Afstan: Army rotation begins as NATO ISAF takes command

The Royal Canadian regiment starts arriving to replace the Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry.

Relief for the 2,300 war-weary Canadians who have battled the Taliban in Afghanistan for the past six months begins today as another deployment of troops gets under way in earnest.

About 50 replacement soldiers have already arrived, but the main rotation begins today and will take about a month to complete, said Canadian military spokesman Maj. Marc Theriault.

"It's spread over a month so we can maintain our capacity," Maj. Theriault said.

As soldiers arrive at the main base at the Kandahar Airfield, they will be paired up with soldiers whose jobs they will be taking over, to learn by their sides.

"It's amazing the experience that these people have developed in the last six months, and that's what we don't want to lose," Maj. Theriault said...

Soldiers from the Royal Canadian Regiment will make up the bulk of the troops replacing the soldiers serving now, who come mostly from the Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry...

Overall command of the Canadian forces in southern Afghanistan will also change, moving from the U.S.-led Coalition Forces Command to the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force on Monday...

The new battle group commander will be Lt.-Col. Omer Lavoie.

The battle group under Lavoie's command will mainly be comprised of soldiers from C.F.B. Petawawa, but will also include troops from Shilo and Edmonton. They have spent the past ten months training at a specifically designed centre in Wainwright Alberta, that replicates the Afghan environment. Many of the soldiers in his battle group have already done one if not two tours of duty in Afghanistan says Lavoie and they are well prepared for the mission ahead.