A group of armoured vehicles parked up by the myFM Centre on Oct. 15 | Mik Horvath/MBC
Residents may have noticed Canadian Military personnel recently riding around their neighbourhoods in armoured vehicles.
For the past few weeks the Royal Canadian Dragoons have been in-between Petawawa and Renfrew conducting training exercises, and this week was Exercise Charging Dragoon.
Exercise Charging Dragoon is a training exercise in preparation for Operation Reassurance, which is the Canadian deployment in Latvia.
Lt. Helen Hawes from the Canadian Armed Forces said the operation is a generational one.
“Exercise Charging Dragoon is a unit level exercise for The Royal Canadian Dragoons as part of our pre-deployment training for Operation Reassurance, which is currently the Canadian Armed Forces’ largest overseas mission, through which the CAF contributes to NATO deterrence and defence measures in Central and Eastern Europe,” Hawes said.
She said the Ottawa Valley was the area of choice due to its geographical similarities to Northeastern Europe.
“Training within the Ottawa Valley outside of Canadian Forces Base Petawawa was selected as it allows far greater space to disperse our forces in a more realistic manner than what can be achieved within the CFB Petawawa training area, while providing a semi realistic terrain that mimics the scattered forests and farm fields similar to Latvia,” she said.
Canada’s boreal environment is not too dissimilar to the boreal forests of Europe which gives the troops ample training for their upcoming deployment in Latvia.
Hawes adds this is also an opportunity for military members to connect with the locals.
“The Royal Canadian Dragoons like many units from Canadian Mechanized Brigade Group have a connection with the communities of the Ottawa Valley, and this training opportunity allows us to continue to strengthen our bonds with the local communities,” Hawes said.
Exercise Charging Dragoon is expected to wrap-up on Oct. 18.
(Written by Mik Horvath)
