Recce Sqn’s arrival in Afghanistan
By Capt M.R. Lesage
By Capt M.R. Lesage
It has been a long and winding road for the soldiers of B Squadron of the Royal Canadian Dragoons. Our training started last year with a view on our deployment to Afghanistan as part of Task Force 3-09, and we are finally at the end of the road to deployment and we are now in the air to Afghanistan.
When the Squadron’s advance party began its trip into theatre leaving Petawawa for Edmonton on 26th Sept, our grand adventure was just beginning. The advance party flew to several different countries to finally land at Kandahar Air Field (KAF) 48 hours later; we immediately began our arrival procedures and getting familiar with the sprawling maze of sea containers that is KAF. We spent the next couple of days trying to figure out what time it was at home, getting our final briefs, and preparing our kit to leave KAF to meet up with the Sqn we are replacing, B Sqn of the 12e Regiment blindé du canada (12e RBC), based from Valcartier, Quebec.
The OC of the 12e RBC Recce Sqn, Maj J.F. Cauden and his Squadron Sergeant Major, MWO Pelletier, welcomed us warmly and showed us our new home. Since our arrival, we have been hard at work learning all we can from the force in place. The 12e RBC Recce Sqn has set the conditions for our handover to be very successful; they have provided us with excellent information on our new Area of Operations and have put into effect a plan to integrate us into their operations as quickly as possible. We will have big shoes to fill once the 12e RBC begin to rotate home, but they have given us the tools to continue the outstanding work they have started.
The remainder of our Sqn will continue to arrive over the next short while and we will soon assume total responsibility for operations; this will allow our brothers and sisters from 12e RBC to start their road home to their families. We wish them a safe trip home and thank them for their professionalism and dedication during the handover. While the tour is just beginning for us, the soldiers of Recce Sqn are looking forward to the challenge of operations in Afghanistan and finally putting into practice the skills we learned over the past year of pre-deployment training.
When the Squadron’s advance party began its trip into theatre leaving Petawawa for Edmonton on 26th Sept, our grand adventure was just beginning. The advance party flew to several different countries to finally land at Kandahar Air Field (KAF) 48 hours later; we immediately began our arrival procedures and getting familiar with the sprawling maze of sea containers that is KAF. We spent the next couple of days trying to figure out what time it was at home, getting our final briefs, and preparing our kit to leave KAF to meet up with the Sqn we are replacing, B Sqn of the 12e Regiment blindé du canada (12e RBC), based from Valcartier, Quebec.
The OC of the 12e RBC Recce Sqn, Maj J.F. Cauden and his Squadron Sergeant Major, MWO Pelletier, welcomed us warmly and showed us our new home. Since our arrival, we have been hard at work learning all we can from the force in place. The 12e RBC Recce Sqn has set the conditions for our handover to be very successful; they have provided us with excellent information on our new Area of Operations and have put into effect a plan to integrate us into their operations as quickly as possible. We will have big shoes to fill once the 12e RBC begin to rotate home, but they have given us the tools to continue the outstanding work they have started.
The remainder of our Sqn will continue to arrive over the next short while and we will soon assume total responsibility for operations; this will allow our brothers and sisters from 12e RBC to start their road home to their families. We wish them a safe trip home and thank them for their professionalism and dedication during the handover. While the tour is just beginning for us, the soldiers of Recce Sqn are looking forward to the challenge of operations in Afghanistan and finally putting into practice the skills we learned over the past year of pre-deployment training.
CO RCD, LCol Marty Frank, bids farewell to one of the Recce Sqn chalks
Sgts Jun Power, Andy Savoie and Colin Oakley wait for their bus to depart for Trenton
Copyright 2009 Royal Canadian Dragoons, All Rights Reserved
