Winter War: U.S. Military Buys Thousands of Skis
U.S. MILITARY PREPARES FOR WINTER WAR WITH NORTH KOREA, RUSSIA BY BUYING THOUSANDS OF SKISBY JOHN HALTIWANGER ON 12/29/17 AT 4:50 PM
The U.S. military is buying thousands of skis for the U.S. Marine Corps to enhance its preparedness for cold weather operations as tensions grow with Russia and North Korea—countries known for having brutal winters.
The Marine Corps is spending $7 million on the winter equipment—a total of 2,648 sets of new skis, boots and binding for scout snipers, reconnaissance Marines and infantry Marines, Military Times reported Friday. This move is reportedly due to the fact the old skis were breaking. Marines stationed with the rotational force in Norway, deployed to the country back in January, will be the first to receive the new skis.
Link to tweet
There are currently roughly 300 Marines in the Scandinavian country—a fact that has provoked ire from Russia, which shares a border with Norway. When plans to send the Marines to Norway were announced last year in October, Russia swiftly decried the decision. At the time, the Russian embassy in Oslo told Reuters, “Taking into account multiple statements of Norwegian officials about the absence of threat from Russia to Norway we would like to understand for what purposes is Norway so...willing to increase its military potential, in particular through stationing of American forces in Vaernes?”
Related: U.S. military needs more troops in Europe in case of war with Russia, U.S. army chief warns
As Russia has become increasingly aggressive across Europe, engaging in conflicts from Georgia to Ukraine (and annexing Crimea), the U.S. military has sought to modernize its forces in the region. The U.S. has also butted heads with Russia over their competing roles in the conflict in Syria.
more
http://www.newsweek.com/us-military-prepares-winter-war-north-korea-russia-and-buys-thousands-skis-765471
= new reply since forum marked as read
and bilk the US taxpayers up the wazoo for $25-a-cup hot chocolate provided by Private Contractors, Inc. (R).
the kgop will just take a loan from China. They've already shownus that deficits don't matter. 
We were part of a Mountain Infantry battalion in the Northeast - the first dedicated to mountain warfare since WWII. They used us as a testing unit, along with SF, for a lot of high speed gear such as gore tex and polypro underwear, that later became standard issue stuff. We used Dynastar (I think) mountaineering skis, with Italian bindings, and plastic shell Austrian mountaineering boots that were all too narrow for our American feet. 
Anyways, seems like a lot better use of $7 million than another dime spent for the F-35. 
(Also, skiing with night vision goggles is a blast. 
)
Had my ACL replaced back in 2000. The surgeon said it was an "old" injury - probably dated back to the 80's, when I was in the Army. 
The 10th Mountain Division was reactivated at Ft. Drum around the same time, as a light infantry division. They probably adopted some of the ideas and training we were experimenting with later on, though. We had infantry companies from Maine, New Hampshire, and New York, with our headquarters in Vermont running an all services Mountain Warfare school. Had a few special forces and navy corpsmen in classes when I went through it. Also got to spend a month winter training with Italian Alpini troops in Northern Italy. Spent all day climbing up the Alps, and half an hour falling, er, skiing, back down, every day.
I'm impressed with the imbecilic military strategery of the republican Draft-Dodger-in-Chief and his cadre of war-profiteering cronies & comrades.
