Forged in the Arctic, Built for the Fight: 11th Airborne Division Trains Across Pacific

Joint Base Elmendorf–Richardson, Alaska — The 11th Airborne Division is forged in the Arctic, but its battlefield extends far beyond Alaska. Across the Pacific, Arctic Angels are training nearly simultaneously during Yama Sakura 91 and Orient Shield 26 in Japan, Yudh Abhyas 2026 in India, and Super Garuda Shield 26 in Indonesia. Separated by thousands of miles, the exercises place 11th Airborne Division Soldiers in different terrain, climates and formations alongside some of the United States’ closest allies and partners, all with a common purpose: build combat ready forces capable of moving, integrating and fighting together when required.

“The Arctic is our expertise, but it is not our limitation,” said Maj. Gen. John P. Cogbill, commanding general, 11th Airborne Division. “What you see across the Pacific is a division demonstrating that it can move forces across the theater, integrate with our allies and partners and remain ready to fight wherever the mission demands. From Alaska to Japan, India and Indonesia, our Soldiers are proving the reach, readiness and lethality this division brings to the region.”

Alaska is where that capability is forged. Extreme cold, isolation, limited infrastructure and vast distances leave little room for weakness. Soldiers must be able to survive, communicate, sustain themselves and accomplish the mission when the environment is actively working against them. That training produces formations accustomed to operating under pressure, solving problems with limited resources and continuing the mission when conditions deteriorate. The temperature and terrain may change across the Pacific, but the requirement for leaders to be engaged and build lethal formations does not.

In Indonesia, 11th Airborne Division Soldiers participating in Super Garuda Shield 26 are training alongside the Indonesian National Armed Forces and multinational partners. The exercise includes jungle training, a partnered joint forcible entry operation and follow-on field training designed to increase the ability of participating forces to operate as a combined team. The dense vegetation, heat and humidity create a problem set far removed from the Arctic, but they demand the same fundamentals: understand the terrain, maintain communications, sustain the force and preserve momentum against an opposing force.

In India, Arctic Angels are training alongside the Indian Army during Yudh Abhyas 2026. The bilateral exercise strengthens the ability of U.S. and Indian forces to operate together in demanding environments while building upon the partnership reinforced during Yudh Abhyas 2025 in Alaska. Mountainous and austere terrain places additional demands on Soldiers and leaders, requiring formations capable of adapting quickly, sustaining combat power and continuing operations when normal advantages become difficult to maintain.

“We optimize to train in the extreme cold, high latitude, mountainous terrain and by operating in the harshest environment in the world,” said Command Sgt. Maj. David P. Hanson, command sergeant major, 11th Airborne Division. “We can operate anywhere in the Pacific.”

At the same time, 11th Airborne Division Soldiers in Japan are strengthening the command-and- control and interoperability required for combined operations. During Yama Sakura 91, Soldiers are working alongside the Japan Ground Self-Defense Force and Australian Army during a trilateral command post exercise focused on the ability to plan, synchronize and command forces across a complex battlefield. The exercise requires staff from three nations to overcome differences in doctrine, terminology, systems and processes in order to build the shared understanding required to make decisions and synchronize effects at the speed of combat.

Following the conclusion of Yama Sakura 91, 11th Airborne Division Soldiers will transition into Orient Shield 26, continuing bilateral training with the Japan Ground Self-Defense Force. The exercise will provide another opportunity to strengthen U.S.-Japan warfighting capability and build upon the relationships, systems and interoperability developed through repeated training together. While Yama Sakura focuses on trilateral command-and-control alongside Japanese and Australian forces, Orient Shield will continue the division’s progression of training in Japan and reinforce the ability of U.S. and Japanese forces to operate together in competition, crisis or conflict.

The scale of the division’s participation across the Pacific is itself a demonstration of readiness. The 11th Airborne Division is not concentrating its forces on a single training area, exercise or mission. Elements of the formation are operating across multiple countries and environments during the same training period while the division continues to maintain forces and responsibilities in Alaska. In a theater defined by immense distances, that ability to operate distributed requires forces that can deploy, sustain themselves, communicate across distance, integrate with partners and remain capable of closing with and defeating an enemy.

The Arctic prepares Soldiers for that kind of fight. Alaska forces Soldiers and leaders to operate when equipment is stressed, movement is difficult, resources are limited and the environment punishes mistakes. Those conditions build disciplined formations that understand how to maintain combat power when circumstances are at their worst. When Arctic Angels leave Alaska, they carry those lessons with them.

From the Arctic to the mountains of India, the jungles of Indonesia and training areas across Japan, the 11th Airborne Division is demonstrating that its Soldiers are not defined by a single environment. The Arctic is where they are forged. The Pacific is where they prove that capability can translate anywhere the mission demands.

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