Page 102 - RSDG Year of 2022 CREST

110 EAGLE AND CARBINE
1901, before casually riding back across the line with the entire machine gun barrel cradled under his arm. After a few boozy rounds of armour-themed, mil-skill obstacle courses, everyone enjoyed a sumptuous ‘pot-luck’ of classic Canadian dishes (poutine, chilli and a variety of incredible meats), washed down with several variations of Sgt Ben Jerome’s home-brewed ale. Needless to say, the following day was: tracksuits, read orders and sack-it.
But what has really made this experience what it has been for me is the unfettered access to true wilderness that I’ve had here – separate to being stood-to when a squad of Black Bears bump the Squadron hide looking for ration garbage. 2 Canadian Mechanised Brigade Group sits along a scrawl of the Petawawa River, a world-class white-water rafting location that brims with leaping fish, and the site of many a’cold craft beer and meat grilling session throughout the +30 degree summer months (Realtree Crocs a necessity). Nestled right on the eastern entry to Algonquin Park – Canada’s largest protected provincial - Petawawa is a 20 minute drive from the front door to pure, unadulterated nature – with wolves, deer, coyotes, beavers, black bears and moose cutting about in droves. Signing out a canoe from the Dragoon’s Regimental Quartermaster, lashing it to the truck and boosting into the ulu on a Friday afternoon for a weekend of solo spirit-questing was an experience I won’t soon forget.
All in, my time as an adopted-Dragoon has been exceptional. The Exchange Program has proven that, by simply wearing different rig, a lowly Captain can have access to, and affect larger conversations with, big-hitters within the Royal Canadian Armoured
I love my Crocs
Corps. Our cultural and linguistic similarities make Canada the ideal partner for military cross-pollination, and our differences only increase the space for positive disruption.
Yours Aye
Not a bad day on the range