U.S. Soldier Killed in Bear Attack on Alaska Army Base

BY Herschel Smith
1 year, 10 months ago

F&S.

A U.S. Army soldier was killed in a fatal bear attack while on a training exercise in Anchorage, Alaska, Tuesday. The soldier, whose name is being withheld until family is notified, was part of a small group from Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson (JBER) operating in Training Area 412 west of the Anchorage Regional Landfill, according to a statement from the base.

Initial reports have not indicated what species of bear was involved in the attack. A video on the JBER website that urges caution in dealing with a heavy bear presence shows both black and grizzly bears on the base, which covers 64,213 acres of coastal lowlands surrounded by high mountain chains, mostly consisting of wild areas dotted with lakes and swamps. Hunting and fishing are allowed on the base, and access is managed through the use of an online registration system. Training Area 412 was closed to the public after the incident, which is Alaska’s first fatal bear attack of 2022.

Does Military.com know something we don’t?

A soldier died in a bear attack during a training exercise at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson, Alaska, the Army announced Monday.

It is unclear whether the soldier was equipped with bear spray, or if their unit supplies the spray to all of its troops. A packing list for students at Alaska’s Cold Weather Leaders Course, the region’s premier school training soldiers to survive in the area, does not include bear spray.

The base news release says nothing about cold weather training, but of course it does say that he perished in training.

What do we make of the Military.com report?  Are they sending Soldiers out to train in the region of the country most densely populated by bears without carrying means of self defense?  Are they doing that?  Do they not trust them with handguns?

Bear spray?  Seriously?

Bear spray?


Comments

  1. On May 11, 2022 at 11:46 pm, TheAlaskan said:

    @ Herschel

    “Are they sending Soldiers out to train in the region
    of the country most densely populated by bears without carrying means of self defense? ”

    Yes they do that. Never heard them being issued bear spray. Remember, most, if not all Soldiers up here are NOT bear savvy. I don’t think I’ve ever heard of a Soldier being killed by a bear while training. I could be wrong, but I’ve been up here over forty years.

  2. On May 12, 2022 at 12:05 am, Georgiaboy61 said:

    @ Herschel

    Re: “What do we make of the Military.com report? Are they sending Soldiers out to train in the region of the country most densely populated by bears without carrying means of self defense? Are they doing that? Do they not trust them with handguns?”

    I’m sure your former Marine son can give you chapter-and-verse on this subject, but here goes anyway…

    You’d think that anyone who swore the oath to protect and defend the republic and all of that good stuff, i.e., someone who has willingly placed his life in harm’s way, if it should come to that – in defense of the nation, could be trusted to bear arms in self-defense. But that’s not how mil.gov does things.

    Small arms are kept in locked arms lockers and arms rooms while forces are in garrison, and only selected personnel are issued keys, typically officers and senior NCOs, and also personnel whose MOS involves the bearing of arms in a military law-enforcement role, such as MPs and SPs (navy shore patrol).

    But if you don’t belong to one of those categories, you are out-of-luck when it comes to bearing arms, either on base or on training exercises. And even on many deployments, National Guard and other forces may be uniformed and under arms while engaged in disaster relief or riot control, but in many instances, they are not issued ammunition. I must be dense, because I fail to see the “logic” of issuing small arms to the troops but not ammunition. If the situation is serious-enough to warrant the issue of arms, then shouldn’t it also be serious-enough to merit the issue of ammunition?

    These sorts of inconsistencies are what bring us such ridiculous absurdities as the Ft. Hood mass-murderer, Nadal Hasan – the former army psychiatrist-turned-jihadist – who slew nearly at will in the midst of thousands of soldiers during his ramage of August 2013. Why? Because Big Green did not trust its own personnel to carry sidearms while on base. Indeed, the security guard who stopped Hasan’s spree – Dept.of the Army police officer Mark Todd – was a civilian.

    And if Big Green and the other services won’t trust their personnel to carry side-arms in garrison then it is not surprising that they won’t trust them to carry them in the wild, either. I am not privy to the current regs, but I recall reading someplace that it is also hard to get permission to own privately-owned firearms while in the armed forces, even for recreational use hunting and other purposes. Maybe your son can comment on that….

  3. On May 12, 2022 at 6:17 am, Fred said:

    “Anchorage Regional Landfill”

    Dangerous place to be anywhere near when bear come out in the spring.

  4. On May 12, 2022 at 6:22 am, Wes said:

    They could’ve been just be-bopping around to lay out a compass course.
    But carry (adequate) weapons to suppress “beloved” wildlife? Heresy.

  5. On May 12, 2022 at 6:49 am, Dov said:

    Yes they send you out helpless.

