I wonder when this unit will be moved to Trenton
The Army's new airborne-capable unit is up and running.
Canada's newest special forces unit began training its first soldiers this week, gearing up at a breakneck pace to prepare for a first mission that could come as early as August and send the Canadian Special Operations Regiment to a hot spot anywhere in the world with only a few hours' notice.
The National Post was given an exclusive look at the first soldiers of this elite unit, the first new regiment formed by the Canadian army since the ill-fated Airborne Regiment was created in the 1960s...
Lt.-Col. Hammond insists that his new unit is much more than just a battalion of paratroopers. The regiment will all be trained to parachute into action, but he says with a shrug: "That's just another way to get to work."
He wants his soldiers to be more of a cross between elite infantry regiments such as the U.S. Army's vaunted Ranger battalions and special forces units such as Britain's SAS, switching between operating almost as conventional infantry and like special forces commandos depending on their mission...
The first 175 soldiers of the regiment, selected from among hundreds of applicants from across the Canadian Forces, are being put through an intense, 16-week training course to earn the right to wear the regiment's tan beret. They will form the first "Direct Action Company" of what will eventually be a 750-strong regiment, including sniper detachments, combat engineers, heavy weapons squads and teams of commandos...
But Stephen Harper made a silly promise during the election to station a new airborne battalion at CFB Trenton--does he really intend to keep it?
Tuesday’s federal budget will show the Conservatives are on track with their plans for CFB Trenton, Prince Edward-Hastings MP Daryl Kramp says.
“Everything is planned to go exactly as we said it would, so we will be looking at fulfilling our election commitments to the military, in which Trenton is going to play a significant role,” Kramp told The Intelligencer Friday afternoon.
In a pre-election stop at the base last December, then-Opposition Leader Stephen Harper said a Conservative government would increase military spending significantly...
Harper also promised a new airborne battalion of 650 regular-force soldiers would be stationed at the base, and the Disaster Assistance Response Team’s staff would double.
“I’ve been assured by my caucus and party officials that the long-term plans for Trenton are going ahead as scheduled,” Kramp said in a telephone interview from Ottawa.
“There is a structured plan for that,” he said, adding the changes will come in the next three budgets...
Update: A comment at Army.ca:
...
I was in Trenton last week (more "having relations with the puppy" than actually accomplishing any work), and the TimHortons-Int was speculating on construction/expansion of the CF Detachment in Mountain View, (Prince Edward County, 10km south of Belleville). Since we occasionally had to take buses down to Trenton to jump back into Petawawa....or subsequently bus back to Pet because the plane was broken...I thought it Divine retribution that they would put an infantry unit in Trenton/Mountain View, since they'd have to regularly bus up to Pet just to find useable training space. Having a unit in Trenton whose role is solely to parachute makes sense (oh, I know, let's call them The Skyhawks Roll Eyes ), but as mentioned, parachuting is just how an airborne unit gets to work. The key terrain (pun) is their ability to conduct combat operations once at the DZ. Nothing around Trenton provides an adequate training venue...
Canada's newest special forces unit began training its first soldiers this week, gearing up at a breakneck pace to prepare for a first mission that could come as early as August and send the Canadian Special Operations Regiment to a hot spot anywhere in the world with only a few hours' notice.
The National Post was given an exclusive look at the first soldiers of this elite unit, the first new regiment formed by the Canadian army since the ill-fated Airborne Regiment was created in the 1960s...
Lt.-Col. Hammond insists that his new unit is much more than just a battalion of paratroopers. The regiment will all be trained to parachute into action, but he says with a shrug: "That's just another way to get to work."
He wants his soldiers to be more of a cross between elite infantry regiments such as the U.S. Army's vaunted Ranger battalions and special forces units such as Britain's SAS, switching between operating almost as conventional infantry and like special forces commandos depending on their mission...
The first 175 soldiers of the regiment, selected from among hundreds of applicants from across the Canadian Forces, are being put through an intense, 16-week training course to earn the right to wear the regiment's tan beret. They will form the first "Direct Action Company" of what will eventually be a 750-strong regiment, including sniper detachments, combat engineers, heavy weapons squads and teams of commandos...
But Stephen Harper made a silly promise during the election to station a new airborne battalion at CFB Trenton--does he really intend to keep it?
Tuesday’s federal budget will show the Conservatives are on track with their plans for CFB Trenton, Prince Edward-Hastings MP Daryl Kramp says.
“Everything is planned to go exactly as we said it would, so we will be looking at fulfilling our election commitments to the military, in which Trenton is going to play a significant role,” Kramp told The Intelligencer Friday afternoon.
In a pre-election stop at the base last December, then-Opposition Leader Stephen Harper said a Conservative government would increase military spending significantly...
Harper also promised a new airborne battalion of 650 regular-force soldiers would be stationed at the base, and the Disaster Assistance Response Team’s staff would double.
“I’ve been assured by my caucus and party officials that the long-term plans for Trenton are going ahead as scheduled,” Kramp said in a telephone interview from Ottawa.
“There is a structured plan for that,” he said, adding the changes will come in the next three budgets...
Update: A comment at Army.ca:
...
I was in Trenton last week (more "having relations with the puppy" than actually accomplishing any work), and the TimHortons-Int was speculating on construction/expansion of the CF Detachment in Mountain View, (Prince Edward County, 10km south of Belleville). Since we occasionally had to take buses down to Trenton to jump back into Petawawa....or subsequently bus back to Pet because the plane was broken...I thought it Divine retribution that they would put an infantry unit in Trenton/Mountain View, since they'd have to regularly bus up to Pet just to find useable training space. Having a unit in Trenton whose role is solely to parachute makes sense (oh, I know, let's call them The Skyhawks Roll Eyes ), but as mentioned, parachuting is just how an airborne unit gets to work. The key terrain (pun) is their ability to conduct combat operations once at the DZ. Nothing around Trenton provides an adequate training venue...
posted by Mark, Ottawa at 12:34 p.m.
1 Comments:
The question of where to put the unit should be a military one, not a political one. Heck, I think political gestures are wasted on Trenton these days anyhow, since the base is already getting a big boost with all the focus on airlift.
I went back and reread what I'd said about the Airborne/SOR question when it first came up during the campaign, and I stand by that assessment now.
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