A big military exercise is set to go this weekend in Bruce and Huron Counties.
Army reservists from the 31st Canadian Brigade Group will be training in the area.
The brigade is made up of about 2,000 soldiers and about 800 will be gathering to form the 31st Territorial Battalion for the weekend exercise.
The exercise is called Trillium Venture and it’s also taking place in other parts of Ontario. They say soldiers and vehicles will not be carrying weapons or ammunition of any kind.
Soldiers will be headquartered in Blyth, and training in Walkerton, Mildmay, and Arran-Elderslie. Some naval reservists from Hamilton and London will also join them on the Bruce Peninsula and in Tobermory.
You may see soldiers out in the community and out knocking on doors as they simulate wellness checks in a pretend scenario of an emergency response to a heat wave and severe storm with power outages.
Lieutenant Colonel Christopher van den Berg, Commanding Officer of the 31 Territorial Battalion Group says the wellness checks are practical training for power and communications outages where people may be isolated.
“That’s something that we train to be ready to do because that’s something that we’ve been asked to do in the past,” says Lt. Col. van den Berg.
He says, “During the ice storm in the 90s the military was asked to go out and knock on doors just to verify that the residents of the houses in the affected area were okay.”
Training scenarios will also include dealing with downed trees on power lines, being able to organize a cooling centre and provide help to long-term care homes, as well as search and rescue training around Dyer’s Bay, Lion’s Head and Cabot Head using boats and ATVS.
They will also be conducting road obstruction clearing scenarios in cooperation with the OPP and the South Bruce Peninsula Fire Department between Paisley and Chesley.
Public Affairs Officer Lt. Paul Verheye says in a statement, “Conducting road clearing/obstructions ensures that all personnel, and services necessary for Canadian Armed Forces operations are available when and where they are required.”
The exercise is also an opportunity to coordinate with other organizations and levels of provincial and local government to prepare a response to a large-scale emergency.
Lt. Col. van den Berg says, “You’re going to see soldiers out and about in the community so feel free to come forward and chat with them and ask them what they’re doing.”
It’s an annual validation exercise that shows they are able to rapidly “force generate” from the different communities the soldiers are in to form their battalion and then to be able to send them out, up to 250 km from where they’ve gathered.
“It’s a reserve formation exercise” says Lt. Col. van den Berg, explaining the army reserves play an important role in supporting the regular army in international deployments and when the military is called upon to support Canadian communities during emergencies or natural disasters.
The 31 Territorial Battalion group is made up of soldiers from the 12 units across the 31 Canadian Brigade Group area that spans from Windsor to Hamilton to Owen Sound. “Once we’ve constituted this battalion, it becomes the command structure for the soldiers that we then deploy into an area of operations during an emergency,” says Lt. Col. van den Berg.
Soldiers will start arriving in Huron and Bruce Counties Friday night and will be in the area until Sunday evening.
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Army tents in Blyth are the headquarters for the local exercise. Photo by Claire McCormack
