Air Force
GalleryMinnesota Air National Guard airmen brave the elements with cold-water immersion training
Stars and Stripes
February 10, 2025
Staff Sgt. Duane Southworth, a Security Forces specialist assigned to the 148th Security Forces Squadron, 148th Fighter Wing, Minnesota Air National Guard, participates in a cold-water immersion as part of the Air National Guard’s cold weather operations course at Camp Ripley Training Center, Minn., Feb. 7, 2025. (Audra Flanagan/U.S. Air National Guard)
Minnesota Air National Guard students from the cold weather operations course at Camp Ripley Training Center participated in a cold-water immersion on Friday.
The exercise was part of a six-day field training where the students traveled on foot in subzero temperatures, used land navigational skills and built camps featuring either a 10-man Arctic tent or thermal shelters made from materials found in nature.
The course taught service members to conduct a mission-essential tasking in extreme cold environments.
Tech Sgt. Henri Doung, a Security Forces specialist assigned to the 163rd Security Forces Squadron, 163rd Attack Wing, California Air National Guard, participates in a cold-water immersion as part of the Air National Guard’s cold weather operations course at Camp Ripley Training Center, Minn., Feb. 7, 2025. (Audra Flanagan/U.S. Air National Guard)
Staff Sgt. Dante Sunseri, a Security Forces specialist assigned to the 124th Security Forces Squadron, 124th Fighter Wing, Idaho Air National Guard, participates in a cold-water immersion as part of the Air National Guard’s cold weather operations course at Camp Ripley Training Center, Minn., Feb. 7, 2025. (Audra Flanagan/U.S. Air National Guard)
Private Joshua Gray, assigned to the 3rd Canadian Division’s Lake Superior Scottish Regiment, 38th Brigade Group, Thunder Bay, Ontario, participates in a cold-water immersion as part of the Air National Guard’s cold weather operations course at Camp Ripley Training Center, Minn., on Feb. 7, 2025. (Audra Flanagan/U.S. Air National Guard)
Staff Sgt. Jarren Crawford, a Security Forces specialist assigned to the 184th Security Forces Squadron, 184th Wing, Kansas Air National Guard, participates in a cold-water immersion as part of the Air National Guard’s cold weather operations course at Camp Ripley Training Center, Minn., Feb. 7, 2025. (Audra Flanagan/U.S. Air National Guard)
Corporal Nathan Rydholm, assigned to the 3rd Canadian Division’s Lake Superior Scottish Regiment, 38th Brigade Group, Thunder Bay, Ontario, participates in a cold-water immersion as part of the Air National Guard’s cold weather operations course at Camp Ripley Training Center, Minn., Feb. 7, 2025. (Audra Flanagan/U.S. Air National Guard)
Tech. Sgt. Joseph Yoder, a Security Forces specialist assigned to the 132nd Security Forces Squadron, 132nd Wing, Iowa Air National Guard, participates in a cold-water immersion as part of the Air National Guard’s cold weather operations course at Camp Ripley Training Center, Minn., Feb. 7, 2025. (Audra Flanagan/U.S. Air National Guard)
A team of Air National Guard airmen representing 37 wings in 27 states, conduct their last ruck march prior to a cold-water immersion as part of a Cold Weather Operations Course at Camp Ripley Training Center, Minn., Feb. 7, 2025. (Audra Flanagan/U.S. Air National Guard)