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Private Notes
The famous Royal 22nd Regiment, more commonly known as the “Vandoos”, go through the rigours of urban warfare as the Regiment prepares for deployment to Afghanistan. Their house-to-house combat training is conducted at the renowned US Army Urban Warfare facility in Fort Drum, New York. This unique simulated urban area, which is the size of Metropolitan Toronto, is known within the army as “Sim City” and features all the typical challenges infantry would face preparing for their forthcoming Afghanistan deployment. The training and pressure is intense. See our young soldiers as they prepare for as many of the scenarios they can expect in a war zone.
Maritime Interdiction Operations (MIO) has become an integral part of the Canadian Navy’s deployment preparations. From the Adriatic Sea to the Persian Gulf, young sailors have been called upon to board, search and seize ships under United Nations mandates. Often the boarding teams deal with hostile opposition – they have prepared for any event. In this fascinating show, we join a group of young sailors from various Canadian warships, doing the basic Boarding Party Course in Esquimalt, British Columbia. From learning hand-to-hand combat to searching the depths of large container ships, we see and experience what these sailors must deal with at sea during dangerous and challenging boarding operations.
Every year One Canadian Mechanized Battle Group (1 CMBG), based in Edmonton Alberta, holds a military fitness competition known as the Mountain Man Challenge. Usually over 250 participants tackle the 32km trek through the Edmonton River Valley Trail system. Each soldier is required to shoulder a 15kg rucksack throughout the course and during one 3.2km section, carry two sandbags weighing 18kg. The Mountain Man Challenge involves members of the Princess Patricia’s Canadian Light Infantry (PPCLI), 1 Field Ambulance, Service Battalion and Combat Engineers. This show features segments on Army physical fitness standards and Army occupations.
Every pilot’s worst nightmare is to be shot down behind enemy lines or over hostile territory. The Canadian Air Force, like those of other NATO nations, has developed a unique and intense training course to prepare its pilots for the worst. The air force SERE (Survive, Evasion, Resistance and Escape) training highlighted in this show is conducted in Springer Lake Manitoba. From learning how to survive off the land to evading tracking dogs and soldiers, we follow a group of young pilots are they learn all about survival behind the lines. Very, very intense!
The Royal Military College (RMC) is the academic school for training young officers for the Canadian military. We follow four young cadets at RMC as they go through their final week before being "badged" by their squadrons. The show includes daily routines, profiles officer occupations and highlights a rigorous obstacle course and the cadet’s final parade.
Most people don’t think of mountain training when they think of soldiers. However, recent Canadian deployments in areas such as Afghanistan and the Balkans confirmed the importance of infantry soldiers understanding the fundamentals of dealing with mountain operations. In Mountain Operations, we join a group of young soldiers from the Princess Patricia’s Canadian Light Infantry in Canmore, Alberta as they go through the thrills and chills of dealing with heights, vertigo and operations at 8000 feet.
The two greatest dangers facing all naval personnel at sea are fire and flooding onboard a warship. Whether induced by combat or through accident, the smoke from fires and the icy water of a sinking ship are all deadly. Canadian Naval Officers who are going through the Naval Officer Training Centre in Esquimalt British Columbia are required to pass the two-week Damage Control school. After classroom instruction, these young officers are put into special simulators that have real fires and floods they must deal with. From the chilling cold of the sea water which never seems to stop entering the compartment, dealing with back-draft fire balls and claustrophobia – these future naval officers are ready for the challenge!
Each year the best tank crews in the Lord Strathconas, based in Edmonton Alberta, hold a tank competition with the US National Guard. The Canadian teams are using older Leopard I tanks while the American team is using M1A1 Abram tanks which have been proven on the battlefields of the Persian Gulf. In four of the last five years, the Canadian teams have won. Can they do it again? We join four tank team crews from both Canada and the USA as they go head-to-head in this explosive and visually stimulating battle competition in Boise, Idaho.
We follow a group of young Canadian sailors, who are already qualified as ship divers, as they try to pass the physically intense Clearance Diver Prelim course. This preliminary course is meant to weed out the volunteers and determine who is best suited for the challenges and dangers of being one of the Navy’s elite Clearance Divers. The short course is grueling and intense. Watch these young sailors as the all strive to be the best they can be!
Tactical Helicopters on the modern battlefield are incredibly important to success. From spotting armoured vehicles to doing vertical insertions of infantry, Griffon helicopters can do it all for the Canadian Army. In this episode we follow a group of new pilots who are going through TACHEL (Tactical Helicopter) training in Gagetown, New Brunswick. These pilots must learn about everything from flying at treetop level to doing landings at night in battlefield conditions. Come experience the exhilaration and chills these young Canadian pilots face in the final days of their training.
Snipers are one of the deadliest battlefield assets a commander can have. They can get behind enemy lines to do intelligence work, stall a convoy of vehicles and even take out selected individuals. Expert marksmen armed with incredible stamina, snipers are a special breed within the Army. In this episode, we go to Gagetown, New Brunswick, to follow the annual Sniper Concentration. Over twenty sniper teams from throughout NATO come to share their field craft, tactics, and weapon knowledge and compete. This episode also includes highlights of heroic work done by our very own Canadian snipers in Afghanistan.
As proven in World War Two, paratroopers are force-multipliers for the commander in the field. Paratroopers can be inserted behind enemy lines to take and hold important strategic links and positions before the enemy can destroy them. It takes a special breed of soldier to be willing to jump out of an aircraft with 100lbs of equipment on their backs and drop into possible battle. We go Trenton, Ontario, to follow a group of young soldiers from the Princess Patricia’s Canadian Light Infantry who want to earn their paratrooper wings. The training is intense and the pressure acute – any mistakes could cost them their lives. This episode also features a segment about the Army’s elite parachutist known as the Sky Hawks who compete in a national skydiving competition and who made an appearance at the SARS/Rolling Stone concert in Toronto.
