BATUS trains live
BATUS live-fire training puts soldiers through real-life, complex situations, ensuring proper preparedness for the unpredictability of being in the army
British soldiers look on as a group of friendly tanks makes its way across a bridge during a live-fire training session at CFB Suffield. The group dug into its trench earlier in the day and is prepared to offer covering fire if the tanks need support.
For many British soldiers, Canadian Forces Base Suffield is one of the last stops before being deployed for duty.
The British Army Training Unit Suffield generally holds three or four live-fire army training exercises each year between the months of April and October, aimed at getting thousands of British soldiers the last bit of experience they will need before heading out to battle.
BATUS was putting its soldiers through Exercise Prairie Storm 1 this week, one of the most complex live-fire army training exercises within the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, says Major Alex Mills.
“We put the soldiers through very complex simulations to try and replicate real combat,” he said. “When the soldiers leave here, they need to be ready for what’s coming. Our job is to put them through enough in their 30-or-so days here so they can go back to the United Kingdom for deployment.”
Soldiers fly in from the United Kingdom direct to Calgary, then bus to Suffield where they do about a month of training. Mills says this process of bringing the soldiers to a new place can really help them when it comes to their duties with the army.
“Flying soldiers into a new place is exactly what is going to happen when they are actually deployed,” he said. “Facing things like new terrain, a different time zone and just overall unfamiliar territory is exactly what they will be put up to when they see deployment. Southern Alberta’s weather takes this up a bit because of how the weather is so unpredictable — the soldiers need to be ready for anything.”
The Prairie Storm 1 exercise lasted three days, wrapping up Friday. Soldiers taking part saw all sorts of action, including live tank fire, blowing up bridges, mock minefields and a simulation of an actual battle with targets for enemies. Mills says the goal of 72-hour training exercises is to put as much pressure on the soldiers as possible, to see if they can pull through it.
“Part of what makes exercises like this so realistic and valuable to the soldiers is the stress they have to go through,” he said. “The soldiers work for about three days straight during an exercise like this and the stress can really build. We give them missions to carry out, tasks to do and they have gotten very little sleep over the past few days — this is very close to the real thing.”
While training the soldiers at home would be nice, the maximum length of an exercise is around seven to 10 days, says Col. Marcus Evans. He says BATUS does not take for granted the ability to train thousands of soldiers each year in Canada.
“This is the largest training area in the Commonwealth of Nations,” he said. “All of this space allows us to manoeuvre in a very realistic way and begins to replicate what we want to achieve when we go to war. The size of the area, and that it is free of buildings, allows us to deliver very complex live training — something we cannot do anywhere else.”
“This is very close to the real thing.” – Major Alex Mills, British Army Training Unit Suffield