C Squadron Hosts the Edmonton Journal.

By Major John Cochrane
16 March 2009

 

On Friday March 6th 2009, C Squadron had the pleasure of hosting three persons from the Edmonton Journal. In attendance were: Allan Mayer, the Editor-in-Chief, Ryan Cormier, a Staff Writer, and Rick McWilliam, a Photographer; also included in this group was long time friend of the Regiment Brian Hetherington.

 

By all accounts this was a more detailed visit than we have conducted for quite some time. Our guests were treated to a short brief on the squadron, where they had no shortage of questions regarding our thoughts on the deployment, equipment and Afghanistan in general. Following this they attended coffee with the Officers, where they were introduced to several Afghanistan veterans that provided their views on various topics. We then proceeded to introduce each of them to the Leopard C2 simulator and the vehicle itself. They were each afforded the opportunity to have a short ride in the tank to experience the conditions that our crews deal with each and everyday, fortunately it was only minus 12 that day. They also expressed how impressed they were with the exceptional amount of room in the gunner’s compartment. While this was all going on Tpr Paskuski, or Princess as he is known to the Squadron, was conducting a tour for his Mother and Father (Gary and Marianne) who had travelled to Edmonton from Lethbridge the day before to attend the Family Briefs conducted the previous night. This afforded us the opportunity to improve the quality of the tour they experienced by getting them into the Simulators and on the actual tank. I think they were also filmed by the crew from the Edmonton Journal! Once our guests from the Edmonton Journal returned from their tank ride we all headed to the Business Lunch to have a hearty lunch and warm up. After lunch we returned to Regimental lines where they had the opportunity to sit down with Sgt Moon, MCpl Alexander, and Tpr Rogers to discuss some opportunities that these individuals will likely have to write some articles for the Edmonton Journal over the course of our deployment. Also present were Tprs Lanthier and Hamilton, who offered their thoughts on the Leopard C2 and the differences between that and the Leopard 2. Our sincere thanks go out to the crew of the Journal. They were genuinely interested in our activities and equipment; and there is nothing that soldiers enjoys more than showing off their careers.