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RHLI "TAKES" BURLINGTON - February 13, 2004

Capt Tim Fletcher

It's hard for most Canadians to imagine the conditions in war-torn nations, where the sight of armed soldiers patrolling down community streets is an everyday occurrence. The residents of Burlington gained a first-hand experience of this scenario on Saturday, February 13th, 2004, when the Royal Hamilton Light Infantry practiced urban patrolling in the Burlington core area.

Exercise "Riley Landing", in addition to providing training for the soldiers, was part of the Burlington Heritage Committee's Annual History week. This years' theme was "Canada's Military Heritage." The patrolling was an example of the last 15 years of Canadian military history, as soldiers from Burlington and Hamilton have been patrolling the streets and hills of Bosnia, Eritrea and Afghanistan as peacekeepers with NATO and the UN.

Canada's reputation for international peacekeeping comes only as a result of the skills, hard work and training by members of the Canadian Forces. About 15 % of the 3700 Canadian troops overseas (at time of writing) are Reservists such as the RHLI.

The exercise consisted of small sections of soldiers conducting urban patrolling in an area centred on the Royal Canadian Legion in south Burlington off Brant Street. Patrols fanned out during the day from the Legion to Lakeshore Road, and also along Plains Road and Fairview Street. A separate patrol visited Mapleview Mall with the consent of the management. In addition, our Band provided a quartet in Scarlets to an enthusiastic reception by mall visitors. The band also drew attention to our recruiting and information display, which was backed up by a high-quality display from our Museum staffed by volunteer Stan Overy.

All patrols with the exception of Mapleview Mall included soldiers equipped with rifles and wearing their load-carrying gear, but not helmets. The weapons weren't loaded and the soldiers did not engage in tactical manoeuvres. Civil authorities, including the police were fully aware of the exercise.

The exercise was designed to train the soldiers of the RHLI in urban patrolling and intelligence-gathering techniques typically used on peacekeeping operations in locations such as Bosnia. As part of this, members of the public were able to interact with the soldiers during the patrol.

In the afternoon, at Mapleview Mall, members of the RHLI from Burlington hosted a special interactive public information session and recruiting display. The members explained to visitors who they are, what they do outside of the Canadian Army Reserve and what their jobs are as soldiers. The group included soldiers who have taken part in United Nations and NATO peacekeeping missions, including most recently a tour of duty in Afghanistan. The session was held in co-operation with the Burlington Historical Society under the theme of the history of the Canadian military.

10 days later, on Monday, 23 February, a member of The Royal Hamilton Light Infantry was honoured by Burlington City Council. Corporal Mark Brewster of Burlington received a certificate and a civic medal for his recent tour of duty in Afghanistan with the Canadian Forces on Operation "Athena".

The honours were bestowed by Mayor Rob MacIsaac at a regular Council meeting.

Corporal Brewster, 21, was in Afghanistan from August 6th, 2003 to January 24th, 2004 . He served as a driver and protective security for such things as engineering missions . He has been with The Royal Hamilton Light Infantry since December of 1999.