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Emergency training replicates bombs, chaos
Surreal exercise at Petawawa `like a movie set'
Mar. 29, 2006. 07:14 AM
CHRISTIAN COTRONEO
STAFF REPORTER
http://www.thestar.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pagename=thestar/Layout/Article_PrintFriendly&c=Article&cid=1143586212476&call_pageid=970599119419
CFB PETAWAWA—The only thing worse than being trapped in a narrow urban alley when a bomb explodes is the next bomb.
Moments after an ear-shattering explosion ripped through a truck-load of Canadian soldiers yesterday, a rapid response team was on the scene, wading through smoke, and pointing rifles at their uncertain surroundings.
"My leg!" came a voice from inside the truck, as blood painted the windshield. "I don't want to die."
A second deafening roar brought even more smoke and chaos.
But when the smoke cleared and wounded and dying soldiers had been dragged through the dirt from the blast area, the quick and the dead stood side by side for a performance review.
"We should have pulled back a bit faster," said Eric Gagnon, the 38-year old warrant officer from Montreal who led the response team. "The thing I liked is everyone seemed to know exactly what to do."
After surveying the smouldering scene, complete with fake blood, wounds and smoke grenades, public affairs officer Capt. Scott Spurr summed it up with a smile.
"It almost looks like a movie set for crying out loud."
It was precisely what instructors at Canadian Forces Base Petawawa were aiming for on the second day of emergency response training at one of Canada's top military bases — a theatre of war just before soldiers joined the real theatre of war in Afghanistan.
About 1,200 soldiers from Petawawa are heading to Kandahar in August to replace Canadians already there under a NATO-led army.
But this crop of fresh, eager faces will be packing advanced medical equipment and more punch than their predecessors.
Earlier yesterday, top soldiers at the base unveiled medicines of war that could save scores of lives — and trumpeted a trio of new machineries of war.
Canadian soldiers, from every walk of the military, are lugging QuikClot to Afghanistan. The vacuum-pack bags, costing about $50, are designed "to stop moderate-to-severe bleeding" by drawing plasma out of the blood, instantly causing it to coagulate.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
`You're responsible for your first aid until someone can get to you.'
Sgt. Lawrence Aho
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Soldiers will pack CAT tourniquets, designed to be self-applied quickly and easily to stem arterial bleeding, as well as Israeli Dressing, a one-handed bandage with a thick gauze pad.
"This stuff is leading edge," said Sgt. Lawrence Aho of Petawawa's medical branch, adding much of it only appeared on the military scene in the past two years — and it's "leaps" ahead of existing field treatments.
It all adds up to one goal for Canadians heading to a land of increasing uncertainty.
"You're responsible for your first aid until someone can get to you," Aho said. "Your weapon is still pointed at the enemy."
At the other end of the spectrum, base officials unveiled an armoured personnel carrier capable of withstanding road mines. With a hull-shaped bottom, and looking like a hefty Hummer, it could be used by Canadians in Afghanistan as early as May.
Then there's the new M777 Howitzer, which can fire a shell 29 kilometres, with little regard for wind or rain. Instead of raining death on some distant target, the M777 can launch smoke shells to help retreating troops or unleash a burst of pure daylight.
Finally, officers touted an unmanned plane called the Skylark UAV. Portable enough to be carried, the Israeli-designed plane can be programmed with a flight path, collect information and report back on the surrounding area.
With a brigade strength of more than 4,000 soldiers, Petawawa is constantly churning out troops, training them for specialties that range from emergency responses in Ontario to the Disaster Assistance Relief Team that lends a hand to countries ravaged by natural disaster.
Yesterday's hands-on curriculum, however, was for a war that has trouble winning the nation's support.
An Ipsos-Reid poll, conducted in March, puts opposition to the war in Afghanistan at between 48 and 60 per cent. It formed stark contrast to the smiling faces at Petawawa. Married only last year, Krishna Gururawji, of the 7th Toronto Regiment, will be taking his first tour in August.
"This has been my dream," the 29-year-old grinned, beneath a camouflage helmet adorned with fake twigs and leaves.
Born in India, the master corporal will spend six months in Afghanistan before returning in mid-February next year.
The tour will be another waypoint in the ongoing adventures of Cpl. Julie Pate.
"I was a 17-year-old who didn't like my parents," said the Burlington native. "I'm like, what do I do to get out of the house?"
"I'm 25 and I've gotten to go to Bosnia," the intelligence officer said. "I'm going to Afghanistan. I've gotten to rappel out of a helicopter."
