Army’s new Arctic strategy takes shape in Alaska’s frigid interior February 17 Paratroopers with 4th Brigade, 25th Infantry Division, cross a linear danger area during an assault at Donnelly Training Area, Alaska, Feb. 11, 2021. (Staff Sgt. Alex Skripnichuk/Army) Everything takes longer in sub-zero temperatures. Dismantling crew-served weapons, setting up a tent or simply keeping water from freezing solid are among the daily soldiering tasks that become markedly more difficult as temperatures drop and fingers numb. Curbing the cold’s deleterious effects on electronics, machines and the human body is something troops assigned to U.S. Army Alaska command once knew well, but two decades of deployments to the Middle East eroded much of that ingrained knowledge.