EXERCISE - Military jet "crashes" as army trg preps soldiers for northern duties

[HavokFour]

Military jet crashes as army training mission preps soldiers for northern duties​

A military jet has crashed into a wooded field in a rural area east of Montreal, injuring the pilots and severely wounding a passenger and two farmers on the ground.

Screaming residents stumble through thigh-high snow, trying to get to their friends as smoke pours from the fuselage. One man lies face down, blood spattering the snow around his body.

Then the army appears.

Specifically, soldiers from the 5th Service Battalion of the Canadian Armed Forces who have travelled to the Eastern Townships community of Farnham this week from their base in Val Cartier near Quebec City. They're in the midst of a training operation called Frosty Soldier at the military base in preparation for one of the largest Arctic military exercises to be held starting this month in James Bay. More than 1,300 soldiers, along with 200 civilians, will be gathering for Exercise Guerrier Nordique, to bolster the military's northern mandate of search and rescue operations, reconnaissance and "sovereignty patrols," protecting that part of the Arctic that Canada considers ours.

In 2009, as international players including the U.S. and Russia were making noises about who owns the land, waterways and seabeds in the north and the potential resources, Canada's military formed the Arctic Response Company Group composed of four different regiments "to assert Canada's sovereignty in the Arctic and sub-Arctic regions" and support the regular forces and Canadian Rangers already patrolling there.

As the Canadian military prepares to withdraw most of its troops from the dusty heat of Afghanistan this year, Canadian soldiers are starting to reacquaint themselves with our country. Which is why the soldiers of the 5th Service Battalion group, whose mandate normally is to ensure troops have gear, food and ammunition, is carrying out a search-and-rescue and first aid training course in the snow.

A soldier's responsibility is to help its citizens, and in northern communities, the army might be the only entity around to provide rescue operations.

"We're getting back to our roots," said Lt.-Col. Daniel Riviere of the 5th Battalion. "We're working in the snow."

The temperature is -13 C (-22 C with the wind chill) which one of the soldiers refers to in true Canadian warrior fashion as "not so bad."

Farther north it can get much worse. Members of Quebec regiment Les Voltigeurs slept out in tents in temperatures that dipped to -60 C last winter. To ensure they don't die before the enemy arrives, soldiers are well equipped these days, wearing several layers of relatively lightweight gear that keeps them warm and dry.

"It's generally like gear you would get at Mountain Equipment Co-op," said Lt. Michele Tremblay. "Except it's all in green, or camouflage."

The secret to survival in Canada's killing cold is to stay dry, so soldiers on overnight missions carry backpacks weighing 55 pounds filled with two changes of clothes. There are extra felt liners for the boots, and three layers to their sleeping bags: a felt inside layer, a down sleeping bag in the middle and a waterproof exterior shell.

Also in the bag is a pot to cook with, water bottles, matches, a shovel and personal gear including toothbrushes.

On their bodies, they carry C-7 rifles, extra ammunition clips, a bayonet and grenades.

For this week's exercise, the soldiers carry less gear, running in to assess the mock plane crash situation, triage the patients in order of the severity of their wounds (the corpse is carried out last) and evacuate all from the smouldering wreckage. They will also practise contending with equipment failures, mechanical repairs and fuelling vehicles in temperatures well below freezing.

© Copyright (c) The Montreal Gazette

Article


(Moderator edit to clarify title)

Whoops, sorry Mods!  :facepalm:

 

[57Chevy]

A misleading headline
Same article:
Nordic Warriors invade Farnham
Exercise prepares soldiers for frosty Arctic mission
link

Photo 1:
Soldiers from the 5th Service Battalion march during a search-and-rescue training exercise at the Farnham base on Thursday, preparing for a large Arctic exercise this month in James Bay.
Photograph by: Dario Ayala, Montreal Gazette

Photo 2:
Soldiers from the 5th Service Battalion of Canada carry an actor in a stretcher as they take part in a "mass casualties" military exercise during the Soldat Givre training operation at the Farnham military training site in Farnham, 60 kilometres south-east of Montreal, on Thursday. The military training is a preparation for the larger training operation Guerrier Nordique to take place near Radison between the months of February and March.
Photograph by: Dario Ayala, Montreal Gazette

                                      (Reproduced under the Fair Dealings provisions of the Copyright Act)

 

[Franko]

Ummm, yeah. The first troops they get out the door to conduct SAR is the Service Btns....right.        :

Regards

 

[Michael OLeary]

Support to major air disaster (MAJAID) operations within the CF involves more than SAR.  Once the crash site has been identified there are a lot more tasks to be done than the deployed SAR techs can handle; and things like wider search of the crash area, carrying of stretchers, site security and support tasks do not require any particular trade.