Emergency training replicates bombs, chaos
Surreal exercise at Petawawa `like a movie set'
Mar. 29, 2006. 07:14 AM
CHRISTIAN COTRONEO
STAFF REPORTER
http://www.thestar.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pagename=thestar/Layout/Article_PrintFriendly&c=Article&cid=1143586212476&call_pageid=970599119419
CFB PETAWAWA—The only thing worse than being trapped in a narrow urban alley when a bomb explodes is the next bomb.
Moments after an ear-shattering explosion ripped through a truck-load of Canadian soldiers yesterday, a rapid response team was on the scene, wading through smoke, and pointing rifles at their uncertain surroundings.
"My leg!" came a voice from inside the truck, as blood painted the windshield. "I don't want to die."
A second deafening roar brought even more smoke and chaos.
But when the smoke cleared and wounded and dying soldiers had been dragged through the dirt from the blast area, the quick and the dead stood side by side for a performance review.
"We should have pulled back a bit faster," said Eric Gagnon, the 38-year old warrant officer from Montreal who led the response team. "The thing I liked is everyone seemed to know exactly what to do."
After surveying the smouldering scene, complete with fake blood, wounds and smoke grenades, public affairs officer Capt. Scott Spurr summed it up with a smile.
"It almost looks like a movie set for crying out loud."
It was precisely what instructors at Canadian Forces Base Petawawa were aiming for on the second day of emergency response training at one of Canada's top military bases — a theatre of war just before soldiers joined the real theatre of war in Afghanistan.
About 1,200 soldiers from Petawawa are heading to Kandahar in August to replace Canadians already there under a NATO-led army.
But this crop of fresh, eager faces will be packing advanced medical equipment and more punch than their predecessors.
Earlier yesterday, top soldiers at the base unveiled medicines of war that could save scores of lives — and trumpeted a trio of new machineries of war.
Canadian soldiers, from every walk of the military, are lugging QuikClot to Afghanistan. The vacuum-pack bags, costing about $50, are designed "to stop moderate-to-severe bleeding" by drawing plasma out of the blood, instantly causing it to coagulate.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
`You're responsible for your first aid until someone can get to you.'
Sgt. Lawrence Aho
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Soldiers will pack CAT tourniquets, designed to be self-applied quickly and easily to stem arterial bleeding, as well as Israeli Dressing, a one-handed bandage with a thick gauze pad.
"This stuff is leading edge," said Sgt. Lawrence Aho of Petawawa's medical branch, adding much of it only appeared on the military scene in the past two years — and it's "leaps" ahead of existing field treatments.
It all adds up to one goal for Canadians heading to a land of increasing uncertainty.
"You're responsible for your first aid until someone can get to you," Aho said. "Your weapon is still pointed at the enemy."
At the other end of the spectrum, base officials unveiled an armoured personnel carrier capable of withstanding road mines. With a hull-shaped bottom, and looking like a hefty Hummer, it could be used by Canadians in Afghanistan as early as May.
Then there's the new M777 Howitzer, which can fire a shell 29 kilometres, with little regard for wind or rain. Instead of raining death on some distant target, the M777 can launch smoke shells to help retreating troops or unleash a burst of pure daylight.
Finally, officers touted an unmanned plane called the Skylark UAV. Portable enough to be carried, the Israeli-designed plane can be programmed with a flight path, collect information and report back on the surrounding area.
With a brigade strength of more than 4,000 soldiers, Petawawa is constantly churning out troops, training them for specialties that range from emergency responses in Ontario to the Disaster Assistance Relief Team that lends a hand to countries ravaged by natural disaster.
Yesterday's hands-on curriculum, however, was for a war that has trouble winning the nation's support.
An Ipsos-Reid poll, conducted in March, puts opposition to the war in Afghanistan at between 48 and 60 per cent. It formed stark contrast to the smiling faces at Petawawa. Married only last year, Krishna Gururawji, of the 7th Toronto Regiment, will be taking his first tour in August.
"This has been my dream," the 29-year-old grinned, beneath a camouflage helmet adorned with fake twigs and leaves.
Born in India, the master corporal will spend six months in Afghanistan before returning in mid-February next year.
The tour will be another waypoint in the ongoing adventures of Cpl. Julie Pate.
"I was a 17-year-old who didn't like my parents," said the Burlington native. "I'm like, what do I do to get out of the house?"
"I'm 25 and I've gotten to go to Bosnia," the intelligence officer said. "I'm going to Afghanistan. I've gotten to rappel out of a helicopter."
