U.S. Army Capt. Kate Alfin, a UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter pilot with the 12th Combat Aviation Brigade based at Ansbach, Germany, graduated from the Allied Winter Course at the Norwegian School of Winter Warfare here, Jan. 28.
Alfin is the first female soldier from an allied NATO military to complete the course, which took place Jan. 4-30 at the Terningmoen infantry training camp 140 kilometers northeast of Oslo, Norway.
Cold Weather Training Course
The Allied Winter Course is 26 days long and provides students with the basic knowledge and practical experience to operate in cold weather environments, to include survival, mobility and leadership under winter conditions.
"At the Norwegian School for Winter Warfare we run courses for officers and noncommissioned officers," said Norwegian Army Capt. Hans Olaf Kalsveen, course officer. "We also have avalanche warning courses and sere courses in the autumn available to all our NATO allies."
"The course was extremely challenging," Alfin said. "I learned a lot of important techniques for winter operations that I will take back to my unit and apply toward future training and exercises across Europe."
The Allied Winter Course is held annually at the Norwegian School of Winter Warfare.