On a hot, humid afternoon at an abandoned sawmill in Quebec’s Pontiac region, 50 infantry troops from CFB Petawawa pour out the back of a Chinook helicopter with guns at the ready. To the uninformed pedestrian, it would appear to be a full-scale military operation on home soil. That’s the level of realism the Canadian Armed Forces are training for. “What we’re trying to do is make sure that our people are ready to conduct missions when Canada calls upon us to do so,” said Maj. James Dunn, an air operations officer with the Canadian Armed Forces, From June 11 to 12, CH146 Griffon and CH147 Chinook helicopter pilots flying out of Garrison Petawawa completed a Basic Tactical Aviation Course (BTAC), which trained helicopter pilots to become flight leads capable of planning and executing tactical aviation missions. “[Thursday’s] mission is an air assault. So, what the helicopters will be doing will be inserting a group of approximately 50 infantry soldiers from The Garrison here in Petawawa onto a simulated enemy position,” said Dunn. “The way the scenario is designed is we’ve received intelligence reports that there are opposing forces disrupting the sea lines of communication at a local abandoned sawmill. So, the objective of the friendly forces is to insert ground force to essentially secure the area and preserve the movement of key supplies out of that area.” It’s a realistic scenario based on today’s geopolitical landscape, with connotations towards Ukraine’s war with Russia, laid out by the Canadian military. In scenario documentation, the sawmill was referred to as a “Latvia port.” Infantry troops from the 3rd Battalion of the Royal Canadian Regiment (3 RCR) flood the old sawmill, moving building to building while checking for enemy threats. As the units advance, the sound of blank-round gunfire fills the air as friendly forces engage with opposition, unable to proceed until they receive word by radio that the are has been sufficiently cleared. While ground forces make headway, Griffon helicopters circle overhead, providing eyes in the sky and laying down cover fire. “This is very realistic,” says Maj. Nathan McIver, commanding officer of parachute company, 3 RCR, of the scenario in which his units are engaged in. “We have three times autonomous systems in the air, varying sizes of drones, and that’s really the biggest thing that the Canadian Army has started to integrate in training,” he said. The Air Force has drones accompanying them as well in their operations. And that’s really what we’re seeing around the world. If you’re not training with drones, then you’re probably not relevant anymore.” It’s the reality of the modern-day battlefield, as the Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) tries to stay at the forefront of international combat. For McIver and 3 RCR, they need to be as sharp as possible as the battalion prepares to shift into the CAF’s Readiness phase come Sept. 1. For the next year, 3 RCR will be on seven days notice to move anywhere in the world and 10 days notice to affect any mission set out by the Canadian government. “We become Canada’s 911 call to deal with any global emergencies. So, this is excellent, very valuable training for that mission that we start,” says McIver. In previous years, 3 RCR has been in the CAF’s Build phase, training in various scenarios and simulated situations. “We had approximately a month in the field in the fall. We spent another month in the Arctic in February. And now, we just finished five weeks of training that really focused on patrolling and trench warfare, which is obviously something that we’ve seen have a huge comeback in modern day battlefields,” McIver said. Troops from Petawawa were heavily deployed for missions in Afghanistan in the mid-2000s. During Canada’s mission there, 40 of the 158 Canadians lives lost were personnel from CFB Petawawa. “Certainly, the training has evolved over the last decade plus since the Afghanistan years,” said Dunn. “Now, we’re training for a much different battlespace in terms of the type of opposing forces that we might come against.” “Technology has advanced significantly in terms of, radar systems, missile systems, and of course, the advent of drone warfare. So, it’s fallen upon us to adjust to the changes of the battlefield and be prepared to conduct missions in that environment.” After three hours, friendly forces had successfully cleared the abandoned sawmill and reclaimed the territory. The helicopter pilots passed their training and 3 RCR gained valuable experience in an unknown environment. “We always have to be prepared for all possibilities,” said Dunn. “At the end of the day, we exist to serve Canada and Canada’s security requirements. So, we always have to be prepared for all possibilities.”
