Marines bring joy, toys to far-flung Alaska villages

  • Published
  • By Airman 1st Class Kyle Johnson
  • JBER Public Affairs
JOINT BASE ELMENDORF-RICHARDSON, Alaska --  Children are keeping their ears perked up and their eyes glued open - looking for sleighs and listening for bells.

But in Buckland and other remote Alaska villages, Santa doesn't use reindeer power - he's uses horsepower.

The Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson Marine Corps detachment is delivering toys to north Alaska villages this year in cooperation with Toys for Tots as part of Operation Cool Runnings; and they're bringing Santa along for the ride.

Cool Runnings is a two-part mission; Marines of the Inspector-Instructor Detachment, Military Police Company D, 4th Law Enforcement Battalion, deliver toys to schools in villages that are too isolated to have consistent outside contact.

On the way, they get hands-on arctic survival training.

Three teams went out by C-130  Hercules to different locations: Kotzebue, McGrath and Galena.

Upon arriving, the teams prepares to ride snowmachines fully loaded with toys and survival gear across hundreds of miles of frozen tundra in temperatures as low as 50 below.

At each village, they sort toys by school grade, and one team member wears a Santa costume. Children get presents, and adults get photos of the meetings.

When traveling from village to village, the average speed is about 60 mph and the visibility is poor.

This far north, the angle of the Earth's axis causes remarkably short days during the winter; the sun peeks over the mountains for only about an hour before surrendering to the mountains again.

This means even on a clear "day," line-of-sight is determined by how far your headlights reach and is further impeded by a scratched, constantly frosting helmet visor that can't be left open due to risk of frostbite.

This year there wasn't very much snow, which means riding the snowmachines across rivers was less like riding an all-terrain vehicle and more like using motorized ice skates. It was a constant struggle to keep the towed sleds from swinging wide and throwing the snowmachines over.

It can be dangerous; if it wasn't, it wouldn't be called arctic survival training. But the Marines don't fret the perils. They are more concerned with the opportunities to help the communities.

"We don't dwell on the difficulties," said Marine Maj. Lee Johnson for the detachment. "We just think about the mission at hand."

In between school visits, they help with whatever needs the villagers may have. Last year it was building cold-weather storage for heavy equipment; this year it was tearing up frozen carpet."

"They'll give you the shirt off their back to help you out," said Gunnery Sgt. Joseph Martin, operations chief for the detachment. "It's great that we get to give something back; that level of involvement is very, very rewarding for us."

While the Marines are in town, community members frequently cook for them. Where a 12 pack of cola is $15, serving caribou stew and muktuk (sliced bowhead whale skin and blubber) for five visitors is no small sacrifice. But it's a sacrifice they seem happy to make.

"This is what they live on for the year, and they're willing to use it for us," Martin said.

Johnson said the appreciation goes farther than just dinner.

One of the Marines who recently finished his enlistment is a native who, as a child, received a toy from a Marine Corps Santa and never forgot it.

"Seeing the smile on the face of a kid who receives a toy donated by someone in the community and delivered by a Marine Corps Santa - that's the reward for this," Johnson said.