    Back in the late 1990’s, I went through Mountain Warfare Training Center’s winter survival class. I was flying F/A-18’s at the time nearby and spent many weekends dog sled camping in that area, so I called up the instructors and asked if they provide a weapon or should I bring my own. I will never forget the answer: long pause, then ‘well, ma’am, we don’t allow firearms.’ I was floored! Bears were a big problem around there and no one with half a brain cell went out overnight without weapons, even when you had 10 dogs with you!

  6. On May 12, 2022 at 11:03 am, Agammamon said:

    Of course they trust them with handguns – they just don’t trust us with *ammunition*.

    One of the least defended places in the country is a military base.

  7. On May 12, 2022 at 11:09 am, Drake said:

    Yep. In the Marines and even the National Guard, I often went to the field with a rifle – and never with any ammo. They simply do not trust soldiers with ammo except on the range. Even on a deployment, we were issued ammo way too close for comfort to the enemy.

  8. On May 12, 2022 at 11:48 am, Bones said:

    We did a training mission to the AK NG in October ’88. My team carried live ammo for our M16A1’s against policy. I had my S&W Model 29, .44 mag with me, definitely against policy. The final part of our exercise was a 50 mile hump out of the tundra, and we came upon mama and baby bear tracks multiple times along the way. Didn’t see the bears, fortunately for us.

    Later, another team got deployed to AK for a training direct action mission run by SOCPAC. After the mission, they ordered the team to dump rucksacks, and everyone had live ammo. Team Commander, (former enlisted MACVSOG NCO), got fired.

    The Army doesn’t trust troops with ammo, and doesn’t care about real threats, like bears, either.

  9. On May 12, 2022 at 12:03 pm, Red Man said:

    Military.com? The website that dropped the comment section? Not putting much faith in what they write.

    “Another General fired, but we won’t say why”

  10. On May 12, 2022 at 1:08 pm, TheAlaskan said:

    Amazingly, just saw a bear on the road near my farm. Black. They’re about. Packing the 44 from now on…

  11. On May 12, 2022 at 5:09 pm, JB said:

    A Russian Bear ?

  12. On May 12, 2022 at 9:02 pm, Bravo1019 said:

    Bones, I was on that same mission in ’88. We gave all of our 5.56 to a civilian that worked for a gold mining company on the outskirts of Nome.

    I remember the incident that got the team ldr relieved, although I was off the team by then.

    Herschel would you give Bones my email address. Thanks.

  13. On May 15, 2022 at 3:59 am, Dov said:

    “Bear spray” should mean a shotgun.

RSS feed for comments on this post. TrackBack URL

Leave a comment


You are currently reading "U.S. Soldier Killed in Bear Attack on Alaska Army Base", entry #30285 on The Captain's Journal.

This article is filed under the category(s) Animals and was published May 11th, 2022 by Herschel Smith.

If you're interested in what else the The Captain's Journal has to say, you might try thumbing through the archives and visiting the main index, or; perhaps you would like to learn more about TCJ.

