Enrolled HR 12: Supporting the establishment of a special operations extreme environmental testing and training center in the North Slope region.
00Enrolled HR 12 01 Supporting the establishment of a special operations extreme environmental testing and 02 training center in the North Slope region. 03 _______________ 04 BE IT RESOLVED BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES: 05 WHEREAS the unique characteristics of the Alaska Native villages, including the 06 culture, linguistics, tribal organization, disposition, varied geography, extensive land area, 07 lengthy periods of limited visibility, and approaches from land, air, and sea, provide a unique 08 opportunity for special operations forces training and exercises that accurately replicate real- 09 world missions; and 10 WHEREAS the training capacity in cold weather survival and operations of the 11 armed forces of the United States has significantly diminished because of contingency 12 deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan over the last 10 years; and 13 WHEREAS the cold weather expertise of Alaska Natives provides the capability to 14 train special operations forces in cold weather survival and operations; and 15 WHEREAS the establishment of a special operations extreme environmental testing 16 and training center will provide seasonal employment opportunities for Alaska Natives in and 17 around Native villages; and
01 WHEREAS the establishment of a special operations extreme environmental testing 02 and training center will engage at least eight villages for up to 90 days each year, creating 03 hundreds of part-time seasonal positions; and 04 WHEREAS the establishment of a special operations extreme environmental testing 05 and training center will create new village revenue not associated with state or local 06 government or the petroleum industry; and 07 WHEREAS special operations forces training with village residents would expand the 08 ability of the state and the nation to respond to search and rescue calls, incident response and 09 consequence management, and the national, state, and local security requirements; and 10 WHEREAS special operations are conducted with highly mature, experienced, elite, 11 small units that will have a negligible effect on regional, local, cultural, and industrial 12 interests; and 13 WHEREAS the armed forces of the United States in the state fully support the special 14 operations extreme environmental testing and training center concept and make available 15 United States military facilities, including the Donnelly Training Area and the Northern 16 Warfare Training Center, to support special operations forces training; and 17 WHEREAS the establishment of a special operations extreme environmental testing 18 and training center would support the efforts of the armed forces of the United States in the 19 state to increase the visibility of training opportunities, facilities, and cold weather equipment 20 that are unique to the state; and 21 WHEREAS the establishment of a special operations extreme environmental testing 22 and training center would support Alaska National Guard training and recruitment efforts; 23 BE IT RESOLVED that the House of Representatives supports the establishment of 24 the special operations extreme environmental testing and training center in the North Slope 25 region of the state; and be it 26 FURTHER RESOLVED that the House of Representatives respectfully requests the 27 Governor to encourage the United States Special Operations Command to consider the unique 28 training opportunity for special operations forces and the mutual benefits to the nation and 29 state that a special operations extreme environmental testing and training center in the North 30 Slope region would provide. 31 COPIES of this resolution shall be sent to Major General Thomas H. Katkus, General
01 Patrick Gamble, General Joseph Ralston, Major General Mark Hamilton, Rear Admiral James 02 Underwood, Loren Lounsbury, Jim Dodson, and John Katz, members of the Alaska Military 03 Force Advocacy and Structure Team; Lieutenant General Stephen L. Hoog, Commander, 04 Alaska Command; Major General Raymond Palumbo, Commander, United States Army 05 Alaska; the Honorable Sean Parnell, Governor of Alaska; and the Honorable Lisa Murkowski 06 and the Honorable Mark Begich, U.S. Senators, and the Honorable Don Young, U.S. 07 Representative, members of the Alaska delegation in Congress.