Ex SILVER

MCpl McDougal
12 Mar 2009

 

The day started off sunny and clear. The CO’s driver MCpl McDougal and Cpl Dugdale awaited the arrival of the CO, Lieutenant Colonel Macaulay and the RSM, Chief Warrant Officer Ramsay, as well as the rest of Regimental Headquarters. The HMCS Calgary was in port the same day; the CO was able to get a tour of the frigate by his fellow comrades, the Captain, Commander Quin and the Executive Officer, Lieutenant Commander Salt. The tour of this vessel was hands down an eye opener of how it takes teamwork to run a ship smoothly. When the tour of HMCS was completed the Captain and XO invited everyone out for dinner at a nice little restaurant called Moxies.

 

Ex SILVER began on 10 Feb 09, and it was time to put our game faces on. First things first, the Land Component Command had to be established and set up. Getting everyone on line was no easy task. Additionally, the Integrated Security Unit had to put all their different teams together to work through all the different scenarios. There were early mornings with late nights, with everyone working for the same end result to have this Ex end with complete success.

Just because Ex SILVER ended did not mean everything was complete for Lord Strathcona’s Horse (Royal Canadians). The CO with the RSM and Major Adams went out for an air recce over Cypress bowl in a Sea King helicopter with a Squadron of Griffins from Quebec with call sign Stinger 1 at the controls. The information gathered was greatly needed for further planning for the Olympics.

 

Now that information about Cypress was complete and passed down to the OC of Recce Squadron, Major McKenzie, he can now send his recce teams out to complete their tasks of being the first ones from Recce with their boots on the ground.

While Recce squadron had Cypress under control it was time to recce Whistler. Griffon 1 allowed the CO with Constable Kapaclis from the RCMP as well as an inspector from the West Vancouver Police Department to fly over Whistler for the same surveillance work. Later on in the week the CO and RSM met with Constable Kapaclis, an inspector from the West Vancouver Police Department, as well as a Constable who was the Aboriginal Liaison for the Community Relation Group.

The day had finally come, everyone showed up to 39 Brigade Head Quarters for 0800hrs. Everyone started to come together with what needed to get done for the Olympics as well as talking about the next step (Ex GOLD). Everyone felt good about Ex SILVER and could not wait to go home and see their families. That night was for having a good dinner with friends and to finally relax a little before getting on the plane to fly home.