Page 200 - Rifles 2017 Issue No 3

Princess Patricia’s Canadian Light Infantry
1 PPCLI
2016 was a highly challenging year for the First Battalion Princess Patricia’s Canadian Light Infantry (1 PPCLI), seeing the unit through a high-tempo cycle of domestic and international exercises and operations. The unit led the planning and execution of brigade live res on Exercise PROMETHEAN RAM, provided a ri e company to the Lord Strathcona’s Horse (Royal Canadians) High-Readiness Battle Group that later deployed on Operation REASSURANCE, participated in three multi-national exercises in New Zealand, Alaska and Jamaica, and completed its conversion to the Light Armoured Vehicle 6 (LAV 6) platform.
The rst event of the year was Exercise STRONG CONTENDER in January, where the battalion nished with a silver overall. On 30 January, 1 PPCLI Close Quarter Combat (CQC) team competed in the inaugural edition of Exercise RELENTLESS WARRIOR 16, a grappling competition hosted by 3rd Canadian Division Training Centre (3 CDTC). Under the leadership of the Regimental Sergeant Major, Chief Warrant Of cer Darren Hessell, and Corporal Jérémie Godin, the 1 PPCLI Close Quarter Combat team fought aggressively and dominated the event - nishing rst in the overall aggregate score and winning a number of individual top standings.
From 20 February to 6 March, LAV crews from Alpha Company along with the coy leadership and a small contingent from Reconnaissance Platoon deployed to Fort Hood, Texas to participate in Lord Strathcona’s Horse (Royal Canadians) Battle Group’s combat simulation exercise, Exercise STEELE BEASTS. Utilizing the Close Combat Tactical Trainer provided by the US military, the exercise allowed the battle group to test its tactical and leadership abilities in high-tempo, near-peer conventional warfare scenarios. During this timeframe the rest of the battalion participated in Exercise PATRICIA IGLOO, an Individual Battle Task Standards (IBTS) event focusing on individual training in garrison and ranges at 3rd Canadian Support Base Detachment Wainwright (3 CDSB Det Wainwright). After completing these tasks, the unit was ready for the spring collective training exercises.
The rst major event began on 4 April, where soldiers from 1 PPCLI deployed to Wainwright to participate in Exercise PROMETHEAN RAM, a 1 Canadian Mechanized Brigade Group (1 CMBG) exercise designed to train and validate brigade units in complex live- re environments. Exercise PROMETHEAN RAM was divided into two distinct phases. The rst phase was composed of a series of dry rehearsals and live re ranges designed to train the brigade’s combat teams up to Level 5 live by both day and night; throughout Exercise PROMETHEAN RAM, Alpha Company and Recon- naissance Platoon/Snipers were attached to Lord Strathcona’s Horse (Royal Canadians) as one of the two ri e companies for the former, and the nucleus of battle group sense capacity for the latter.
During phase one, Bravo Company’s major task was to run Third Battalion Princess Patri- cia’s Canadian Light Infantry (3 PPCLI), through dismounted Enhanced Level 3 and Level 5 ranges, thereby assisting them in achieving their Road to
High Readiness mandate. Charlie Company ran the Second Battalion Princess Patricia’s Canadian Light Infantry (2 PPCLI) and the Strathcona Battle Groups through mechanized Enhanced Level 3 and Level 5 ranges. The battalion set the condi- tions for the validation of nine mechanized and light sub-units in Level 5 live (day and night) without a single signi cant injury – the most in recent memory. Successful completion of this phase quali ed soldiers for a dry force-on-force exercise where Bravo Company, Combat Support Company and Battalion Headquarters assumed the role of Rear Area Security within the brigade, while Alpha Company conducted defensive operations with the Lord Strathcona’s Horse (Royal Canadians). Throughout the exercise, Administration Company provided seamless support to the conduct of ranges and training.
After Exercise PROMETHEAN RAM, the battalion changed gears, moving from exercise facilitators to the part of the primary training audience. Alpha Company and Reconnaissance Platoon/Snipers continued their attachment to the Lord Strathcona’s Horse (Royal Canadians) Battle Group, while the Headquarters and Bravo Company provided rear area security as the Rear Area Command (RACOM) for 1 CMBG. This marked the rst time that the rear area mission had been given to a mechanized unit. To support the brigade’s advance, which included substantial resupply, the Rear Area Command ensured friendly forces’ freedom of movement throughout the rear area. The initial mission was to isolate two villages, which facilitated the movement of the brigade into its rst Tactical Assembly Area. Attached to Bravo Company was a platoon of Civil-Military Cooperation operators and two detachments of Psychological Operations trained reservists. These assets enabled successful contact within the scenario based villages and represented the rst step in stabilizing the area. The breakdown of tasks resulted in both Four Platoon and Five Platoon monitoring the villages in the rear area, while Six Platoon was responsible for force protection of the Brigade Headquarters. As such, for the majority of the exercise, Six Platoon worked detached from Bravo Company. This left two platoons and the Company Headquarters to be responsible for an area spanning more than 14 kilometers, from East to West, by the end of the exercise.
In order to provide Bravo Company the direction needed to secure the rear area, the battalion command post underwent an iterative design process to evolve into the Rear Area Command. The process began with Exercise UNIFIED RESOLVE 2, which was the second exercise in the High Readiness series run by Canadian Manoeuvre Training Centre (CMTC). The purpose of this exercise was to prepare the headquarters of units in high readiness for Exercise MAPLE RESOLVE. For this exercise, 1 PPCLI Signals Platoon deployed a new battle group command post layout which made room for numerous enabling functions (S1, S2, S4, S5, S6, FSCC, etc.). While the command post layout was found to be a good start, it was quickly realized that it had a lot of wasted space. Through a number of iterations over the course of the next
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