via Canadian Army website.
Wainwright, Alberta — Rappelling from a CH-146 Griffon helicopter while hovering 20 metres above a wooded copse in sub-zero temperatures is only the first of many experiences that teams participating in the second annual Canadian Patrol Concentration (CPC) will take away from this uniquely Canadian training event.Hmm.
Hosted by the Canadian Manoeuvre Training Centre (CMTC) from November 14 to 24, CPC 2014 provides an opportunity for Regular and Reserve Force soldiers from across Canada to competitively practice patrolling in an infantry reconnaissance patrol format.
“Employing core patrolling skills in austere conditions, participants will be bent, pushed and stretched to their physical and emotional limits,” says Chief Warrant Officer Martin Colbert, the Formation Sergeant Major for the CMTC. “In CPC 2014, our soldiers will have an amazing opportunity to demonstrate resiliency and to exercise the ingenuity and fortitude that Canadian soldiers are known for.”
Twenty-four patrols, consisting of eight members each, will be required to travel on foot more than 40 kilometres in inclement weather in order to gather information on a notional enemy, such as their size, location, disposition and habits. As the patrols make their way through their mission, how the scenario unfolds will depend on how the members of each team conduct themselves and respond to challenges placed before them.
Participants of CPC 2014 will return to their home units with experiences that they can share with their fellow soldiers and, ultimately, improve the overall patrolling expertise across the Canadian Army.
Sub zero temps? 40 kilometers (about 25 miles) in inclement weather? Notional enemy?
I would love to observe this training. Call it the cynic in me but I bet this turned into an endurance rather than patrolling exercise...I'm not talking physical endurance (even though being cold sucks donkey balls...especially when you stop) but more like mental. Were they actually "patrolling" or was it really just a march to contact? A real patrol covering 25 miles would be at least a couple of days affair if they were doing it right (as in trying to find the enemy when they don't know where he is) but the packs look too light for that. I bet the after-action on this makes for real interesting reading.
I do wonder...
ReplyDeleteWhy we don't simply actively control for environment internally with full vent-heat-cool control over a surface layer near the skin rather than try to carry enough layered cloth to make up for, I dunno, NAKED HEADS Which are the Numero Uno of hypothermia losses that effect mental awareness and sensory perception.
Full encapsulation also matters for active camouflage and thermal in particular.
To which I would add that if you can keep a cycle of drones up which use a miniature rotary or turbine powerplant and heavy fuel (boron laced diesel) to _turn a generator_ which powers both a ducted fan and the sensor/comms electronics; you have a major edge on planform vs. muzzle-on threat detection.
And finally, eight men? What for? Take four men and either give them HULC or similar exos, using differential routing to absorb the attrition (he who defends everywhere, defends no where well) or put them all in a Gator or similar micro vehicle and concentrate on narrowing the time window in which you can run into /other/ 'patrols' (OPs, UGS, whatever) doing what they do. Again, if you have a overhead air which can do a 10hr loiter as a Shadow, why not a /3hr/ system which you can launch from your vehicle or a remote support site in throwaway numbers to sweep the field ahead of your maneuver force? Like armored recce or air cav, only not.
Geronimo ghosting is all well and good. But sometimes it's better to be there, first, than to be the unseen runner up. Particularly where 99.99% of F2T2EA ends with a smart bomb or Chain Gun attack rather than continued observation.
Light is Right and a fast walk-in beats a slow hump.