in the coming years. The agency is proposing higher fees – $75 a night – to help keep up with the increased cost of maintenance.
Lifelong Petersburg resident Brian Richards and his wife stay at Forest Service cabins every summer. The 40-year-old said they reserve several cabins that they travel to by boat.
“It’s like a bucket list,” Richards said. “We want to use them all. I’d say we prefer cabins by lakes or rivers, you know, water, it just kind of adds another element.”
The couple sees their cabin stays as good for their mental health. Richards calls it “natural therapy” that helps them reconnect.
“The more we get out there and walk around and look at the trees and listen to the birds and just, you know, disconnect from civilization, I think it’s just incredibly beneficial,” he said.
Richards is excited to see more cabins coming to the area. The Forest Service plans two new cabins in the Tongass this year at El Capitan Interpretive Site and Mendenhall Campground, and four next year at Herbert Glacier in Juneau, Woodpecker Cove near Petersburg, Little Lake near Wrangell and Perseverance Lake near Ketchikan – they’re mostly on the road system for increased accessibility.
Similarly, there are six new cabins scheduled for the Chugach, with half built this year at Porcupine Campground in Hope, Meridian Lake near Seward and McKinley Lake near Cordova, and half next year at Granite Creek and Turnagain Pass. That means the Forest Service needs to set the nightly fees for the cabins soon. The agency is required to have fees set six months before they charge them.
“It can be tricky,” said John Suomala, the recreation program manager for the Tongass.
Suomala helps set the cabin fees. He uses a cost analysis that looks at several factors such as local economies and what similar cabins are going for.
“Part of it too is just, you know, local expertise, from the districts, people that live in these communities,” said Suomala. “Just kind of thinking about, you know, what are the prices within these communities now and what do you think your neighbors are willing to pay.”
The nightly fees for staying at a Forest Service cabin in Alaska mostly range from $35 to $75. All of the new cabins are proposed for $75 a night except for two – one near Ketchikan is $65 and one at Juneau’s Mendenhall campground is $125 because it has electricity and nearby showers.
The new cabins are just a fraction of what’s available to the public. The Tongass has 142 cabins just in Southeast. Most are remote and get visitors less than 10 nights a year. Last year, it cost the Forest Service $700,000 to maintain them. The nightly fees covered about $500,000.
Suomala said the popular, more accessible cabins help subsidize the remote ones – and that’s their hope with the new cabins coming on board. But ultimately, he said, the public will help set the price.
“We want feedback to, you know, to get an idea, like are we way off here?” Suomala said. “Do you think it should be higher? Do you think it should be lower? We can’t raise the fee based on feedback from the public but we can lower it.”
As for Richards, he said $75 a night won’t be a deal-breaker for him and his wife, Ola.
“Because, it’s worth it for us,” he said. “I guess my concern is for a lower-income family. I would hate to think that someone wouldn’t stay at a cabin because they can’t afford it. I think that’s a real shame.”
The deadline for public comments on the proposed cabin fees is July 2. People can comment in person, online, by phone, email or snail mail.
Rural Alaskans who face worsening climate conditions — from sea-level rise to melting permafrost — often don’t leave their homes for safer, more urbanized areas, according to newly published research from Pennsylvania State University.
Rather, such communities are more likely to adapt in place. For a handful, that means making hard choices about physically moving homes, buildings and infrastructure to secure ground nearby. But that costly option may not be available to many small, indigenous Arctic communities, which are among the most climate vulnerable in the world.
“Community relocation from climate-related environmental changes is a possible option in Alaska, but it is an unpopular and expensive process,” said Guangqing Chi, a professor of rural sociology, demography and public health sciences at Penn State and lead author of the paper published in the journal Regional Environmental Change.
The issue is not unique to Alaska. It is playing out in climate-threatened communities around the United States, from the Sea Islands of South Carolina, the ancestral home to the Gullah/Geechee Nation, to Isle de Jean Charles in Louisiana, where members of the Biloxi-Chitimacha-Choctaw tribe lived for two centuries before their island succumbed to storm surges and rising seas. Today, most former Isle de Jean Charles residents have moved to a new community 40 miles inland.
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