May 1999

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

Nobody reported seeing Elvis! [page 3]

Maj Peter Lomasney, of the QOR.

Over 400 reserve soldiers spent March Break training at Fort Knox Kentucky. Not only is Fort Knox the site of a considerable pile of gold, it is the home of the US Army Armour Centre.

The reserve soldiers were drawn from most of the infantry regiments in the province that were taking part in Southern Drive '99. They were formed into a unit called the Trillium Battalion, and commanded by LCol Gerry Mann, CO of the Grey & Simcoe Foresters. The Deputy Commanding Officer was RCMI member Major John Fisher also of the G&SF. The Operations Officer for the exercise was RCMI member Major Peter Lomasney, of the Queen's Own Rifles, who is currently posted to 32 CBGHQ. He said, "Fort Knox was selected because, its was within a days drive of Southern Ontario. The base offers a first rate training site with stable climatic conditions, which allow our soldiers to focus on training. We are here for the same reason the Blue Jays go to Florida, its called Spring Training."

Poorman Infiltration Range looking from front to back.

Fort Knox has a number of challenging ranges and training sites. One of them is an Infiltration Range called Poorman. On this range the soldiers across approximately 100 metres of soft sand, crossing over 2 log obstacles, and under 2 low barbed wire entanglements. After a daylight practice, over a hundred soldiers at a time tackled the range again, at night, while thunder flashes exploded on the ground, and paraflares burst overhead. While the soldiers crawled through the sand, three C-6, 7.62mm belt-fed machine guns, located in three towers, fire on fixed lines, and put down approximately 7,000 live rounds over the troop's heads. On average, it took just over 15 minutes for the soldiers to negotiate the range.

This was the first time that Fort Knox had been used by Canadians for spring training, in previous years a National Guard Base in Florida called Camp Blanding had been used. Getting the troops there had required at least three return trips on Air Force Polaris from CFB Trenton to Jacksonville in one day. While the trip to Fort Knox took the between 12 and 20 hours by bus, depending on the start point of either Ottawa or Sudbury.

The troops were housed in Second World vintage barracks in a section of the base were Pte Elvis Presley did his basic training when drafted into the US Army in 1958.

Not Published in Sitrep The Tank Transporter on its side up against the barrier. To the left the Abrams tank is upside down against the broken power pole. Neither of the two soldiers in the cab were wearing seat belts. (Photo courtesy of Fort Knox Range Division)

Portions of the Fort Knox base have some very steep hills. During the exercise, the driver of a US Army tank transporter moving an Abrams lost control of the vehicle while coming down a hill. At a bend in the road at the bottom the vehicle flipped on it's side, and the 60 ton battle tank flipped off, and upside down, smashing an electrical utility pole. Several soldiers from the Governor General's Foot Guards who using a range beside the road rushed to the scene. First they had the driver turn off the tracker engine because of downed power line and because the inverted Abrams was leaking diesel fuel. They then assisted the two members of the transporter out of the partially crushed cab and moved them to safety. Several other soldiers ran up the hill and stopped other convoy vehicles coming down the hill. After an investigation, eight soldiers received Commanding Officers Commendation from LCol Mann in front of members of the exercise.

Not Published in Sitrep Poorman Range from the side at night. In this time exposure shot, the 7.62mm tracer rounds passing over the soldiers were fired from two of the three white towers on the right. It takes several metres for tracer bullets to illuminate after leaving the barrel. (The range control tower is on the far right.)

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