Exercise Southern Bear Ends Successfully

February 28, 2008
Camp Dona Ana, Fort Bliss, Texas

Today, after almost a month in desert-like training at Fort Bliss, Texas, Exercise Southern Bear has officially ended. The approximately 3,000 soldiers who took part in the exercise will soon be heading back to Canada.
During this month long exercise soldiers conducted Combat Team attacks, convoy training, IED training and specific training pertaining to their tasks in Afghanistan.
“I am very pleased with everything that we accomplished during our short time here,” said Colonel Dean Milner, Commander of 2 Canadian Mechanized Brigade Group (2 CMBG). “The exceptional facilities at Fort Bliss allowed us to train in an environment that is similar to Afghanistan.”
The completion of the exercise marks another major milestone on the road to Afghanistan that began last August for many of the soldiers from Petawawa’s 2 CMBG. Aside from the Joint Task Force Afghanistan Headquarters that is scheduled to depart at the end of April, most of the soldiers training for the deployment will leave for Afghanistan during September.
“This exercise allowed us to bring together all of the Task Force elements that will deploy to Afghanistan. It helped us prepare them for the next major training event in Wainwright, Alberta during May called Exercise Maple Guardian.” added Colonel Milner. “We have done everything to make sure that the soldiers are prepared for success at Wainwright and later on in Afghanistan.”

The training at Fort Bliss was necessary to replicate the terrain in and around Kandahar Province, where these soldiers will be operating once they deploy to Afghanistan. The Task Force 3-08 Battle Group, the Kandahar Provincial Reconstruction Team, the Observer Mentor Liaison Team, the National Support Element and Joint Task Force Afghanistan Headquarters all took part in the exercise.

Congratulations to our troops! HUA! Look out.. here we come!

COMPOSITION OF JOINT TASK FORCE AFGHANISTAN (JTF AFG)

Publication request from DND: "To show respect to the majority of the military personnel currently deployed in Afghanistan, who work in collaboration, but are not part of the Royal 22e Regiment, we want to specify this fact and have asked for media's cooperation regarding the diffusion of complete and fair information."

Below, I have listed information (Composition of this rotation's Battlegroup - JTF AFG) as attained from 5e Group-Brigade Mecanise du Canada (5 Canadian Mechanized Brigade Group)

Rotation 4, deployed in summer 2007, comprises nearly 2,500 CF members from all Army professions and the medical and legal branches of the Canadian Forces. The complexity of Canada’s commitment in Afghanistan requires that representatives from all CF occupations be involved. The in-depth knowledge that all CF members have of their respective fields contributes immensely to furthering the mission of the Canadian Forces in Afghanistan.
Although most of these men and women are from Valcartier, there are also many from other regions of Quebec, such as Outaouais, Rimouski, Trois Rivières, Montreal, Sherbrooke and the Saguenay, as well as from the rest of Canada (see list below).
Here is a list of the CF units participating in JTF AFG.
FROM QUEBEC (approximately 2,330 CF members)

Land Force Quebec Area – Joint Task Force (East)
· 4 Intelligence Company – Montreal
· Civil-Military Cooperation (CIMIC) – Montreal

5 Canadian Mechanized Brigade Group (Regular Force)
· 5e Régiment d’artillerie légère du Canada – Valcartier
· 12e Régiment blindé du Canada – Valcartier
· 5 Combat Engineer Regiment – Valcartier
· Headquarters and Signals Squadron – Valcartier· 1 Battalion, Royal 22e Régiment – Valcartier
· 2 Battalion, Royal 22e Régiment – Valcartier· 3 Battalion, Royal 22e Régiment – Valcartier
· 5 Field Ambulance – Valcartier

5 Area Support Group (Regular Force)

Web site: www.fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unit%C3%A9_de_soutien_de_secteur_Valcartier (Non-Official)
· 5 Canadian Service Battalion – Valcartier
Transport and Movement Company
Supply Company
Maintenance Company
Service Company
Operations Centre
· Personnel Support Services – Valcartier, Montreal and Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu
· Signals Branch – Valcartier, Montreal and Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu
· Garrison Military Police Platoon – Valcartier

· Engineer Branch – Valcartier, Montreal and Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu

· Public Affairs – Valcartier
· Coopérative régionale de développement – Valcartier, Montreal and Saint Jean sur Richelieu

