A two week military training exercise involving over 1,700 full time soldiers and members of the reserves from across Ontario has come to an end. Between August 12th and 25th members of the Canadian Armed Forces took part in exercise Stalwart Guardian 2019. Commander of 2 Canadian Mechanized Brigade Group in Petawawa, Colonel Jason Adair, says this was an opportunity for the regular force and primary reserves to build a relationship together.
Colonel Jason Adair
Adair adds it’s important for the Canadian military to be ready to assist on missions around the world and at home. Public Affairs Officer, Lieutenant (Navy) Andrew McLaughlin, says the reserve core that was training with soldiers from Petawawa are from 31 Canadian Brigade Group (CBG) based out of southwestern Ontario, 32 CBG from the Toronto area and 33 CBG from Ottawa and Eastern Ontario. McLaughlin says the have all different types of soldiers working together.
Lieutenant Andrew McLaughlin
As a part of the training exercise soldiers travelled upwards of 35 kilometers over the course of four days. The mission included beach assaults, large scale company attacks and other challenging military scenarios. Part-time soldier and student at the University of Guelph-Humber, Private Sulaiman Islam, says he learned a lot about teamwork from the training exercise. He says they had 20-year veterans working with high school students fresh off basic training.
Private Sulaiman Islam
Islam says the most challenging part of the experience was spending days in your own sweat and filth, but you get into that mentality that you can do just about anything. One of the commanders of the opposing force, Second Lieutenant Margaret Kane from Garrison Petawawa, says she learned a course load in a few days and encourages everyone who’s able to sign up.
Second Lieutenant Margaret Kane
Over the last two weeks soldiers have been training at Garrison Petawawa and at the 4th Canadian Division Training Centre in Meaford, Ontario. The training in Meaford focused more on armored vehicles and artillery. Drivers can expect to see large convoys travelling across the province today (Monday, August 26th) as soldiers return home from exercise Stalwart Guardian 2019.