Liquidating the Ice Curtain Federal Scout Readiness Centers readied for civilian life.

• Author: Simonelli, Isaac Stone

The Alaska Army National Guard is giving away property. Dozens of buildings across the state are no longer needed. The divestiture program began in 2013 with a building given to Shaktoolik Native Corporation, and in 2021 more sites were handed over to communities than in any single year.

A change in Department of Defense (DOD) mission requirements in 2011 meant much of the National Guard's property was no longer necessary. Among these facilities were the Federal Scout Readiness Centers, which were put in place during the Cold War as part of early warning measures and strategic defense. In many ways, leaders at the time viewed Alaska as a "tripwire" for any Soviet aggression in the Arctic that directly threatened North America.

The Scout Battalions, which were the United States' northern frontline, were composed primarily of Alaska Native service members originally recruited during World War II to patrol northern and western Alaska. These members of the Alaska Territorial Guard, which was disbanded in 1947, continued to serve as part of the Alaska Army National Guard's Scout Battalions of the 297th Infantry, often referred to simply as Alaska Scouts.

"The Scouts were men and women who used centuries-old Arctic skills to spot probing Soviets," explains Tom Wolforth, a cultural resources manager and tribal liaison for the Alaska Department of Military and Veterans Affairs (DMVA). "Their place in the US military was so valuable and respected that they sometimes trained the Army's elite special operations forces sent up from the Lower 48."

With the onset of the Cold War, the membership in Alaska Scouts boomed, prompting the construction of the Federal Scout Readiness Centers. These 20-foot by 60-foot metal buildings were constructed between 1959 and 1961. Similar 30-foot by 40-foot buildings constructed in the '70s accommodated the expanding National Guard presence in many Alaska villages.

"The Scout Battalions were one of the United States' first lines of defense against Soviet aggression, and the armories were used as mobilization centers for state and federal activation of troops," explains Kevin Vakalis, a realty officer with the DMVA Facility Maintenance Office who has been working with the divestiture program since 2018. "It was our Ice Curtain to combat the Iron Curtain of the Soviet Union."

The Curtain Comes Down

Because of its strategic location, Alaska saw significant amounts of military construction as tension between the Soviet Union...