35 Canadian Brigade Group (Reserve Force)

· 12e Régiment blindé du Canada – Trois-Rivières
· 62 Field Artillery Regiment – Shawinigan
· 6 Field Artillery Regiment –Lévis
· 55 Canadian Service Battalion – Quebec City
· Fusiliers de Sherbrooke – Sherbrooke
· Fusiliers du Saint-Laurent – Rimouski, Matane, Rivière-du-Loup· Régiment de la Chaudière – Lévis, Beauceville, Lac-Mégantic
· Régiment du Saguenay – Chicoutimi

· Voltigeurs de Québec – Quebec City
· Sherbrooke Hussars – Sherbrooke

· 10 Field Engineer Squadron – Quebec City

34 Canadian Brigade Group (Reserve Force)

· Fusiliers du Mont-Royal – Montreal
· Régiment de Hull – Hull
· Régiment de Maisonneuve – Montreal
· 34 Field Engineer Regiment – Westmount
· 4 Battalion, Royal 22e Régiment – Laval
· 6 Battalion, Royal 22e Régiment – Saint-Hyacinthe
· 51 Service Battalion – Montreal
· 2 Field Artillery Regiment – Montreal
· 9 Field Engineer Squadron – Rouyn-Noranda
· Royal Montreal Regiment – Montreal

· Canadian Grenadier Guards – Montreal
· Royal Canadian Hussars – Montreal
· Royal Highland Regiment of Canada (Black Watch) – Montreal

Communication Reserve (Reserve Force)
· 712 Communication Squadron – Montreal
· 713 Communication Regiment – Beauport
· 714 Communication Squadron – Sherbrooke

FROM OTHER PROVINCES (approximately 170 CF members)
(Regular Force)
· 1 Service Battalion – Halifax
· 1 Combat Engineer Regiment – Edmonton
· 1 Royal Canadian Horse Artillery – Shilo
· 119 Air Defence Battery – Gagetown
· 2 Canadian Mechanized Brigade Group Headquarters and Signal Squadron – Petawawa
· 2 Princess Patricia’s Canadian Light Infantry – Edmonton
· 2 Service Battalion – Petawawa· 210 Work Shop, Air Defence Artillery School – Gagetown
· 26 Service Battalion – North Bay
· 30 Military Police Company – Shearwater
· 8th Canadian Hussars (Princess Louise’s) – Gagetown
· The British Columbia Dragoons – Kelowna
· The King’s Own Calgary Regiment – Calgary
· The Ontario Regiment – Brampton
Communication Reserve (Reserve Force)
· 705 Communication Squadron – Hamilton

· 709 Communication Regiment – Toronto

· 734 Communication Squadron – Regina
· 749 Communication Squadron – Red Deer
· 772 Electronic Warfare Squadron – Kingston

COMPOSITION OF JTF AFG IN BRIEF

Reg Force and Reserve Force (2,500):

· 2,200 Regular Force members
· 300 Reserve Force members (12%)

Provinces:
· 2,330 CF members from Quebec
· 170 CF members from other provinces (7%)

The Next Rotation of Canadian Troops is Ready to Undertake their Mission in Afghanistan

Photo by: Cpl Simon Duchesne DND Taken May 15, 2007

May 18, 2007
Wainwright, Alberta — Some 2,500 soldiers, who will be the next group of Canadian troops to deploy to Afghanistan, have just completed a very important phase in their training this week at Base Wainwright, Alberta.
The soldiers, who come primarily from Base Valcartier, Quebec, participated in complex military manoeuvres during Exercise Maple Guardian, an activity focused on individual and collective training for the Joint Task Force scheduled for deployment to Afghanistan this Summer.
The soldiers will be tasked to aid Afghan authorities in restoring the security and stability within Afghanistan, a nation on the verge of recovering from decades of warfare and strife. According to Joint Task Force Commander, Brigadier-General Guy Laroche, “Our soldiers have received an excellent training. The exercise, which we just completed, represents the last step in a long road, whose aim was to provide the soldiers with the technical, cultural and intellectual skills necessary to successfully accomplish, with the least possible risk, this very important mission,” he said. “The exercise provided us with the confirmation that we are ready, and I am convinced that we will brilliantly fulfil this mandate, confided in us by the Canadian public, to help better the lives of the Afghan people,” he added.