Here's my impressions;
1) The exercise was generally excellent
2) It was exactly the training we need, given the possibility of 38 CBG pers being sent on TF08
3) The training was very realistic, with well-planned scenarios that challenged section commanders in the infantry and armoured recce platoons/troops. They really had to think on their feet to respond to sniper, IED, human interaction situations, etc. The Comd of the US scout platoon that attended the training said that even though his platoon had done training at all the high-speed training facilities in the US, Winnipeg was the best training environment they had been to. (incidentally, he had suffered a tragic family matter and had to be replaced mid exercise. Hope the Bde sends condolences.)
4) The ROEs had to be made more clear. For instance, a patrol of the Peoples Liberation Army was gunned down by the ISM in a drive-by shooting, within sight of one of our patrols. So, shoot or don't shoot? Was the PLA (the Militia that supported the new govt) considered an allied force that had to be supported by our guys? Or should the incident be considered to be a clash between two neutral belligerent factions, that the Task Force patrol should have just observed and stayed clear? The patrol commander opted to open fire, and then rendered 1st aid (good call) The local civvies, taking pictures on their porches and lawns were caught in the crossfire (not so good) but the locals didn't seem to mind at all!
5) A Coy was located in Pioneer Arena on Logan ave, a dirt-poor area of the city. The locals were very supportive for the most part, more so than in Ste Boniface I'm told. Does anyone remember the "Golden Cowboy?"
6) The American Platoon from 34 Inf Div, Minnesota National Guard was awesome, it was attached to A Coy. Several of them were Iraq veterans, and most of the platoon is going over again within a year. Very motivated, positive, fit and well-led, who had a lot of real time current operational knowledge to pass on to our guys. Had their stuff down-pat. I heard the 34 ID wanted to send an entire coy...
Most initial infantry patrols consisted of a dismounted section of Canadians, supported by a US HUMV in an overwatch role. They worked really well together.
One of the US section Comds told me they thought they were being shot at in every streetcorner downtown, because they were hearing the "beep-beep, beep-beep" that usually meant their MILES gear was signalling a near miss. They figured out later it was the audio signal the crossing lights in Winnipeg give to tell the visually impaired it was safe to cross...
7) The police & city were very supportive.
8) The "protesters" were pretty disappointing. I was looking forward to hooded firebomb throwing anarchists, but at A Coy there were only less than a dozen pathetic emaciated freaks that listlessly chalked "no blood for oil" messages on the street and stuck little bouquets of flowers into the chain-link fence, and left after a while.
9) Two bad parts: there was not enough food prep assets, and worst of all, the end ex smoker was cancelled ! :crybaby:
38 CBG hit a
home run with this ex. this has got to happen again next year, with post ex points taken into consideration and hopefully the days of dumping 2-300 troops off in Shiloh to conduct section attacks and dig holes are done. I'll write more as I remember...
