Operation: Maple Defender
By Michelle Minnoch

Every year, members of the Canadian Army Reserve head out to Canadian Forces Base Petawawa for their annual training exercise. This year, over 1000 reservists took part in Exercise Maple Defender at the Canadian Manoeuvre Centre at CFB Wainwright in Alberta.

For 13 days, troops participated in Full Spectrum Operations, including the mounting of cordon and search missions, maintaining force protection, the handling of mass casualty incidents and dealing with the enemy at any time.

"Maple Defender conditions here, we believe, have the characteristics we could not replicate anywhere else," stated Col. Jerry Mann. "This is different terrain that soldiers from Ontario are used to."

CFB Wainwright encompasses 600 acres that have been made into 'Afghanistan' for the troops. Once outside of the wire, troops can be attacked at any time, and have to be cautious when traveling by vehicle or by foot, as roadside bombs can be found anywhere.

"About two years ago was when we decided to train soldiers like this for their mission," said Col. Mann.

Equipped with the most technological gear, the Weapons Effects Simulation (WES), the Canadian Forces have spent $100 million for this specific and sought after training.

"There's nothing like this anywhere else in the world."

Outlining the three collective training objectives, Col. Mann said direct operations, quadroon and search, and stability operations are key for the soldiers to be successful on their mission.

Soldiers outside the wire may come upon villages, bomb making factories, and more. Living in the villages are Afghan-Canadians whom journalists are not allowed to photograph - they are here voluntarily and if their identification got out to friends or family who did not approve of what they were doing, there could be repercussions from their family or their community.

For the three week training exercise, Afghan-Canadians are living in the built Afghan villages, which include mosques

for their daily prayer. Although this is a training exercise, those 'players' are not for once allowed to go out of character. There are also those in the roles of opposition forces and the Afghan Police.

Those who are portraying the Taliban have been trained by those who recently returned from Afghanistan. Those returning are sharing as much information about the enemy and their tactics as they can.

"If the Taliban have shifted their tactics, then we need to know," said Col. Hansen.

There were 19 Ontario journalists brought to the area to train on being embedded with the forces, and in turn, train the troops on dealing with the media.

Planning for the multimillion dollar operation began in January.

Also available for the soldiers were daily newscasts of what was occurring in Wainwright, to keep the soldiers up to speed as to how their mission was going. In the mess hall was a television providing soldiers updates of what was going on and how the forces were handling their conflict at Maple Defender. The broadcasts not only showed footage from the battlefield, but provided three perspectives of the mission; Canadian, International, and the Al-Jazeera viewpoint.

With 2500 Canadians now serving in Afghanistan, Col. John Hansen said the Afghanistan mission is about rebuilding a country. "We have to eliminate the tribal system they have - they need a sustainable government and better policing."

Capt. Tom. St. Denis, Public Affairs Officer, stated the training is so complex because even those at the command post on the base "don't know where the bad guys are". He said part of the training not only includes dealing with insurgents, but refugees, drug smugglers, civilians, International Organizations, corrupt police and the Afghan municipal government as well.

"Everyone has their own agenda here suiting their purpose."

If the soldiers do enter one of then many villages, most will have to speak through an interpreter, as most Afghans speak Varsey. Capt. St. Denis said the Afghan-Canadians participating in the exercise are amazed at how real the exercise, including the villages, is. Living in the villages for the duration of the exercise, the participants live in the villages as if they were living in Afghanistan.

"Because of the daytime heat in Afghanistan, most villagers there work in their fields at night," Capt. St. Denis explains. "The soldier may think the farmer is planting an IED, but in fact, they are farming because it's cooler at night." He explains the soldiers are informed to observe the "pattern of life" that goes on in any of the villages they encounter.

With cave complexes, bomb making factories and more for the soldiers to train on, Capt. St. Denis said they tried to be as faithful as possible when replicating Afghanistan at Wainwright. Although the terrain may be flatter, the soldiers are getting the training they need at the best facility in the world.

"We are taking our reserve forces and taking them through and Afghanistan scenario that is as real as possible," said Corp. Craig King. "We may not have the searing heat and mountains of Afghanistan, but this simulation is the best of its kind."

He said this mission will not only aid them in their war structure, but aid in assessing their capability as well. "Overall, this exercise will make up much better at what we do."

Prior to the journalist's arrival for their four day stay, Col. Hansen said representatives from Britain and the United States were at the base, watching the training exercise.

Col. Hansen explains that if training were needed for another conflict, in another part of the world, Wainwright could be transformed to suit their training needs.

While there are currently about 200 reservists presently deployed in Afghanistan, Col. Mann believes there will be up to 600 reservists serving by 2008, and training exercises such as this are of the utmost importance.

"There are many training here that have skills we could utilize in Afghanistan."

One of the biggest obstacles facing the soldiers in Afghanistan in IED detection and although he couldn't get into specifics, he said IED detection is constantly improving. He said the Afghans can even find a casing or shell and fill it with the bomb making material. " W e just have to stay one step ahead," he said.