Over 6,000 Military Personnel to Participate in Exercise Maple Resolve

The Canadian Army’s largest training exercise of the year, Exercise Maple Resolve, will begin on May 18 and run until June 7.  Exercise Maple Resolve will pull together over 6,000 military personnel from various nations.

“The importance of this exercise is that we have this high readiness brigade that’s ready to go out the door…if the Government of Canada decides it needs to deploy soldiers these are the men and women, these are the airmen and airwomen that will represent Canada on the world stage,” said Capt. Graham Kallos  Public Affairs Officer, Canadian Manoeuvre Training Centre.

The purpose of this annual exercise is to ensure the Canadian soldiers, this year from 1 Canadian Mechanized Brigade Group (1CMBG), are prepared for deployment. Multiple smaller exercises lead up to the Exercise Maple Resolve, the “capstone” for the road to high readiness.

“Maple Resolve is kind of the largest portion of that. The final gateway basically,” added Kallos.

Exercise Maple Resolve 2016 will host over 3,000 1 CMBG members and close to 1,200 American soldiers from the U.S. Army, U.S. National Guard, U.S. Reserves and the U.S. Marines. Soldiers from Brazilian and French Army’s will also be present along with a British Infantry company. In addition, 600 Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) members will be present to support the exercise. The RCAF will provide the exercise with various aircraft’s like the Chinook, Griffon, Hercules, Aurora and Globe Master.

On the land side, soldiers will be using equipment like the Leopard Tank and the Coyote Reconnaissance Vehicle.

The exercise consists of a large-scale, real-world simulation to help soldiers prepare for various situations they might encounter while deployed.

“The whole concept of the exercise is that it’s like an open sandbox if you wanted to put in perspective. We will give them a scenario and they will do their battle procedure, planning basically, and they will deploy on certain missions that they need to achieve,” stated Kallos.

Various scenarios will be simulated by the Contemporary Operating Environment Forces.

“If we were to deploy to another nation that was destabilized, let’s say, there would be local police, there would be the local warlord, so these guys simulate all those people. We have costumes and uniforms and little villages built up where we have civilian contractors come in and they role play to set a pattern of life in the village,” explained Kallos.

An enemy force is also brought in for the simulation. The opposing force is largely played by the 2 Canadian Mechanized Brigade Group (2CMBG) out of Petawawa. Units include the Royal Canadian Dragoons; The 1, 2 and 3 Battalions of Royal Canadian Regiment; 2 Royal Canadian Horse Artillery; 2 Service Battalion; 21 Electronic Warfare Regiment, 2 Combat Engineer Regiment, and 2 Field Ambulance.

The simulations will attempt to remain as realistic as possible with the “people in the box,” the soldiers and simulators, determining how the exercise plays out.

Ultimately, Exercise Maple Resolve 2016, will help to prepare Canadian Army soldiers for any missions that may come their way in the future.

“By the end of the training these guys will have a giant check in the box and they will be the ones to represent Canada on the world stage,” said Kallos.

**Feature Image courtesy of Combat Camera**