# Maple Defender



## a_majoor (26 Aug 2007)

From the Sudbury Star:

http://www.thesudburystar.com/webapp/sitepages/content.asp?contentid=667450&catname=Local+News&classif=



> ACCENT: Kandahar comes to Alberta; CFB Wainwright has been transformed into a full-scale replica of the Afghan terrain where our soldiers fight the Taliban, writes Trevor Stewart
> Local News - Saturday, August 25, 2007 Updated @ 12:19:55 PM
> 
> A bright afternoon sun burns into a halted Canadian forces convoy on a road a few hundred metres from Belanday village.
> ...


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## Loachman (27 Aug 2007)

I'm still awaiting reviews of this ex from those that participated.

I was stuck on the night-shift casevac standby and have never felt so left-out and mushroom-like in any ex that I've ever been on in thirty-four years. We got no calls for our services, which was obviously good from the NODUF aspect, and were restricted to no more than about forty-five minutes of flying time in order to preserve our ability to get to one of the hospitals in Edmonton. I got far more flying time on my way out there than I did in location.

Yes, somebody had to do it - it can be somebody else next time, though.


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## Spanky (27 Aug 2007)

Being attached to OPFOR for this ex, I too felt out of the loop.  It was the first ex ever where I was not in one of the recce troops.  The troop my guys were a part of were extremly busy doing convoy escort duty.  It seems that the three troops did not rotate tasks as was the plan.  One troop did convoy escorts, another did O.P.s etc.


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## Armynewsguy (27 Aug 2007)

Here is a link to a print story that we produced on the Exercise. 

print story  http://www.armee.forces.gc.ca/lf/English/6_1_1.asp?id=2220

video story to follow.

Armynewsguy


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## brihard (27 Aug 2007)

It was a very interesting ex for those of us who'd not been to CMTC before (read, most of us).

I was there as a section commander for Charlie coy. The exercise was characterized throughout by lack of junior leadership; My company had 2 Capt, 2 Lts, a 2Lt, an MWO, a Sgt, 3 MCpl, andmyself as a PLQ qualified corporal for leadership. My platoon had an Lt, a MCpl as acting WO, and myself and two junior corporals as section commanders.

The term 'Gong Show' applies.

That said, I think it was a valuable ex. In the week we were conducting force on force, my boys did a recce patrol/OP, participated in a company deliberate attack, formed the assault/search team for a company cordon and search, and then conducted another company deliberate attack, as well as doing some FOB routine, gate guard/tower duty, and occupying a defensive position, complete with shellscrapes, pouring rain, and getting bumped in the morning. A rather busy seven days.

Battle procedure was fast and loose, and it was clear that a lot of the leadership were out of their depth; but theymanaged anyway. A company cordon and search on the vertical village was pulled off with literally an hour from orders to stepping off, having lost nearly a dozen guys to hypothermia that night/morning and with the rest of us pretty out of 'er. Guys with two and a half years in the 'mo were leading sections decently, if not expertly.

Were there problems? Of course there were. Some guys didn't realize how cold Alberta got and thus didn't have quite warm enough kit- our failure as leaders, if anything. The field kitchens made us rather few hot meals, instead preferring to simply start big boil pots going so we could heat our own IMPs. At least they were hot though, I suppose. The medics did a hell of a job dealing with no duffs. The engineers acctached to my coy fought as hard as any of the others on the attack; all in all a lot of people stepping up when needed. We did have some other assets- Loachman's comments notwithstanding, we got a couple of pretty cool helicopter rides out to our hit on the bridge, and the griffons were always there for PRI 1 (exercise) CASEVAC when we'd consolidated at the end of an op.

Maybe it wasn't as good an ex for other arms as it was for the infantry, and maybe amongst the infantry it was more enjoyed by junior leadership than by the troops, but I think it was a pretty decent experience, especially by reserves standards. We saw things we haven't experienced much before; convoys, suicide/IED thread, realistic CASEVAC, and we got some good reinforcement of the fundamentals.

