Canadian Army reservists return to Chilliwack for annual disaster response training

Hundreds of reservists with the Canadian Armed Forces have returned to Chilliwack., B.C., to finetune their disaster relief skills.

Combat engineer reservists from regiments across the country will take part in the annual training known as ‘Exercise Paladin Response’ this week.

“They are from all over Canada; we have units out from Newfoundland, Nova Scotia, Quebec, Ontario, Alberta, Manitoba,” said Canadian Armed Forces Sgt. Lerry Liu.

“We even have members of the U.S. Army here as well. They’re from Washington and Oregon.”

The multi-day exercise provides an opportunity for the around 200 reservists to sharpen their skills in the design, planning and construction of rafts and bridges. This includes constructing medium girder bridges and building prefabricated modular steel Acrow bridges.

“The Acrow bridge is more of what we call the line of communications bridge. It’s more used for heavy logistics behind the lines or for domestic operations. It’s a little bit sturdier. It is meant to stay in place for a longer period of time,” said Sgt. Liu. “Whereas the MG medium girder bridge is more of a temporary bridge to traffic forces across. This would be eventually replaced by an Acrow bridge, if it’s going to be needed for a long period of time.”

Another part of the training includes operating assault boats and assembling medium floating bridges on Cultus Lake.

“Here at Maple Bay, we’re putting together the PMR, which is a medium floatation raft and used to traffic in vehicles and troops,” said Canadian Armed Forces Sgt. Trevor Hanson.

“If there’s a flood somewhere or any other type of disaster … we can use this as a bridge to move over, whether civilians or troops, wherever we need to support them.”

Trending Now

Reservists are personnel in primarily part-time service positions; many have full-time civilian jobs or are full-time post-secondary students.

According to Lieut.-Col. Stephen Piers, a primary role of the combat engineers is to provide the army with mobility support.

“Reserve Force Combat Engineers have a particular focus on supporting domestic operations, such as response to natural disasters,” said Lieut.-Col. Piers, “where they may be asked to provide assistance to provincial and territorial authorities under Operation LENTUS, which has occurred regularly in recent years.”

Training will continue through the week before reservists head home on New Year’s Eve, ready to be called upon when their help is needed most.