“Was that the last pass?” one 4th Infantry Brigade Combat Team (Airborne), 25th Infantry Division paratrooper asked another. “Any more and we’ll be landing on each other.”

“Nope, three more passes to go,” another responded. “Pick up and move off the drop zone.”

More than 800 Spartan Brigade paratroopers along with heavy equipment drops enveloped the skies over Malemute Drop Zone on Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson, Alaska, during dual mass-tactical airborne operations March 18 and 20 as part of Command Post Exercise Spartan Valkerie, one of three exercises leading up to the brigade’s Joint Readiness Training Center rotation scheduled for early 2016.

“Really, this training is all about force projection,” said Lt. Col. Ben Luper, battalion commander of 2nd Battalion, 377th Parachute Field Artillery Regiment. “We can take this capability any place in the arctic and the Pacific at no notice and provide a lethal capability.”

Airfield seizure was the objective during both days’ airborne missions. The training was primarily conducted by elements of the brigade’s headquarters by way of establishment of an Assault Command Post upon arrival on the drop zone. Spartan Brigade maneuver battalions 3rd Battalion (Airborne), 509th Infantry Regiment and 1st Battalion (Airborne), 501st Infantry Regiment led the lines along with the 2nd Battalion, 377th Parachute Field Artillery Regiment providing indirect fire with 105mm howitzers heavy dropped onto the drop zone. Though the conditions were less harsh than they have been this time of year historically, the ice and mountains presented a more constant challenge.

“This is perfect chaos,” Luper said. “A paratrooper is the only Soldier who arrives on the battlefield by himself. You must get on the ground, get out of your ‘chute, find a buddy, and get to the platform. This builds the mental and physical toughness required to carry that ‘chute and ruck to the assembly area, get to that howitzer, and put it into operation.”

This exercise, from the long flight in, to the follow-on missions, was designed to mirror real-world scenarios as well as the Spartan Brigade’s upcoming rotation at the Joint Readiness Training Center in Fort Polk, La. The exercise was supported by Air Force aircraft and crews from Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson, Joint Base Lewis-McChord, Wash., and Altus Air Force Base, Okla.

“We dropped two Howitzers with live ammunition providing indirect fires on the drop zone immediately upon arrival,” Luper said. “We provide that in support of the maneuver elements and the brigade commander’s objectives. Today, our first person was at the Howitzer in eight minutes. We had it off the platform in 18 and it was in position and ready to fire in 25 [minutes]. In Alaska, we train hard because the conditions are always harder. To do our job anywhere, you’ve got to train in the hardest conditions.”