I'd do it again.


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## Haggis (27 Aug 2007)

Brihard said:
			
		

> I'd do it again.



Although I wasn't there, that is a most telling commentary on ANY exercise.


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## brihard (27 Aug 2007)

Haggis said:
			
		

> Although I wasn't there, that is a most telling commentary on ANY exercise.



Heh, ask around my unit for a 'keener, and sucker for punishemnt' and my name will probably come up top of the list.  ;D

A lot of the troops thought it sucked- but then, they probably haven't pepperpotted or dug a shellscrape since their DP1 and thought they were done with such nonsense...


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## Loachman (27 Aug 2007)

Thank-you for the first  review form the PTA perspective. I hope that many more follow.



			
				Brihard said:
			
		

> It was a very interesting ex for those of us who'd not been to CMTC before (read, most of us).



Good. As I sat through all of the planning conferences and saw the effort put into it, I am glad to hear that.



			
				Brihard said:
			
		

> I was there as a section commander for Charlie coy. The exercise was characterized throughout by lack of junior leadership; My company had 2 Capt, 2 Lts, a 2Lt, an MWO, a Sgt, 3 MCpl, andmyself as a PLQ qualified corporal for leadership. My platoon had an Lt, a MCpl as acting WO, and myself and two junior corporals as section commanders.



The first time that I actually led a platoon in the field, in 4 RCR on Milcon 1976, I was the only one in the platoon HQ. All of my soldiers, including the two section commanders, were privates fresh off of their basic summer course, whatever it was called back then. I picked the two that I thought would do the best from natural ability. Everybody else was off doing Olympic security in Montreal.



			
				Brihard said:
			
		

> Battle procedure was fast and loose,



It wasn't supposed to be that way.



			
				Brihard said:
			
		

> ...it was clear that a lot of the leadership were out of their depth; but theymanaged anyway...Guys with two and a half years in the 'mo were leading sections decently, if not expertly.



I'm not surprised to hear this. Almost like a real war of old, with people being pushed due to rapid expansion and sustained losses yet still managing.



			
				Brihard said:
			
		

> Were there problems? Of course there were. Some guys didn't realize how cold Alberta got and thus didn't have quite warm enough kit- our failure as leaders, if anything.



The leaders probably didn't realize that, either. They were probably smart enough to bring what they were told to bring, though.



			
				Brihard said:
			
		

> The field kitchens made us rather few hot meals, instead preferring to simply start big boil pots going so we could heat our own IMPs. At least they were hot though, I suppose.



Shortage of cooks is a general problem on milcons, and always a topic of discussion at the planning conferences. That would have been the reason for this.



			
				Brihard said:
			
		

> We did have some other assets- Loachman's comments notwithstanding,



I was only b!tching about my personal situation.



			
				Brihard said:
			
		

> we got a couple of pretty cool helicopter rides out to our hit on the bridge,



That was 427 Squadron, who jumped in late in the game when 400 Squadron was mostly pulled off of the exercise for two other higher-priority ops.



			
				Brihard said:
			
		

> the griffons were always there for PRI 1 (exercise) CASEVAC when we'd consolidated at the end of an op.



That was the day shift, also a 400 Squadron crew with a Flight Nurse and Med Tech attached. All of the night cas were snatched by ambulance, even when we asked to be called no matter how minor.



			
				Brihard said:
			
		

> I think it was a pretty decent experience, especially by reserves standards. We saw things we haven't experienced much before; convoys, suicide/IED thread, realistic CASEVAC, and we got some good reinforcement of the fundamentals.



And that was the whole point, and I'm glad that at least one person saw it that way.



			
				Brihard said:
			
		

> I'd do it again.



So would I, but not on the night casevac shift.


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## dapaterson (27 Aug 2007)

In my definition, a great exercise is one you curse constantly while it's happening, and that you can't stop talking about afterwards.  They usually involve being cold and hungry (at times).

