CFB SHILO — There came a moment Wednesday when the ground around CFB Shilo's artillery gun turned dark. The cannon leaned towards the horizon like a fallen tree, illuminated by the full moon shining in the sky.
Two soldiers stood behind the cannon. They had just finished a day of packing guns with 100-pound shells, their bodies shaking from the shot and covered in egg-smelling clouds that smoked from the chamber.
The two soldiers' moods changed as the training day turned to night and the explosions died down. One suddenly discovered that he considered the gun sacred.
The gunner pulls the cord of an M777 Howitzer artillery piece, sending a roughly 100-pound projectile down. (Connor McDowell/Brandon Sun)
“This is our flag,” he said, pointing to an M777 howitzer. “These are our colors. They are sacred.”
The moment put into perspective the massive combined effort of the soldiers of the First Regiment of the Royal Canadian Horse Artillery that took place on Wednesday. A team of more than 100 soldiers brought their life's work into explosive reality during a training exercise at CFB Shiloh as Remembrance Day approached and put a spotlight on the Canadian Armed Forces.
1RCHA planned and launched artillery strikes within approximately 600 meters of friendly soldiers.
Soldiers on the front lines identified targets closest to them, command post operators calculated how far to send a shell, and gunners took aim and pulled the trigger.
This was an attempt to prove combat readiness so that 1RCHA would be qualified and capable of deploying to Canada.
Exercise 1RCHA entered its third day of operational training when Sun visited on Wednesday. There were many sights on the gun line, but when it came time to fire, the alarm sounded, the rope pulled tight, an explosive explosion shook, a cloud of smoke filled the air, and after a long 20 seconds the explosion echoed off the horizon.
The gunners were an attractive part of the exercise, but they were just one of many skills developed during the exercise, said commander Lt. Col. Jordan Beattie.
Beatty said it's equally important that Soldiers develop muscle memory for loading vehicles, traveling, setting up tents in shelters, patrolling camps, communicating, firing rifles, lodging, preparing food rations – practicing all the real-life skills that come with deployment.
“Without it you won't get the full experience,” Beattie told the Sun. “(The teams) have been training since September and this is the culmination.”
Regiment commander Lieutenant Colonel. Jordan Beattie covers his ears as he watches several teams lay down long-range artillery fire. (Connor McDowell/Brandon Sun)
The complex exercise required all the experts, including those who timed the flight of the 155mm projectile and made sure it didn't hit the Canadian, he said.
Bombardier Michael St. Louis McIntosh was one of the crew members who helped count the artillery shots. He worked at the command post, in a stuffed machine that resembled a war room, with a map on the table.
“Today it's as easy as it can be to shoot artillery,” he said. “If you're shooting in a rainstorm… it's a different matter.”
“It’s very important to consider the weather,” St. Louis McIntosh said. The projectile runs the risk of drifting significantly away from the target unless the team inputs weather information.
“If you don't put it on a windy day, the height can be hundreds of meters,” he said.
Meteorological conditions account for about 60 percent of the total impact on a shot, he said, explaining that the projectile rises into the sky, potentially traveling through several layers of different conditions before hitting the ground.
During the afternoon exercise, projectiles weighing about 100 pounds were fired over a distance of about eight kilometers.
Because the exercise was being conducted “on the brink of danger,” Wednesday's artillery had to be especially safe and accurate. This added to the list of people who received invaluable practice as command post soldiers.
But even the soldiers who didn't time shots, aim, or pull the trigger grew in their roles as a result of the exercises.
Bombardier Michael St. Louis McIntosh rushes out of the command post during a pause between gunfire at CFB Shiloh. (Connor McDowell/Brandon Sun)
The battery quartermaster in charge of logistics told The Sun how it works.
When an artillery piece broke earlier this week, the support team had to arrange transport for repairs. He said it's important to practice these movements and continue them in the repair shop, where weapons specialists fix the equipment. The repairs have been completed and the gun has returned to service, he said.
“That's another good thing about this exercise. It's not just for gunners.”
It may not be just for gunners, but gunners love it.
Master Bombardier Jarrod Crashley, the gunnery team's first commander on Wednesday morning, couldn't help but let out a scream after one exercise.
“Good shooting, guys!” – he said. “That's what I want to see!”
Crashley's team just fired five rounds in about 80 seconds. He praised the men who loaded the gun, a task that required the combined efforts of about five soldiers after each shot.
Gunner Nathaniel Desjarlais was one of the gun crew members who qualified this week to operate the gun. He also pulled the trigger for the first time.
“I didn’t really know what to expect when I first went up there,” Desjarlais said.
Master Bombardier Jarrod Crashley expresses his gratitude to some of his team members. (Connor McDowell/Brandon Sun)
“It’s a very exciting experience to be around guns,” he said. “That's the whole point of artillery. I'm very proud of myself.”
Beatty said this is a big reason why the regiment goes out for combat exercises. According to him, experience is a vital part of the profession and some experience can only be gained in this field.
“It's impossible to simulate. They joined to do this job, not to hang out in the building.”
That sentiment proved true in the presence of two soldiers who stood under the moonlight Wednesday evening and looked at their weapons.
“We are taught to die on it,” said the second gunner.
