With the cold breed: For soldiers of the 11th Airborne Division, ‘winter is always coming’

Things break in the bitter cold of America’s northern reaches. Batteries die. Fuel and other vital fluids freeze. Vehicles become trapped in ice and snow. Appendages and limbs? If soldiers aren’t careful, such injuries can unravel any semblance of situational control. Survival in Alaska’s vast wilderness, where any hint of complacency can indeed kill, presents a colossal difficulty. Training service members to fight in these environs is an undertaking even more daunting. For the soldiers of the U.S. Army’s 11th Airborne Division, this task rests, ultimately, on the shoulders of Maj. Gen. John…