A lousy exercise usually involves too much comfort and too much downtime... go figure...


A question to everyone who participated in Maple Defender:  What are the three most important points you will take away from the exercise?


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## brihard (27 Aug 2007)

dapaterson said:
			
		

> A question to everyone who participated in Maple Defender:  What are the three most important points you will take away from the exercise?



1) Learn the job two people up, and be prepared to assume instant command. Similarly, make it bloody clear to your troops what your subordinate chain of command is and pick people ready to take command as your 2ic, rank and qualification notwithstanding.

2) Constant vigilance. Most reserve exercises, we know when we are and aren't 'tatical' or at risk of enemy threat. On this ex we had convoys getting bumped left right and centre, and a 'smart', relatively free range enemy force.

3) Command and control. Our platoon went to hell in a hurry as soon as we took fire from the flank and killed the flank section commander without anyknoe knowing he was dead due to the ravine he was in. Keep your friends close, and your platoon reserve closer. You can never have too many radios, and you can never make your comms plan clear enough. Know who's to do what in what circumstances, and don't for a second let your section have any inkling that you aren't 100% confident of what's going on- give 'em an axis of advance, call 'team, team team', and they'll work for you til you yank the reins on consolidation.



Other minor notes:

Beg/Borrow/Steal/ADREP as many IMP heater bags as humanly possible. Fill out every IMP feedback form requesting that heater bags be included in them in future. Mail them en masse. That is my crusade. By 2010, IMPs will have heater bags in them. 

Bivvy Bags are the second greatest piece of kit known to man.

Dress in accordance with the dress regs. Pack for when they go out the window on day two. On that note, stealth suit jackets are the greatest piece of kit known to man.

You can never have too much ammo.

Let a corporal navigate. It's nice that you have a GPS sir, but so do I, and I actually know what UTM and WGS84 are. On that note, don't forget to change your declination from Petawawa to Wainwright. Trust your map, compass, gut feeling, and the guys behind you who are shaking their heads because you're going the wrong way.

SOPs, SOPs, SOPs.

Airport security will confiscate a botle of water, but the lone blank round you forget at the bottom of your carryon baggage small pack will go unnoticed (no, this wasn't me).


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## Fishbone Jones (27 Aug 2007)

How about some feedback on the WES system. Was it worth it? Enough equipment? Enough training on it? How about CMTC mobile equipment? These points are all part and parcel as to why Wainwright was chosen for the ex in the first place.


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## Pikache (27 Aug 2007)

recceguy said:
			
		

> How about some feedback on the WES system. Was it worth it? Enough equipment? Enough training on it? How about CMTC mobile equipment? These points are all part and parcel as to why Wainwright was chosen for the ex in the first place.


I can see the potential of WES, but it does not effectively simulate small arms well enough to be anything close to the actual thing. (IE lack of tracers for gunners to 'walk in' the rounds on target. Not to mention WES can't pass through blades of grass. 

Spent at least 5 times a day ensuring that the helmet halo was properly connected to the WES vest so that I don't become a 'Cheat Kill'.

A lot of OPFOR cheated and weren't wearing WES gear, so it was just like every other OPFOR on Res exercises. Pointless and takes away training value that can potentially save lives in combat for the sake of personal fun. Many guys in my platoon found this way the hard way after wasting tons of ammo on OPFOR, only to find out that they weren't dying because they had no WES on.


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## DG-41 (27 Aug 2007)

One of the side effects of being tasked to the Visits cell was that I got to roam the training area with impunity, watch all the battles on the big God screen back at EXCON, and sit in on the AARs is the "crying room" behind the one-way glass in the theatre.

After having seen all the activity, warts and all, I think this ex was worth every single tear shed during planning and execution based on one simple fact - the battle group HQ was "inside the box" and so were EXERCISED instead of being semi-DS.

