Dry deployment military exercises held in the Sault

Armed Forces training in the Sault this weekend Non-ammunition training for the Canadian Armed Forces' 49th Field Regiment in Sault Ste. Marie is happening this weekend.

Residents in the Sault may have noticed more military vehicles out and about this weekend.

That's because the Canadian Armed Forces' 49th Sault Ste. Marie Field Regiment is holding artillery training exercises around the city.

"We have just under 20 people out here today, ranging from operating on the guns themselves, or howitzers,” said Sgt. Adam Marcil on Saturday.

“We also have people working on what we call our command post, and our reconnaissance team as well."

Locals need not worry for the sake of their ears, the Armed Forces are not using live ammunition.

These exercises are called "dry deployments".

However, next month they will be "going live" at a training facility in Michigan and want to be as ready as possible, said Marcil.

"There's a little bit of danger associated, especially when we're using things like high explosives," he said.

The regiment has been training every Tuesday night since September preparing for this weekend, and they want to ensure any mistakes made are done before things could be dangerous.

"If we're doing the drills so poorly on our end we could hurt ourselves or we could have something detonate at our actual howitzer or our detachment, we could lose lives and so we have to make sure that everything we're doing we're ironing out the issues here,” said Marcil.

“If we have 100 mistakes here, it’s better than having any on the live exercise."

This weekend's training is not mandatory for the entire regiment.

Members like Master Bombardier Mikayla Stewart saw this as an opportunity to widen her skill set.

"I love coming out to play with the guns,” she said.

“I got to play on recce as well today too, so I've been triple-hatted, and got some good knowledge around the gunline today."

The extra learning not only helps her, but the team – if the need arises, said Stewart.

"If someone else goes down around you, you can pick up their job as well while still doing your own and make sure everyone around you is safe and doing their job properly," she said.

Lieutenant (Navy) Andrew McLaughlin, with the 33 Canadian Brigade Group told CTV News that "teamwork is the key to army readiness” and that's the main thing we're practicing at these exercises).

"This training fits into an overall plan for our reserve soldiers to be prepared for international operations, and responding to emergencies in Canadian communities like natural disasters," he said.