26th MEU (10)
Abu Muqawama (12)
ACOG (2)
ACOGs (1)
Afghan National Army (36)
Afghan National Police (17)
Afghanistan (704)
Afghanistan SOFA (4)
Agriculture in COIN (3)
AGW (1)
Air Force (40)
Air Power (10)
al Qaeda (83)
Ali al-Sistani (1)
America (22)
Ammunition (275)
Animals (282)
Ansar al Sunna (15)
Anthropology (3)
Antonin Scalia (1)
AR-15s (373)
Arghandab River Valley (1)
Arlington Cemetery (2)
Army (86)
Assassinations (2)
Assault Weapon Ban (28)
Australian Army (7)
Azerbaijan (4)
Backpacking (2)
Badr Organization (8)
Baitullah Mehsud (21)
Basra (17)
BATFE (218)
Battle of Bari Alai (2)
Battle of Wanat (18)
Battle Space Weight (3)
Bin Laden (7)
Blogroll (3)
Blogs (24)
Body Armor (23)
Books (3)
Border War (18)
Brady Campaign (1)
Britain (38)
British Army (35)
Camping (5)
Canada (17)
Castle Doctrine (1)
Caucasus (6)
CENTCOM (7)
Center For a New American Security (8)
Charity (3)
China (16)
Christmas (16)
CIA (30)
Civilian National Security Force (3)
Col. Gian Gentile (9)
Combat Outposts (3)
Combat Video (2)
Concerned Citizens (6)
Constabulary Actions (3)
Coolness Factor (3)
COP Keating (4)
Corruption in COIN (4)
Council on Foreign Relations (1)
Counterinsurgency (218)
DADT (2)
David Rohde (1)
Defense Contractors (2)
Department of Defense (210)
Department of Homeland Security (26)
Disaster Preparedness (5)
Distributed Operations (5)
Dogs (15)
Donald Trump (27)
Drone Campaign (4)
EFV (3)
Egypt (12)
El Salvador (1)
Embassy Security (1)
Enemy Spotters (1)
Expeditionary Warfare (17)
F-22 (2)
F-35 (1)
Fallujah (17)
Far East (3)
Fathers and Sons (2)
Favorite (1)
Fazlullah (3)
FBI (39)
Featured (189)
Federal Firearms Laws (18)
Financing the Taliban (2)
Firearms (1,758)
Football (1)
Force Projection (35)
Force Protection (4)
Force Transformation (1)
Foreign Policy (27)
Fukushima Reactor Accident (6)
Ganjgal (1)
Garmsir (1)
general (15)
General Amos (1)
General James Mattis (1)
General McChrystal (44)
General McKiernan (6)
General Rodriguez (3)
General Suleimani (9)
Georgia (19)
GITMO (2)
Google (1)
Gulbuddin Hekmatyar (1)
Gun Control (1,634)
Guns (2,298)
Guns In National Parks (3)
Haditha Roundup (10)
Haiti (2)
HAMAS (7)
Haqqani Network (9)
Hate Mail (8)
Hekmatyar (1)
Heroism (4)
Hezbollah (12)
High Capacity Magazines (16)
High Value Targets (9)
Homecoming (1)
Homeland Security (3)
Horses (2)
Humor (72)
Hunting (31)
ICOS (1)
IEDs (7)
Immigration (106)
India (10)
Infantry (4)
Information Warfare (4)
Infrastructure (4)
Intelligence (23)
Intelligence Bulletin (6)
Iran (171)
Iraq (379)
Iraq SOFA (23)
Islamic Facism (64)
Islamists (98)
Israel (19)
Jaish al Mahdi (21)
Jalalabad (1)
Japan (3)
Jihadists (81)
John Nagl (5)
Joint Intelligence Centers (1)
JRTN (1)
Kabul (1)
Kajaki Dam (1)
Kamdesh (9)
Kandahar (12)
Karachi (7)
Kashmir (2)
Khost Province (1)
Khyber (11)
Knife Blogging (7)
Korea (4)
Korengal Valley (3)
Kunar Province (20)
Kurdistan (3)
Language in COIN (5)
Language in Statecraft (1)
Language Interpreters (2)
Lashkar-e-Taiba (2)
Law Enforcement (6)
Lawfare (14)
Leadership (6)
Lebanon (6)
Leon Panetta (2)
Let Them Fight (2)
Libya (14)
Lines of Effort (3)
Littoral Combat (8)
Logistics (50)
Long Guns (1)
Lt. Col. Allen West (2)
Marine Corps (280)
Marines in Bakwa (1)
Marines in Helmand (67)
Marjah (4)
MEDEVAC (2)
Media (67)
Medical (146)
Memorial Day (6)
Mexican Cartels (41)
Mexico (61)
Michael Yon (6)
Micromanaging the Military (7)
Middle East (1)
Military Blogging (26)
Military Contractors (5)
Military Equipment (25)
Militia (9)
Mitt Romney (3)
Monetary Policy (1)
Moqtada al Sadr (2)
Mosul (4)
Mountains (25)
MRAPs (1)
Mullah Baradar (1)
Mullah Fazlullah (1)
Mullah Omar (3)
Musa Qala (4)
Music (25)
Muslim Brotherhood (6)
Nation Building (2)
National Internet IDs (1)
National Rifle Association (95)
NATO (15)
Navy (30)
Navy Corpsman (1)
NCOs (3)
News (1)
NGOs (3)
Nicholas Schmidle (2)
Now Zad (19)
NSA (3)
NSA James L. Jones (6)
Nuclear (62)
Nuristan (8)
Obama Administration (221)
Offshore Balancing (1)
Operation Alljah (7)
Operation Khanjar (14)
Ossetia (7)
Pakistan (165)
Paktya Province (1)
Palestine (5)
Patriotism (7)
Patrolling (1)
Pech River Valley (11)
Personal (72)
Petraeus (14)
Pictures (1)
Piracy (13)
Pistol (4)
Pizzagate (21)
Police (648)
Police in COIN (3)
Policy (15)
Politics (970)
Poppy (2)
PPEs (1)
Prisons in Counterinsurgency (12)
Project Gunrunner (20)
PRTs (1)
Qatar (1)
Quadrennial Defense Review (2)
Quds Force (13)
Quetta Shura (1)
RAND (3)
Recommended Reading (14)
Refueling Tanker (1)
Religion (491)
Religion and Insurgency (19)
Reuters (1)
Rick Perry (4)
Rifles (1)
Roads (4)
Rolling Stone (1)
Ron Paul (1)
ROTC (1)
Rules of Engagement (75)
Rumsfeld (1)
Russia (37)
Sabbatical (1)
Sangin (1)
Saqlawiyah (1)
Satellite Patrols (2)
Saudi Arabia (4)
Scenes from Iraq (1)
Second Amendment (668)
Second Amendment Quick Hits (2)
Secretary Gates (9)
Sharia Law (3)
Shura Ittehad-ul-Mujahiden (1)
SIIC (2)
Sirajuddin Haqqani (1)
Small Wars (72)
Snipers (9)
Sniveling Lackeys (2)
Soft Power (4)
Somalia (8)
Sons of Afghanistan (1)
Sons of Iraq (2)
Special Forces (28)
Squad Rushes (1)
State Department (23)
Statistics (1)
Sunni Insurgency (10)
Support to Infantry Ratio (1)
Supreme Court (52)
Survival (185)
SWAT Raids (57)
Syria (38)
Tactical Drills (38)
Tactical Gear (14)
Taliban (168)
Taliban Massing of Forces (4)
Tarmiyah (1)
TBI (1)
Technology (21)
Tehrik-i-Taliban (78)
Terrain in Combat (1)
Terrorism (96)
Thanksgiving (13)
The Anbar Narrative (23)
The Art of War (5)
The Fallen (1)
The Long War (20)
The Surge (3)
The Wounded (13)
Thomas Barnett (1)
Transnational Insurgencies (5)
Tribes (5)
TSA (24)
TSA Ineptitude (13)
TTPs (4)
U.S. Border Patrol (6)
U.S. Border Security (18)
U.S. Sovereignty (23)
UAVs (2)
UBL (4)
Ukraine (10)
Uncategorized (98)
Universal Background Check (3)
Unrestricted Warfare (4)
USS Iwo Jima (2)
USS San Antonio (1)
Uzbekistan (1)
V-22 Osprey (4)
Veterans (3)
Vietnam (1)
War & Warfare (412)
War & Warfare (41)
War Movies (4)
War Reporting (21)
Wardak Province (1)
Warriors (6)
Waziristan (1)
Weapons and Tactics (79)
West Point (1)
Winter Operations (1)
Women in Combat (21)
WTF? (1)
Yemen (1)

