April 1996

Story written for the Royal Canadian Military Institute monthly newsletter "Sitrep"

Fun in the Sun? [page 5]

March school break and Florida, sounds like a recipe for sun, fun, surf and golden beaches, right? Wrong! Ok, so hold the surf. Let's picture -- sun, fun and golden beaches, right? Well not quiet! Well, how about the sun, combat rations, going tactical and we will throw in the sand? Almost, but it sounds like an exercise in Borden!!! Well almost, but it was Exercise Southern Strike held at Camp Blanding a Florida Army National Guard base. Camp Blanding is a training area located in north-central Florida about one hours drive from Jacksonville. This was the third year that members of the 3rd Battalion, The Royal Canadian Regiment, based at CFB Borden, had used the Blanding facilities during the mid-March period. The four and half day training was designed to exercised the over 650 soldiers in infantry defensive operations.

3RCR is designated as a 10/90 Battalion -- 90 per cent are reserve soldiers from the Belleville, Hamilton, St. Catharines and Toronto and 10 per cent are regular force soldiers based in Borden. The reserve soldiers that make up the companies are drawn from The Royal Regiment of Canada, The Royal Hamilton Light Infantry, The Hastings and Prince Edward Regiment and the Lincoln and Welland Regiment. All the troops continued to wear their unit insignia.

The troops travelled from CFB Trenton to Jacksonville International Airport on three Airbus flights. During the day the main body assembled in Hanger #7 at CFB Trenton for processing. Processing consisting filling the usual variety of military forms, receiving a $70.00 US advance and drawing two days supply of combat rations. Canadian field rations, which are known to be the best in the world, are called IMPs for Individual Meal Plan. The soldiers then loaded their rucksack and duffle bag into the aircraft's baggage containers that were lined up in the hanger.

As soon as the soldiers hit the ground in Blanding, their part of the exercise started. They deployed immediately to the training area where they were issued their orders and ammunition. The soldiers remained in the field for the duration of the exercise living out of their rucksack.

Camp Blanding has several large training areas and offers a number of challenging stands, most notable is Smithville. Smithville is a newly built site for conducting "Fighting In A Built Up Area" training (FIBUA). It consists of almost 20 buildings up to three stories in a tight suburban type setting that could be residential or industrial depending on the scenario being used. During the exercise in Smithville soldiers wore the Multiple Integrated Laser Engagement System (MILES) -- a harness with laser censors that activated an alarm if the soldier is shot at or hit. The MILES puts an end to the age-old argument of who shot whom first.

Another purpose built facility was an underground tunnel complex where soldiers conducted offensive or defensive operations. During Exercise Southern Strike members of 3RCR took part in: defensive operations in a built-up area; assault boat water crossing, occupying and defending an area; and long range fighting patrols. A low pressure zone arrived in Florida with the Canadian troops. The bottom fell out of the thermometer breaking 100-year old records. For a day and half the cold temperatures were accompanied by driving rain. Everybody suffered from the cold and one soldier was hospitalised briefly with hypothermia. By the end of the exercise temperatures had risen to a more seasonal 84F, this created a concern that some soldiers suffer from heat prostration.

After the exercise finished the soldiers left the field to clean and secure their equipment, a shower and to prepare for a days leave before returning home. Soldiers had selected bus trips to spend the day at either Disney World Resort or St. Augustine. The troops could also opted to rental car for the day.

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