 

[Kiwi99]

Ugh, touques under helmets!  I hate touques under helmets!  Especially when the issue green balaclava is available.  But nooooo, lets all put touques under our helmets and raise the helmet so far up on our heads that it offers no protection at all!    I hate touques under helmets!

 

[PuckChaser]

You don't need toques to raise the helmets up.... I've seen guys adamant that they're wearing the right size of helmet when the ear protection is sitting above their ear.

 

[Armymedic]

Ummm, yeah. The first troops they get out the door to conduct SAR is the Service Btns....right.        :

Regards

Most likely not, not even in the MAJAID role, but a well conceived exercise scenario such as this could involve some very complex problems for every section of a Service Bn (perhaps, except the ammo section) where their skills might be tested.

Realistically, in the winter weather, as proven by the Uruguayan soccer team in 1972 and studies into the subject since, anyone who is injured will quickly die of hypothermia even if their injuries are not life threatening. We are talking a matter of hours.

So, is this ex scenario a realistic training event for that unit? IMHO, not in the slightest, unless through shear coincidence they happen to be exercising within a day's skidoo ride of a crash.

 

[timma]

If you wear a lightweight fleece toque under your helmet and adjust the leather band, the helmet sits fine on your head.

 

[medicineman]

Realistically, in the winter weather, as proven by the Uruguayan soccer team in 1972 and studies into the subject since, anyone who is injured will quickly die of hypothermia even if their injuries are not life threatening. We are talking a matter of hours.

The Herc crash in Alert sort of disproves that though - there were survivors that were pretty seriously injured that are still alive today.  Some pers did succumb to hypothermia, but others were likely saved it.  Mind you, they were only on the ground about 48 hours or so IIRC.  Sounds a little like the scenario they're playing out was based on that crash.

:2c:

MM

 

[Armymedic]

But in the case of the Alert Herc, everyone was prepared and somewhat dressed for the cold. On a civ airliner, that would not be the case.

 

[Strike]

But in the case of the Alert Herc, everyone was prepared and somewhat dressed for the cold. On a civ airliner, that would not be the case.

I beg to differ.

There may have been extra clothing, but it was packed away and very few people were wearing anything heavy.  That's one of the reasons that it's now mandatory to dress for the weather instead of simply carrying clothing for the weather.  Bunny pants and parkas are no good to you if they are stored at the back of the plane when that part of the plane is now located several hundred feet away from where your part of the wreckage is in a snow storm.



Edited to compose my thoughts.

 

[aesop081]

But in the case of the Alert Herc, everyone was prepared and somewhat dressed for the cold. On a civ airliner, that would not be the case.

Far from it. That crash resulted in a completed change in how we did buiness WRT clothing and survival equipment.

 

[Halifax Tar]

Ummm, yeah. The first troops they get out the door to conduct SAR is the Service Btns....right.        :

Regards

I'm interested to know why you think a SVC BTN couldn't undertake this task ? With support from a Fd AMB.

 

[old medic]

It happened in 2005 with the snowbird 8 crash in Thunder Bay.  The reserve units were also used for crash site
security.

 

[Blackadder1916]

Things may have changed drastically in the over 25 years since I was first associated with MAJAID response, but one of the principles used back then was to make use of local resources first.  While the crash of an aircraft in the north may be an easily identified incident upon which to base an northern exercise scenario (as well as being easier for the media to understand), it would (in my opinion) be unlikely that a svc bn would form the initial follow-on response (SAR is the initial response).  In those "old days" one of the primary MAJAID response bases was Edmonton (it was an AIRCOM base back then) with Trenton being the other.  Both bases stocked dedicated MAJAID equipment and stores and base sections/personnel were already identified for this duty and occasionally exercised.  If there was a need for a greater effort than was available from the response bases (and CABC back then) army units were designated to assist - this was primarily elements from fd amb and infantry units.

During my first OPEVAL in which MAJAID was exercised, the scenario was the inevitable crash of an airliner in the far north.  As the various elements of the response was being prepped for loading, there were obvious deficiencies between the available airlift capacity and the "ideal" number of pers that the elements wanted to deploy.  I very quickly learned that "military" pers are not absolutely needed for every single function.  Many of the activities that require only "unskilled" labour (like stretcher bearers) can be done by locals engaged at the forward operating base (a community with an airfield near the crash site).  If additional bodies are needed at the crash site beyond what is provided by the primary response, it is likely that need would be mostly for medically trained pers and those who can provide austere living support.

 

[Zoomie]

MAJAID is in Trenton - they have members from the CPC that jump in with the kit.