Winter Exercise, Feb 7, 2003

Capt Tim Fletcher

Winter exercises add two special dimensions to training - cold and snow. When you add helicopters to the mix, things get really interesting! For The RHLI the weekend of February 7th at LFCA TC Meaford, winter helops was the theme and it proved a real challenge.

Cold brings its own set of unique requirements, including the need for specialty clothing, but also physical needs. Simple things like going to the bathroom take extra preparation. You also - ironically, since you're surrounded by frozen water - need to worry about dehydration because of the extra clothing.

Snow brings extra difficulty to the simple act of walking. Snowshoes allow you to make your way across deep snow with relative ease - but you first have to master the art of walking in them! It can make you aware of a whole new set of muscles over the course of a weekend.

There's other things - using stoves and lanterns in tents without burning the tent down; keeping weapons out of tents is actually better for them even if it's snowing outside; and convincing yourself that climbing into your sleeping bag dressed only in light underclothes will actually make you more comfortable!

Helicopter ops in snow also require a different skill set than warm-weather activity. The pilot can't know how deep the snow is, so they hover - and when you jump out, you could find yourself in for a surprise. If it's light powder, visibility becomes an issue as well - the pilot might have to abort if the ground can't be seen.

Despite all the extra planning and logistics, Canadian troops have always excelled in snow operations. For the RHLI, it's a necessary part of the infantry toolkit. As our new bumper sticker says - "The Royal Hamilton Light Infantry - any weather, any where."