Hundreds of U.S. military personnel at CFB Gagetown for training exercise

CTV Atlantic: U.S. military members spending 10 days in Gagetown Hundreds of U.S. military personnel are spending 10 days at Base Gagetown, N.B., for an annual training exercise. Mike Cameron reports.

Some familiar visitors have returned this summer to Canadian Forces Base Gagetown.

Hundreds of United States military personnel are spending 10 days at the New Brunswick base for an annual training exercise.

Part-time soldier and full-time mill worker Nathan Beaulieu of Madawaska, Maine, says everyone in attendance is trying to cram as much experience as they can into a short period of time.

"At the end of the two weeks we are definitely much better operators than we were at the beginning," says Beaulieu.

All of the operators are members of an engineering unit with the Maine National Guard. Tuesday’s assignment was to quickly build a helicopter landing pad.

"This exact mission is exactly the type of thing we train for when we go on a deployment," says Lt. Tim Kelly of the Maine National Guard.

The U.S. forces come to Base Gagetown to practice their skills because the base has the wide open spaces and endless tracts of land that are unavailable in the U.S. northeast.

At the command post, soldiers from both countries work side-by-side co-ordinating the day’s events.

"Approximately 80 per cent of the operations around the world, we have Canadians and Americans working hand-in-hand,” says Maj. Shane MacNeil of the 37 Combat Engineering Regiment. “This exercise gives us the opportunity to see how each other work and get to know our neighbours."

In another part of the base, Canadian engineers are conducting a demolition exercise, wiring C4 explosives to obstacles that have been placed in a roadway. They're a combination of reservists and regular forces members, under the command of Maj. Heather Reiben, who says the U.S. visit benefits both sides.

"Working with them here is a great opportunity because any deployment we do we end up working with other nations, so it’s a great chance to make sure of our lingo, making sure we're being very clear with what we're doing," says Maj. Reiben.

Both Canadian reservists and U.S. guardsmen from Maine and Massachusetts say they train for months at home just to be ready for the days they'll spend on Gagetown.

"It's the time when we get to learn the most,” says Lt. Nicolas Knight of the Maine National Guard. “There's two weeks of uninterrupted time where you're out here and you just get to perform your skill."

Exercise Strident Tracer wraps up at the end of the week, at which time senior officers from both the American and Canadian military will get together to discuss what went right, what can be improved upon and what's on the agenda for next year's exercise.

With files from CTV Atlantic’s Mike Cameron.