www.medicinehatnews.com/content/view/91725/65/

Training zaps military police
ALEX MCCUAIG

It was training day down at the Medicine Hat police station Thursday as British Army Military Police got shocked with a little pepper on top in preparation for their summer deployment with city police.

The Brits were full of nervous energy as they personally experienced law enforcement North American-style with Taser and pepper spray exposure.
It’s part of the city’s continuing co-operation with the British Army MPs during the summer months with up to 6,000 soldiers from across the pond expected to descend on the area this year.
“It was a bit more painful than I expected,” said British Army Warrant Officer Brett Stanford shortly after receiving a jolt from the Taser.
“I was rather nervous before hand but it was good fun, good training.”
Stanford said the training is to familiarize the military police to the weapons, specifically the Taser – which isn’t used by police in the U.K.
“It’s good to know what (city police) are carrying in case we have to use it to assist them or if we end up being caught in the middle,” said Stanford.
“We expect there to be some soldiers who require our assistance over the summer period.”
MHPS Sgt. Darcy Brandt said having the military police around definitely make a difference.
“They’re a great assist for us, providing another set of eyes and ears. A lot of the time we are by ourselves so to have that partner with you, it’s reassuring.”
Brandt said the officers will primarily have jurisdiction over their British counterparts but will also assist city police in their daily duties.
“It is different styles of policing but we bring them together as one. They are a great bunch of guys.”
While many of the British Army officers will are new to the area, Cpl. Malcolm Kay is happy to come back to visit family living in the Hat.
“This is a good thing for me. Not only from a work stand point but personally as well,” he said.
“This is a great opportunity for us to do some completely different policing than what we are used to in a completely different environment. It will be interesting and rewarding.”

Hey Bruce,

I followed the link, then called the Police Department in Medicine Hat, then called the liaison officer for the Canadian Armed Forces, the liaison officer for the BATUS (British Army Training Unit Suffield).

These calls are being compiled into an audio stream.

The British will not be patrolling Medicine Hat as part of the new training exercise because they already do patrol the streets of Medicine Hat on a regular basis.

Here is the <a href="www.oneilbrooke.com/images/BATUSTelephon...9.MP3">audio file</a>.

I am eager to hear this but the link seems broken

www.oneilbrooke.com/images/BATUSTelephoneCallsApril202009.MP3

Hopefully this works.

GREAT WORK!

The Canadian Press reported that indeed Canadian Soldiers will be running checkpoints and searches begining this weekend.




www.winnipegfreepress.com/canada/breakin...aining-43001662.html




Medicine Hat, Alta., to stand in as Kandahar for Canadian troops in training


MEDICINE HAT, Alta. - Canada's sunniest city, Medicine Hat, will stand in this spring for dusty, dangerous Kandahar as a new battle group of troops trains for duty in Afghanistan.

The community of 61,000 is going to allow more than 800 soldiers to practise convoys and patrols on its streets as well as how to respond to simulated roadside bomb explosions.

Some troops will act as Taliban insurgents as the units get experience on what it is like to operate in a busy urban setting, Col. Andre Corbould, commander of 1 Canadian Mechanized Brigade Group, said Tuesday.

"We are going to make it as realistic as we possibly can," Corbould said. "We want to have them respond to incidents within the city like they will do in Afghanistan."

Most of the troops involved in the training will be serving with the Provincial Reconstruction Team based in Kandahar City.

Columns of LAV IIIs and other armoured vehicles will weave their way through Medicine Hat traffic starting later this month and into May, he said.

Troops will practise setting up security cordons. There will also be medical evacuations of simulated injured soldiers and civilians. Some of the troops will also practise setting up make shift classrooms and delivering other humanitarian aid.

Soldiers will also learn what it is like to perform their different tasks under the eyes of the public. The streets of Kandahar City are often filled with bustling crowds.

Canadian troops heading to Afghanistan have conducted similar training on isolated bases and in other communities before, but on a smaller scale.

Medicine Hat Mayor Norm Boucher said he is happy to allow the soldiers to use the city as a training ground.

Boucher, a former RCMP officer who served on peacekeeping missions in Bosnia and Kosovo, said he likes the idea of people in the city seeing first-hand the military doing the jobs they will perform in Kandahar.

"We owe it to them to ask, 'what do you do?'," he said. "I think it is about time that citizens see exactly how the military contributes. Where does the money go? We are going to see part of that here."

The troops that will train in Medicine Hat are part of a larger force of more than 3,000 soldiers who are taking part in live-fire exercises at nearby Canadian Forces Base Suffield.

