2 CMBG Embarks On Exercise SOUTHERN BEAR

2 Canadian Mechanized Brigade Group is going to Texas

Soldiers from across the brigade, and every unit set to deploy as part of Task Force 3-08 later this year, will be conducting Exercise SOUTHERN BEAR from February 4 to the 28 at Fort Bliss, a United States Army base.

Located alongside the Mexican border outside El Paso, Texas, Fort Bliss and its accompanying training area cover roughly 4,500 square kilometres, which is approximately 15 times the size of CFB Petawawa and its adjacent training area

Canadian Military Begins Travel to Fort Bliss

The exercise, which will involve roughly 3,300 soldiers, will serve as an opportunity to conduct full-spectrum operations necessary for the deployment of Petawawa based soldiers for Afghanistan.
Afghanistan is a challenging mission, and to that end, the training being conducted now must prepare soldiers for all of the challenges they will face.
“This is a very important exercise,” said Col Dean Milner, Commander of 2 CMBG. “This is a huge logistical challenge for the brigade to get down to Texas, and it will be challenging training for all the soldiers who will be a part of the exercise.”
These challenges include a number of training scenarios that will force the soldiers to conduct their operations in areas where there are friendly and hostile civilians, enemy insurgents, media, and Afghan National Security Forces for three weeks of training on a landscape which is nearly identical to what the soldiers will face in Afghanistan. They barely have the chance to knock the Texas dust off their kit before heading to Alberta's CFB Wainwright in May for a final set of training just before this fall's deployment. "We were supposed to have been deployed in August, but this was pushed back a month to give soldiers more time with their families before heading over," Col. Milner said. This will allow troops to go on block leave over the summer.

Mountain shooting near Fort Bliss.
Photo Credit: Cpl Bruno Turcotte

Involved in the exercise will be The T h i r d Battalion, The Royal Canadian Regiment-led Battle Group, the Kandahar Provincial Reconstruction Team led by 2 Combat Engineer Regiment, the Observer Mentor Liaison Team led by The First Battalion, The Royal Canadian Regiment, the National Support Element led by 2 Service Battalion, and Joint Task Force Afghanistan Headquarters led by former 2 CMBG Commander, Col Denis Thompson.

The priority for 2 CMBG for the next year is to conduct training for Roto 6, scheduled to deploy to Afghanistan in August 2008. 2 CMBG will build a Battle Group based on The Third Battalion, The Royal Canadian Regiment (3 RCR) while also training elements for the Observer Mentor Liaison Team (OMLT) and Provincial Reconstruction Team (PRT).