101st Airborne ‘pauses’ major exercise as eastern bases brace for possible snowpocalypse

The 101st Airborne Division paused a major field exercise Wednesday night as military bases across the Midwest and on the Atlantic coast began bracing for a historic winter storm this weekend. Crews at Fort Bragg, North Carolina, began trimming trees on base in anticipation of ice storms, and bases from Missouri to South Carolina stood up various emergency teams with leaders of on-base emergency, medical and utilities.

Predictions around the weekend winter storm are for up to a foot or more of snow in Virginia and some parts of North Carolina, with heavy freezing rain and arctic cold in South Carolina and into the deep south. Bases in the Midwest could see slightly less snow, but temperatures well below zero could make roads impassable with ice. Along with Fort Campbell, bases forecasted to see impacts include the Army’s Fort Bragg and the Marine Corps’ Camp LeJeune, both in North Carolina, and major Marine training bases in Virginia and South Carolina.

Task & Purpose will update the status of major installations as the weekend storm arrives.

Two Black Hawks from Task Force Lift, 159th Combat Aviation Brigade, 101st Airborne Division, are covered in snow after a winter storm blankets Bagram Air Field, Afghanistan. Army photo by Maj. Mike Giaquinto.

Fort Campbell, Kentucky

Base officials announced last night that the 101st Airborne Division will “pause” its largest annual training exercise, Operation Lethal Eagle, for the weekend. The base is expected to get heavy snow and ice both Saturday and Sunday, with temperatures in the teens until Tuesday.

“With the potential for upcoming inclement winter weather conditions during our Operation Lethal Eagle Training Exercise, we will pause training this weekend to bring Soldiers back safely into our garrison areas and reunite them with their Families until conditions are met to resume training,” the base announced on its Facebook page.

Lethal Eagle is the division’s annual large-scale combat exercise. The 21-day training event began this week with more than 7,000 Soldiers, 22 helicopters, and two Marine MV-22 Ospreys.

Marine Corps Recruit Depot Parris Island, South Carolina

An official at Parris Island, where over 7,000 Marine recruits are in some stage of boot camp every day of the year, said that a graduation ceremony for a basic training class this Friday is expected to be over before the storm arrives.

“Right now we think the storm will not have an impact on graduation,” said Marine Chief Warrant Officer Bobby Yarbrough, a Parris Island spokesperson. “With families that travel in for graduation, we’ll be keeping an eye on Interstate-40 and other routes that are heavily traveled.”

Base leaders will meet later in the week as the storm’s forecast becomes clear, Yarbrough said. A primary concern will be the ability of civilian workers who staff the recruit training dining halls to reach the base over icy roads.

“We have about 7,000 recruits to feed,” he said.

However, he noted that, though snow is rare at the South Carolina base, the installation is well-prepared for disruptions because of the yearly threat from hurricanes and other summer storms.

When a surprise snowstorm closed the base to outside traffic for three days last year, he said, drill instructors adjusted their schedules to training events inside squad bays, from basic drill and marching to academic topics like Marine Corps history.

Recruits ate MREs while the chow halls were closed.

“We want to get the message out that recruits are under supervision here at all times for the worried moms and dads across America,” said Yarbrough.

Fort Bragg, North Carolina

The forecast for Fort Bragg has shifted in recent days from heavy snow to bands of icy rain. Base maintenance crews have begun treating base roads and trimming overgrown trees around base, a standard precaution when heavy ice is expected, said base spokesperson April Olsen. No major decisions on base operations have yet been made, but base leaders have begun daily meetings to prepare for the storm, Olsen said.

“No decisions have been made,” Olsen said. “Commanders will continue to monitor potential threats to the safety of community and make decisions on closure, or late work calls, or anything along those lines.”

Marine Corps Base Quantico, Virginia

Temperatures at the base are now expected to drop into the 20s, with more than two inches of snow expected on Sunday. A Quantico official said that no graduations for either Officer Training School or The Basic School were planned during the storm’s likely impact. Officials said they were “monitoring” the storm as it approached.

Camp LeJeune, North Carolina; Naval Station Norfolk, Virginia

The Navy and Marine Corps’ largest East Coast bases are, for now, unlikely to be hit hard. The forecast for both bases calls for heavy rains Sunday night, which could lead to icy roads on Monday, but mostly above-freezing temperatures through the weekend.

Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri

Fort Leonard Wood is under a winter weather warning that predicts between 3 and 8 inches of snow over the weekend and temperatures as cold as minus-15 early next week. Officials have activated the base’s Destructive Weather Mitigation Operations program, but have not announced any major cancellations or changes in operations.

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