Last week’s snowstorm was something most people would be happy to not see again for some time. However, in the North Country, it was a chance for soldiers to practice in conditions they may see overseas — and conditions the first soldiers of Fort Drum’s 10th Mountain Division trained in approximately 80 years ago.

“There's been a lot of renewed emphasis on this,” 10th Mountain Division Special Operation Forces Planner Major Sam Colby said, “on linking the two legacies of the division in World War II that was founded in Camp Hill and then fought in Italy, and then the division that was reactivated here at Fort Drum and has deployed in numerous places since then.

“Just like the World War II division and the division since then as well, we don't know where the next fight is. We don't know exactly what the next the next challenge will be,” Colby continued.

So, in last week's major snowstorm, the division found an opportunity for young leaders to understand that they and their teams can thrive in any conditions they may face the next time they get the call.

“We know that we'll be presented with a challenging set of environmental factors that our low-level leaders will have to solve,” Colby said.

The training is known as D-Series, reminiscent of decades ago, but one that allows new, young soldiers to make their own decisions to move forward.

“They practice making decisions to develop confidence [on] their own, in the equipment that we've that we've issued them, and to better build those ties within their teams,” Colby said. “We don't know what the next battlefield is.”

The teams that perform best in the training will compete in a competition in Colorado next month.