- Everyone ready?
- Yes!
- Good! Follow me!
Recently, the members of the 12e Régiment
blindé du Canada have revived a patrol
competition that was dropped 37 years ago.
Operation ROTHENBERG is a competition that will test the
skills of the soldiers of the 12e RBC to find out what
their proficiency level is, but it will also test how well
they adapt and their mental, psychological
and physical toughness in an operation
that should last somewhere around 40 hours.
There are roughly fifteen scenarios that will test
everyone in a live fire situation, but in a tactical way:
cutting through wetlands,
so crossing a lake and with a rucksack.
- Go!
We got here with three different weapons:
a C8, a 9 mm and a 12.
We had to breach the first door.
After that, we went to our C8s right
away, then we had to follow a route.
- Good to go!
They’ve got to be able to pick out their targets.
Then there’ll also be hostages;
you mustn’t shoot the hostage.
You’ve got to shoot the “bad guy,” who’s
at the back, without hitting the boy.
- Go! Go!
It made the guys realize: “What would
happen if we were on a real battlefield?
Well, we could lose our vehicles,” and that’s what we did.
Everything was back to basics, finding your
way just by compass, there wasn’t any GPS.
Right down to basics.
I got to know my team even better and hone all
my basic knowledge to a sharper edge, because
that’s what it was: a competition about the basics.
- Put it on the second one.
- The second?
Everybody was carrying 60 pounds on their backs.
It all adds up, in fact, it was really tough,
but we got through it in the end.
And, as I already said, we got a good grade.
It wasn’t just about coming in first.
It was about scoring well on each of the tests.
So, yeah, I was really proud of myself
and really proud of my team.
This all essentially fits with what the Commander of the
Army said about getting back to basics; bringing back
the old competitions we used to have in the Army.
As we know, they all got cut because
of the mission in Afghanistan.
We just didn’t have the time any more.
Now we’re trying to go back to an earlier time.
This is exactly the kind of competition that we’re
trying to put back “in the spotlight,” if you like.
From a regimental point of view, if we’re
able to export it, all the better.
For Canadian Army, this is Sgt
Sébastien Fréchette, Valcartier.