For once, Callsign Zero was required to do battle procedure, submit reports and returns, push out consolidated SITREPS, and do all the tasks required of a formation HQ.

Hearing the battle group ask EXCON to be able to DS something along and be told NO was absolutely priceless.

I have a certain level of sympathy for subunits thrown together at the last minute and forced to work together for the first time in such a demanding environment, especially one that drives home the importance of practicing basic soldiering skills like digging in, fire and movement, and (especially) navigation. But even so, from where I sat, two of the three companies actually did pretty well, and there was marked improvement on the second iteration of the attacks, particularly the attacks on the bridges. There were some impressed people amongst the brass, especially given the ad hoc nature of the formations.

From my outside view, I thought a lot of very important lessons were taught, and most of them didn't have anything to do with "winning" or "losing". If the success of an exercise can be defined as number of lessons learned per capita, this was probably the best exercise ever.

DG


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## Spanky (27 Aug 2007)

HighlandFusilier said:
			
		

> I can see the potential of WES, but it does not effectively simulate small arms well enough to be anything close to the actual thing. (IE lack of tracers for gunners to 'walk in' the rounds on target. Not to mention WES can't pass through blades of grass.
> 
> Spent at least 5 times a day ensuring that the helmet halo was properly connected to the WES vest so that I don't become a 'Cheat Kill'.


 We (OPFOR) had a lot of cheat kills as well.  Apparently CUBIC received a whole whack of batteries that were not up to standard and that was the cause of that malfunction.  


> A lot of OPFOR cheated and weren't wearing WES gear, so it was just like every other OPFOR on Res exercises. Pointless and takes away training value that can potentially save lives in combat for the sake of personal fun. Many guys in my platoon found this way the hard way after wasting tons of ammo on OPFOR, only to find out that they weren't dying because they had no WES on.


 All of the OPFOR I was associated with had their WES gear on at all times.  If there were some observed elsewhere not playing fair... well that's what the OCTs were for.


edit: fixed for correct quoting


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## brihard (28 Aug 2007)

WES was finnicky and frustrating. I was taking aimed headshots at about 30M distance, with my sight clearly between the two forehead receptors, and ot getting hits. Perhaps my WES needed realignment; I'm not sure- but many others reported the same thing. Our firebase for  MacDonald Bridge was on a hilltop about a klick away; 5 C^s on SF kits. They hit the objective on rapid for two minutes and didn't get any hits. Some of the WES grenades didn't chirp after being thrown- good luck finding 'em. WES worked decently enough; beter than MILES I suppose, but it was a real pain in the ass from time to time. The extra pouches on the back made it difficult and uncomfortable to carry a ruck or small pack. With our guys loaded down with C6 ammo, that's very inconvenient; A number of us had lowe back pain from it.

WES has potential, but it needs refinement. It should be doing a better job of registering aimed shots... I don't know enough about the technicalities of how it works to say much beyond that.

The dynamic AARs were neat. I couldn't help but hear the Benny Hill music in my head while watching my company navigate to the first bridge attack. Seeing just how the platoons moved on the assaults was interesting too. The OCTs constantly following with video cameras was slightly Orwellian, but I saw how it came in useful.

Overall, lots of potential, some of which still needs to be refined and realized.


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## Spanky (28 Aug 2007)

The lack of hits from your fire base, may have been the result of the 20m "protection zone".  From what I heard on the OPFOR net, a person, while in the 20m zone would have been protected from small arms fire.  This was to factor in the protection afforded a defender who was dug in.  This was heard on the net during the second battle of McDonald Bridge.  You're right about the lower back pain.  Some of my guys were complaining of pain around the kidney areas while driving with the vests on.  Maybe the armoured recce guys can comment.


