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Newly elected U.S. Senator Dan Sullivan conducted his first visit with Maj. Gen. Michael Shields, commander of U.S. Army Alaska and members of the 1st Stryker Brigade Combat Team Sunday during the brigade’s readiness validation exercise rotation at the National Training Center, Fort Irwin, Calif. During the visit, Sullivan received a rotation update brief, conducted a site visit to the brigade’s field headquarters, received a presentation of the Army Seal and conducted a promotion. Approximately 4,000 “Arctic Wolves” from the 1st Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 25th Infantry Division at Fort Wainwright, deployed to the desert training center for the decisive-action rotation. Members of the Stryker brigade, along with paratroopers assigned to the 4-25th Airborne Infantry Brigade traveled more than 3,400 miles from Fort Wainwright and Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson, and are facing an 80-degree temperature difference to test their readiness to be globally deployable and regionally engaged. Decisive Action rotations at the NTC ensure brigade combat teams remain versatile, responsive and consistently available for the current fight and unforeseen future contingencies. The NTC rotation is a capstone training event that all Army units must attend in order to validate readiness for the mission sets required to address contingencies worldwide. U.S. Army Alaska moved more the 4,200 Soldiers to Southern California for the decisive-action rotation. To put that in perspective, the population of North Pole, Alaska, is only 2,214 residents. The brigade also moved 1,324 total pieces of equipment by air, land and sea from interior Alaska in the middle of winter to the desert terrain of southern California for the training event. While 1/25 SBCT has not been scheduled for an upcoming deployment, successful completion of this training event ensures that all personnel and systems are ready for the variety of mission sets that could be needed across the Pacific.