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
'They needed people inside Air Canada:' Police announce arrests in Pearson gold heist
Police say one former and one current employee of Air Canada are among the nine suspects that are facing charges in connection with the gold heist at Pearson International Airport last year.
Why drivers in Eastern Canada could see big gas price spikes, and other Canadians won't
Drivers in Eastern Canada face a big increase in gas prices because of various factors, especially the higher cost of the summer blend, industry analysts say.
BREAKING Toronto Raptors player Jontay Porter banned from NBA
Toronto Raptors player Jontay Porter has been handed a lifetime ban from The National Basketball Association (NBA) following an investigation which found he disclosed confidential information to sports bettors, the league says.
WATCH LIVE As GC Strategies partner is admonished by MPs, RCMP confirms search warrant executed
The RCMP confirmed Wednesday it had executed a search warrant at an address registered to GC Strategies. This development comes as MPs are enacting an extraordinary, rarely used parliamentary power, summoning one of its contractors to appear before the House of Commons to be admonished publicly for failing to answer questions related to the ArriveCan app.
Disappointment widespread over budget's proposed $200-month disability benefit funding
Advocacy groups across Canada are expressing widespread disappointment about the amount of funding earmarked in the 2024 federal budget for the long-awaited Canada Disability Benefit.
Earthquake jolts southern Japan
An earthquake with a preliminary magnitude of 6.4 hit southern Japan late on Wednesday, said the Japan Meteorological Agency, without issuing a tsunami warning.
Woman who pressured boyfriend to kill his ex in 2000s granted absences from prison
A woman who pressured her boyfriend into killing his teenage ex more than a decade ago will be allowed to leave prison for weeks at a time.
opinion Don Martin: Gusher of Liberal spending won't put out the fire in this dumpster
A Hail Mary rehash of the greatest hits from the Trudeau government’s three-week travelling pony-show, the 2024 federal budget takes aim at reversing the party’s popularity plunge in the under-40 set, writes political columnist Don Martin. But will it work before the next election?
Former Sask. massage therapist who sexually assaulted clients has day parole revoked
A former massage therapist who pleaded guilty to a string of sexual assaults has had his day parole revoked.