The battle group that is to leave for Afghanistan in September includes infantry, armour, combat engineers and medics from Edmonton as well as an artillery unit from Shilo, Man., and reconnaissance troops from Petawawa, Ont.

-By John Cotter in Edmonton


That's not all:

toyoufromfailinghands.blogspot.com/2009/...rmajor-exercise.html

About that exercise, from Land Force Western Area:


Large Scale Military Exercise Begins At CFB Suffield

CFB Suffield - 4,500 soldiers from across Canada, backed by approximately 3,000 tons of military hardware and electronic equipment, has arrived at CFB Suffield on April 6, 2009 to begin a six-week long exercise in preparation for deployment to Afghanistan this fall.

“This is a true representation of what we mean by brigade-sized exercise,” said Col. Andre Corbould, Commander of 1 Canadian Mechanized Brigade Group (1 CMBG).

Beginning April 6, Exercises Desert Ram, Western Defender and Total Ram will play out in full measure as the Army begins the arduous preparation to prove its soldiers and systems ready to deploy.

The first four weeks will see soldiers of the Regular Force under exercise name Desert Ram engage in complex but realistic training which will include convoy movement, road cordons, and search operations.

Reserve Force soldiers operating under Exercise Western Defender will begin similar scenarios as their regular counterparts but separately beginning April 21st.

Both regular and reserve troops will then merge in Exercise Total Ram for three days, May 5th to 8th and “fight” as one force under one command. Some aspects of this phase of the training will happen within the city of Medicine Hat, Alta [emphasis added].

The CF operates a total force concept for all its domestic and combat operations worldwide and ensures members of the Reserve are trained to the same standards as their Regular Force before deployments. Exercise Total Ram is when the blending of the forces begins in earnest.

The focus in Suffield, apart from ensuring a unified fighting force, are the many firsts this time around: “The shear size and scope of events planned for Suffield this year is a first,” said Col. Corbould. "We are deliberately introducing live ammunition earlier and to a greater degree. We have incorporated fixed wing aircraft, including CF-18 fighter-bombers. Other fixed-wing and rotary-wing aircraft may also be introduced to complement the multi-role Griffon helicopters [emphasis added]."

These exercises represent the largest military exercise in Western Canada this year [emphasis added]. It also marks the first large scale training exercise at CFB Suffield in five years for the Canadian Forces.

Preparation for Exercises
In preparation for this large scale exercise, individual units within LFWA have also been involved in smaller exercises doing work up training:

I find it hard to believe that they would be shocking each other with TASERs as "training" if they did not intend to use them as a policing tool.

I guess this has already been happening in the past week according to this:

www.army.forces.gc.ca/LFWA_HQ/TF309/training_features.asp

Army Prairie training heats up in Suffield - Update
By Lt Wright Eruebi, Public Affairs Officer, 1 CMBG HQ

CFB SUFFIELD, AB- After a full week of training in CFB Suffield, the next group of Canadian Forces soldiers heading for Afhanistan this Fall, are fully adjusted to the reality of conditions much like they will encounter - hot, dusty day time conditions of the prairies followed by windy, frigid nights in the open.

Week one of these three-in-one army exercises includes soldiers of the regular force. They have been conducting simulations alternating between dud and livemunitions. The following weeks will see a shift toward steady live munitions.

Throughout the week, they have been practising convoy movements, road cordons and searches, simulated Improvised Explosive Device detonations, helicopter lift support and mass casualty management techniques.

Exercises Desert Ram, Western Defender and Total Ram will end May 9, 2009.

This is a very complicated subject matter but we can pull out specific issues and determine if they are right or wrong.

Canadian Forces training in Canada, even on the streets where they may interact with civilians is something we need to do because we are at war. If we were not at war then there is no reasonable justification for the exercise.

I want every single one of my soldiers back, alive! It’s simple, this training may help them survive the war. I don’t think I’d tolerate it in peace time, but in a time of war we do need to support our troops and I see this as a meaningful way to do so.

Foreign troops on Canadian soil are an entirely different matter! What are British troops doing policing the streets of Medicine Hat? No foreign troops should EVER be patrolling Canadian soil. No foreign troops should EVER be allowed to question, detain or monitor people within Canada and any Canadian official that overtly undermines Canadian sovereignty in this way should be charged with TREASON!

Canada has invested significantly in training facilities and Canada does allow foreign troops to train in these facilities. Training foreign troops within designated areas where there are no civilians is contentious. Allowing them to exert authority over our citizens is treason for the Canadian officials involved and an act of war by those foreign governments.