# Past Weekend‘s 31 Brigade CRE



## cagomez (6 May 2002)

Just want to know if anyone around here also attended. Altogether it wasnt all that bad. There were approximately 1000 from at Mudford taking part in a combined arms ex. Since I was in a rifle coy our task was to simpely keep advancing and destroy anything in the way. Saw the cougars driving around making noice and fresh ruts. We set up a little coy RV in the evening then there were night recce patrols. The weather was surprisingly descent. Only problem was we had little ammo in the morning where we got the majority of our bumbs. Once we got bombed up huge in the afternoon I didnt fire another shot !! Still it was good training. Little rest but we were always moving anyways so it really didnt matter. It was my first ex were I actually got to participate in a formation higher than a platoon. If anyone who attended also feels like spilling there comments please do so.

PS To you armoured guys out there who went, on behalf of all the rifle coys thanks for the fresh ruts. I wasn‘t planning to use my ankles and knees past 25 anyways !! By the way how come you guys look so damn clean after endex. If your not gonna use your cam past it over here, Im fresh out. I guess the green paint on your vehicles is cam enough


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## Marauder (6 May 2002)

LMAO Jesus, that was a bag drag. Don‘t know about any blackhats or arty types out there, but I only had about four hours (non-sequentially, I might add) sleep from the time I jumped off the bus to the time I dragged my ***  back on Sun afternoon.    It was in my mind a very good ex though, my normal private‘s bitching aside. hehe It was interesting working in a COY context, although for the "Battalion attack"   , we did one section attack and then sat in an all around defensive position until ENDEX, roughly about fours hours later. It was funny, we were getting up to start moving and boot**** some more Granovian huns (props to the QOR lads who came as enemy force, they died well   ) when the PL OC walked back over the hil and said "Uh, well lads, it‘s endex for us, but let‘s go watch the 4RCR lads do their thing before we head over to Ortona."    I was kinda hoping to link up with some more of you RHFC guys I know when we got to Ortona, but I only saw Fraser, and was only able to talk to him for a minute. Oh well. It was pretty easy to ditinguish us infantry dogs from the rest of the clerks and jerks at endex, we were the only poor *******s who were still covered in cam and mud and were wearing our boonies (God I love my boonie hat   ) instead of garrison headdress!!!
And for those of you who doubt Fus when he said the weather, in Meaford, on an ex weekend, was decent, I can back him up that it was a beautiful day Saturday and most of Sunday. Shocked the ****  outta me too; I used up two cans of Scotch-Gard on my kit before I headed up thinking that given past experiences I was gonna be balls-deep in water all ex.   

BTW, any of you armoured guys know who was in the Cougar that unassed the vehicle out by the lake on Saturday night expecting to face a section, and instead got their asses LIT THE **** UP by a whole ****ing platoon? Good God I love the sound of a C6, six C9s, and 30+ C7s opening up in the same instant. Plus the 203 firing notional ammo and the notional M72 we should have been carrying. ****, I still have a chub thinking about it. Tell ‘em me and the lads send our love and kisses... to their widows and daughters.   :evil:


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## Recce41 (6 May 2002)

Hey
 Follow a Tank I‘ll show you a rut and I‘ll have the driver go through a swamp, Tankers don‘t wear cam. But a Cougars‘ not a Tank.So wear your damn cam want a be Tankers or Recce. Real Tankers have 40+ tons under their a**. And real Recce soldiers have a Lynx or Coyote. I‘ve heard all the complans that I can take, about no ammo. Us in the Reg give ours to you, Our tanks have only fired 10 rdsp Gnr, Coyote 75 25 MM rds. Damn thats 5 engagements.
Now 9 May 02 ,You (GGHG)s are getting our Coyotes to PLAY.
Sgt J  CD,CDS com.


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## Sharpey (6 May 2002)

Oh sure, the GG‘s get the Coyotes! Ah well. CRE was alright, well, it was border line sucky for us Recce Guys I think. Iltis and Meaford don‘t mix. Working the CP, I heard all the problems you Infantry guys were having problems with getting your Ammo Resup. 
 And let me tell ya...The schmuks they had on the Brigade net were truly unique individuals. Goons, thats all I can say, they were Goons!
 A thing about Tankers and Cam. Whats the point of Camming up when your 12 tons of steel will be long seen and heard barreling over the hills before they see your lil‘ face sticking out of your hole. Us Recce guys cam cuz we spend time on our feet to.
 My biggest gripe was our useless trip to Borden with the 1H. We originally were to set up TCP‘s for the 1H to pass through, but that got scratched. So we basically did an ADMIN move to Borden, and back again at 4am. Passed two Timmy‘s to! 
 I sure hope that Maple Leaf this year will be better...
 "0, this is T1, Veh Cas Rep Over"
 "0, wait...out!" That‘s the most memorable thing from this ex. Inside thing I guess...CP crew out there will know what I mean, plus the poor saps in those 3 jeeps that were bogged for what...2 hours waiting for the the ARV that seemed to disapper in the wilds of Meaford!


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## cagomez (7 May 2002)

Hey Marauder whats your reg. There were two platoons of RHFC out but they were split to fill in two seperate rifle coys. About Maple Leaf, the brigade commander mentioned in his little endex speech that Maple Leaf would be held in Fort Grailing (Michigan ?) Never been and never heard of the place.


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## Sharpey (7 May 2002)

Grailing, Mi. -- we train there once in awhile, huuuuge base. Two part base, one part is strickly armoured, the other is whatever else. I think it‘s used mainly for the MI. National Guard. It‘s a few hours outside of Windsor if I remember correctly. 
 It‘s a great place to hold this ex!


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## cagomez (7 May 2002)

If things work out with school and work, and should be able to attend. This iwll be my first Maple Leaf !!!


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## Harry (7 May 2002)

Grailing is military reserve utilized by the Michigan NG.

3 Parts.

1 NG Airfield;
1 Mechanized Manouvre live fire range, also used for Arty and MLRS; and
1 General training area with provisions for engineers, small arms ranges, demolitions and lots of bivvies.


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## Spanky (7 May 2002)

GG‘s in Coyote????  Toronto Mafia strikes again!
The weather gods were surprisingly benelovent on the weekend.  Nice change for Meaford.  It was good to see full coys trg with armoured and recce.  Too bad the CSS were not utilized more fully.  We sure could have used their wreckers for recovery.  The ground was the ****s for vehicles.  With the HL wreckers avail, we would not have had to play "radio tag" with cs 0.  What an experience.
Grayling should be a good go.  Real good training area.  Michigan NG are very hospitable.  Just glad we aren‘t going during deer season.  :mg:


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## John Nayduk (8 May 2002)

...or Benning during pig hunting season?


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## Spanky (8 May 2002)

AHHHHH  Fort Benning!  Slowly I turn, step by step......  :dontpanic:


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