 An evening drive through the country in the flooded areas south of the Assiniboine river |
 Members of Lord Strathcona' s Horse pose with an appreciative home owner after they finished surrounding her home with Tiger tubes just west of the Portage diversion. |
 Civilian engineers work around the clock reinforcing the Portage Diversion under a kilometre away from where members of A sqn are surrounding homes with Tiger Dams |
 Flooded roads and farmlands south of the Hoop and Holler bend of the Assiniboine river are a common site to those soldiers working on installing Aquadams in Portage la Prairie. |
 Soldier s stand on the top of the Portage Diversion, and the tons of sandbags they will soon be using to reinforce weakened areas. |
 Soldiers take a break after hours of relentless sandbagging efforts on the Portage diversion |
Strathconas on Op LUSTRE – A Squadron
By 2Lt Corey McLean
Members of Lord Strathcona’s Horse (Royal Canadians) made a 14 hour road move in order to take part in Op LUSTRE. They arrived in the city of Portage la Prairie and almost immediately began efforts setting up Tiger Tubes and Aqua Dams in their efforts to maintain flood protection in the municipality. They worked simultaneously in the north protecting houses in the vicinity of the Portage diversion, and in the south where the intentional breach was planned to occur in the Hoop and Holler Bend of the Assiniboine River.
The Strathcona soldiers were quartered in Southport, but spent little time there with work days that lasted between 16-18 hours. Despite the lack of sleep and heavy workload, the soldiers, many who are natives of Manitoba, remained in good spirits knowing that this was their opportunity to be able to provide assistance to Canadians in need.
Heavy machinery began scraping away a layer of rock on a closed section of Provincial Road 331 - Hoop and Holler Bend - to allow water to flow out of a slow-moving Assiniboine oxbow. The aim of this controlled breach was to move the water to the east and south so that it could be both stored on fields and directed into the Elm River, which eventually empties into the Red River. This effort ultimately succeeded and flood damage was kept to a minimum in the area.
In the end, members of LdSH (RC) managed to provide protection to over 130 houses and established themselves in the eyes of those they helped as honest, hardworking, and professional soldiers worthy of their respect.