Canadian military storms Vancouver Island beach for large-scale exercise
People living in the Comox Valley are used to seeing military exercises and maneuvers, but perhaps not quite on the scale that's happening this week.
Dozens of armed soldiers stormed Airforce Beach in Comox, B.C., on Wednesday morning.
"This is a unique opportunity for us," said Col. Scott Raesler, Commander of 39 Canadian Brigade Group.
"We are conducting what we term joint operations, so it's the army training with the navy," he said.
Soldiers and sailors are being transported to the area on navy vessels based out of Esquimalt, B.C.
Troops were conducting two separate attacks on land targets during the exercise on Wednesday.
The exercise is being held in the Comox Valley area of Vancouver Island, B.C.
"It’s the first time we’ve done this with the navy in many, many years and both of us are walking out of this experience with a fantastic amount of learning that we would not have been able to do if we simply had operated as isolated services," said Raesler.
Hundreds of people are participating in the exercise, including 320 members of the 39 Canadian Brigade Group and 450 sailors.
"We had folks on our rigid hull inflatable boats driving the boats, and also we had rescue swimmers," said Cdr. Bryan Price, tactical command officer with the navy.
"Our divers are also trained as rescue swimmers in the event they needed to assist any of the people coming on shore today in the assault boats," he said.
The exercise is being held in the Comox Valley area of Vancouver Island, B.C.
Those leading the exercises say the week has so far been a success, and even the air force is playing a role in training.
"Oh absolutely," said Price. "The sailors, I can tell you, they're all extremely excited to be here. We've got folks from St. Johns, Newfoundland, all the way to Victoria. It's outstanding."
The exercise was planned long before the invasion of Ukraine began, but now the training has taken on a new light.
"The war in Ukraine has basically woken up everybody in both the military and political communities that we need to be rethinking how we train for operations and ensure that we are ready to meet whatever contemporary operations basically involve," said Raesler.
Price added that recent events were a "reality check" for many.
"It’s always in the backs of our minds and this just gives a bit more of a reality check to that so that we know that these skills that we develop and we train can be used if necessary," he said.
The training is scheduled to continue for the rest of the week.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
What's a Barnacle? It's yellow, sticks and screams if you try to pry it off your car
Barnacles, bright yellow devices used to make sure parking scofflaws pay their tickets, could soon be making their way to cities across Canada.
Verdun Airbnb listing taken down amid complaints, fines and frustration from neighbours
An Airbnb in Montreal's Verdun borough was the source of much frustration from neighbours who say there were constant parties at the location. It has been taken down from the app, but housing advocates remain upset about short-term rentals.
Man who set himself on fire outside Trump trial dies of injuries, police say
A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former U.S. President Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said.
They were from different countries and barely spoke each other's languages. More than 20 years later, they're still happily in love
He decided to spend Christmas somewhere that wouldn't involve snowstorm disasters. She was spending the holidays with family, travelling for the first time outside of her native country of Venezuela. 23 years later, they're still in love.
Young people 'tortured' if stolen vehicle operations fail, Montreal police tell MPs
One day after a Montreal police officer fired gunshots at a suspect in a stolen vehicle, senior officers were telling parliamentarians that organized crime groups are recruiting people as young as 15 in the city to steal cars so that they can be shipped overseas.
A Nigerian chess champion plays the royal game for 60 hours - a new global chess record
A Nigerian chess champion and child education advocate played chess nonstop for 60 hours in New York City's Times Square to break the Guinness World Record for the longest chess marathon.
Fire in Labrador town under control, officials tells residents to stay away
RCMP say the fire that prompted a state of emergency in a Labrador town is now under control.
12 students and teacher killed in Columbine school shooting remembered at 25th anniversary vigil
Thirteen victims of the Columbine High School shooting were remembered during a vigil Friday on the eve of the 25th anniversary of the shooting that was the worst the nation had seen at the time.
Israeli airstrike in southern Gaza city of Rafah kills at least 9 Palestinians, including 6 children
An Israeli airstrike on a house in Gaza's southernmost city killed at least nine people, six of them children, hospital authorities said Saturday, as Israel pursued its nearly seven-month offensive in the besieged Palestinian territory.