The Chomedey News - Laval News

Laval soldiers hold successful open house
CAROLINE GARDNER
Assembled onlookers and passers by were
astounded to see the grounds of the Le
Carrefour Blvd. armoury turned into a veritable
war zone last August 23 rd – not to mention
guests of the adjacent Hilton Laval. An
armoured personnel vehicle disgorged a
‘platoon’ of machine-gun carrying reserve
soldiers, who promptly surrounded and
even took out a ‘sniper,’ searching him for
ammunition before securing a new area,
amid a hail of blank bullets and grenades,
all as part of a staged training exercise.
The occasion: an open house at the Charles
Michel de Salaberry facility, home base to
the 130 army reserve soldiers of the Royal
22 nd Regiment 4 th Battalion. “These soldiers
live and work in our community,” said Sgt.
Ian Lafrenière, spokesperson for the battal-
Two reserve soldiers after the
dramatic training exercise.
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ion. By day, he plays the same role for
Montreal’s police department. He spoke
very highly of his army reserve colleagues.
“They donate a few hours a week of their
time, along with two weeks out of every
year – time away from their careers and
family life. It’s a big sacrifice they make.”
According to Lafrenière, up to twenty percent
of the battalion are stationed overseas;
last year at this time, TCN reported on a
number of Laval soldiers from the 22 nd taking
part in the Canadian Forces peacekeeping
mission in Bosnia. This year, many of
the group are contemplating tours of duty in
Afghanistan – that is, if they’re not already
stationed there. “I’m seriously considering a
tour in Afghanistan, and I look forward to
pursuing a career in the army - it’s a great
job,” nineteen-year-old Private Jean-
François Belzil said, as he conscientiously
applied camouflage face paint to this
reporter’s face – incidentally, the same stuff
they use in the field. “It takes just thirty seconds
to apply, which is probably a lot less
time than it takes most women to apply their
makeup,” he quipped. Ouch – point well
taken.
Institution boasts firing range,
high-tech simulator
Open house visitors got a good glimpse at
the behind-the-scenes operation of the
armoury. At one point the tour ventured into
the basement of the facility, a large-institutional
type area lined with lockers and classrooms,
where reservists follow specialized
military training. It would be easy to mis-
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take it for a local high school, save for a few
jarring differences: shoe shining stations
every few meters or so, for one thing, and
there’s the small matter of a fully equipped
firing range and training simulator, where
soldiers hone their marksmanship skills.
“The simulator is a great tool for us,”
Sergeant Roy explained in the darkened
room, large targets lit up on a rear screen,
another soldier manning a computer station
to one side. “It tells us whether our aim is
off, and by exactly how much, or even if
we’re breathing too hard,” he said, thereby
giving them a much more accurate and
detailed performance critique than any traditional
firing range or field exercise. Semiautomatic
C-7 and C-9 rifles are set up for
practice, along with some authentic looking
bunker sandbags to rest ones’ arms on. The
real firing range is another story.
Emblazoned with warnings (the possibility
of lead contamination is very real in an
indoor range), the room is deep and shadowy
during our visit; soldiers practice
shooting handguns at ranges of 10 to 25
meters here.
Obviously, the open house attracted a large
number of children, all clamouring to try on
10-lb. regulation helmets, climb over and
into tanks and check out Canadian army
rations. “We have the best
rations in the world,”
Lafrenière proudly stated,
noting that ours are not
dehydrated – a big boon
in desert landscapes
like Afghanistan,
where water
sources are
s c a r c e
indeed. “The
U.S. soldiers
are
pretty envious
of our
field rations,
compared to
their dehyd
r a t e d
meals,” he
confided.
Strong message of peace
underlying event
Far from glorifying war and its a
ccoutrements, the soldiers made sure that a
message of prevention and peace came
across to the younger visitors. “We’re not
going to try and hide the fact that we have
guns here.
We’re in the
army, and
this is an
armoury,”
Lafrenière
told a group
of youngsters
in a
serious
voice. “We
treat all
guns as if
they were
loaded, and
never, ever,
point them
at each
Hotel guests were
surprised to see an
fully-manned APV
roaring by their
windows.
other,” he said eloquently. “After all,
Canada invented the modern day
peacekeeping mission, and that’s what
we’re best at.” It’s abundantly clear that
these Laval soldiers are bent on upholding
that standard. As the Department of
National Defense website states,
Sir Winston Churchill once said:
“Every country has an army.
Either its own, or somebody else’s.”
TCN reporter Caroline Gardner got down and dirty with
camouflage face paint before hefting a C7 machine gun
(basically a Canadian M-16) and sighting simulated enemies.
Intensely focused soldiers involved in the simulated military exercise
stand out in sharp contrast to the typical Le Carrefour Blvd. scene.