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## Love793 (2 Sep 2007)

Spank, although I was with 9er Tac and not the tps, I still spent a fair time mounted. As for the boys doing escorts all the time, I think it just became a matter of high ops tempo throwing off the plan.  I have to agree that the WES Vest did take some getting used to, especially with wearing cambelbacks and such.  I didn't notice too much lower back discomfort, except with the patrol pack on.  However, this system is still much better than the "MILES experiments" we've dealt with in the past.  As for the guys with no vest on.  The only ones I saw like that where CMTC staff and not opfor.


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## brihard (3 Sep 2007)

I'm wondering if maybe the system couldn't be improved by moving a couple of the electronics to the side of the vest rather than the small of the back? Witness the CPgear Berry pouch, for instance- tucked in between the velcro panel and the C9/canteen pouch. I imagine that the battery pack and GPS unit could probably both be reloacted pretty easily, and perhaps the transmitter as well, with just the antenna routed up through the vest to the shoulder. There's gotta be some way it could be made to work... If a couple of the components were combined into one, that would probably gain some net size reduction. Alternatively, since we can't use the bayonet anyway because of the player unit, maybe a second component could also be centralized in the vest. Just a thought. 

The system still needs some refinement, and if part of that was to make the vests more backpack friendly, that would be a significant improvement.


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## TN2IC (3 Sep 2007)

HighlandFusilier said:
			
		

> A lot of OPFOR cheated and weren't wearing WES gear, so it was just like every other OPFOR on Res exercises. Pointless and takes away training value that can potentially save lives in combat for the sake of personal fun. Many guys in my platoon found this way the hard way after wasting tons of ammo on OPFOR, only to find out that they weren't dying because they had no WES on.



Should of piped up to the CMTC referee! Rules state that the person not wearing the gear is automatically dead. I"ve seen a 50 cal. nest get taken out over this issue.


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## brihard (3 Sep 2007)

Only one I generally saw was OPFOR with the headset taped to their shoulders due to ethnic headdress.


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## Spanky (3 Sep 2007)

The Halo taped to the shoulder would have still worked.  That was done to keep the GPS antenna pointed up.


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## Razic (3 Sep 2007)

Did anyone get any form of ROE's? I was with B coy and we didnt see any...


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## aesop081 (3 Sep 2007)

Razic said:
			
		

> Did anyone get any form of ROE's? I was with B coy and we didnt see any...



Did you ask you CoC ?

or didnt get any and decided not to bother ?


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## MJP (3 Sep 2007)

CDN Aviator said:
			
		

> Did you ask you CoC ?
> 
> or didnt get any and decided not to bother ?



Sounds more like a command failure than an individual soldier thing.  Knowing how fast the whole 2/3 1/3 ratio towards Battle Procedure goes out the window on these Exercises, I'd be surprised if troops especially troops with little TI would think to ask for even more stuff to be thrown at them.  I know it wasn't something high on my list of things to ask for as a troop....I just wanted more rack.


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## brihard (3 Sep 2007)

I asked for ROEs from the start, got them about two or three days in, though in the long 'official' form, rather than a soldier's card. I read it over and then got my troops to sit down, shut up and listen to the skinny. Still, I'd have much preferred a card I could have given to each of them. ROEs should NOT be word of mouth from a corporal section commander who got his copy five minutes prior.


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## aesop081 (4 Sep 2007)

MJP said:
			
		

> Sounds more like a command failure than an individual soldier thing.



MJP, i totaly agree with you.  I was just curious to see if it was another case of " i identified a problem but i didnt do anything about it".  Alot of soldiers in case like that ( where they know they didnt get ROEs) would have just said F*** it and not bothered to bring it up.


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## Razic (4 Sep 2007)

Oh we brought it up multiple times, just nothing came of it, the reason I ask is that the exercise really emphasized the importance of ROEs especially in the cordon and search scenarios we were involved in.  I found it really odd that we did not get those little cards or an ROE briefing right away, almost every weekend exercise back home we get ROE cards thrown at us like candy... ???


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## Pikache (5 Sep 2007)

A Coy got ours on the first day... And it was drilled into the troops the 2 prep days we had.


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