March 2024
February 2024
January 2024
December 2023
November 2023
October 2023
September 2023
August 2023
July 2023
June 2023
May 2023
April 2023
March 2023
February 2023
January 2023
December 2022
November 2022
October 2022
September 2022
August 2022
July 2022
June 2022
May 2022
April 2022
March 2022
February 2022
January 2022
December 2021
November 2021
October 2021
September 2021
August 2021
July 2021
June 2021
May 2021
April 2021
March 2021
February 2021
January 2021
December 2020
November 2020
October 2020
September 2020
August 2020
July 2020
June 2020
May 2020
April 2020
March 2020
February 2020
January 2020
December 2019
November 2019
October 2019
September 2019
August 2019
July 2019
June 2019
May 2019
April 2019
March 2019
February 2019
January 2019
December 2018
November 2018
October 2018
September 2018
August 2018
July 2018
June 2018
May 2018
April 2018
March 2018
February 2018
January 2018
December 2017
November 2017
October 2017
September 2017
August 2017
July 2017
June 2017
May 2017
April 2017
March 2017
February 2017
January 2017
December 2016
November 2016
October 2016
September 2016
August 2016
July 2016
June 2016
May 2016
April 2016
March 2016
February 2016
January 2016
December 2015
November 2015
October 2015
September 2015
August 2015
July 2015
June 2015
May 2015
April 2015
March 2015
February 2015
January 2015
December 2014
November 2014
October 2014
September 2014
August 2014
July 2014
June 2014
May 2014
April 2014
March 2014
February 2014
January 2014
December 2013
November 2013
October 2013
September 2013
August 2013
July 2013
June 2013
May 2013
April 2013
March 2013
February 2013
January 2013
December 2012
November 2012
October 2012
September 2012
August 2012
July 2012
June 2012
May 2012
April 2012
March 2012
February 2012
January 2012
December 2011
November 2011
October 2011
September 2011
August 2011
July 2011
June 2011
May 2011
April 2011
March 2011
February 2011
January 2011
December 2010
November 2010
October 2010
September 2010
August 2010
July 2010
June 2010
May 2010
April 2010
March 2010
February 2010
January 2010
December 2009
November 2009
October 2009
September 2009
August 2009
July 2009
June 2009
May 2009
April 2009
March 2009
February 2009
January 2009
December 2008
November 2008
October 2008
September 2008
August 2008
July 2008
June 2008
May 2008
April 2008
March 2008
February 2008
January 2008
December 2007
November 2007
October 2007
September 2007
August 2007
July 2007
June 2007
May 2007
April 2007
March 2007
February 2007
January 2007
December 2006
November 2006
October 2006
September 2006
August 2006
July 2006
June 2006
May 2006

about · archives · contact · register

Copyright © 2006-2024 Captain's Journal. All rights reserved.