Reservists head north for Arctic exercise

How cool is life in the Canadian military reserve?

More than 100 guys — and some females — are heading out Sunday morning for a practice mission to do what they describe as “lots of cool stuff” in a cool environment.

It’s very cool, in fact. It’s Churchill in February.

Each carrying up to 140 pounds of gear for Exercise Northern Bison, the members of 38 Canadian Brigade Group will carry out the week-long training while living off the land and sleeping in tents in the snow near the shore of Hudson Bay.

Most civilians would call that roughing it. Master corporals Jason Papilion and Rick Cumbers say they’re loving it.

“My main goal is to make sure that our guys can do their jobs,” Cumbers, a reservist who lives in Saskatoon with a day job as a college industrial mechanics instructor, said Saturday at Minto Armouries.

“And that they don’t freeze and die up there. And we want to bring everybody back happy with all their appendages. Hopefully they’ll gain the confidence and skills to do this again.”

The exercise, running until Feb. 21, will involve the Brigade Group’s part-time military members from Saskatchewan, Manitoba and northwestern Ontario.

While they gathered at the St. Matthews Avenue armoury to check their gear, Papilion pointed out that he’s been to Churchill before — once, as part of his civilian career with Service Canada.

“We’re going to work on our northern skills, whether it be surviving or basic operations in the Arctic,” said Papilion, of Moose Jaw, Sask. “It’s getting some practice in sub-arctic and arctic conditions.”

The practice will include getting around on snowshoes and skis, as well as forms of snowmobiles, he explained, and “learning to manoeuvre as a platoon while on a Ski-doo with all the gear we’re going to be pulling.”

Working about 30 km outside Churchill with the military’s Northern Rangers, the reservists will gain skills that might later come in handy for Arctic sovereign missions or emergencies.

“It could be a community in need from being snowed in or stuck, or an airplane that goes down. It has many, many applications,” Papilion said, adding that a possibility of polar bears in their midst is a concern.

“We’re prepared for some of that. We’ll carry some weaponry, and live ammunition, just for protective purposes. We’ll be around some of the polar bears and everything else around there.”

Both of these men served several-month tours of duty with the Canadian Forces in Afghanistan in 2008 — the kind of sometimes mountainous, wintry environment in which Churchill training would be useful.

“When I got there,” Papilion said of Afghanistan, “it snowed for two days straight.”