If you see military vehicles on the roads of Quebec in the coming days, don’t panic. It’s normal. Nearly 600 soldiers will leave on Tuesday from the Valcartier military base, in the Quebec region, to go to Louisiana for an intensive combat training session, which will last a month.
That’s basically what the 2 Support Base announced.e Division of the Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) of Valcartier, Tuesday in a press release, specifying in passing that “the vehicles will be able to be seen on the roads from November 22”.
In total, “approximately 150 vehicles will travel autonomously and on flatbeds” between Valcartier and the US Army installation Fort Polk, in Vernon Parish, Louisiana, United States.
“We are talking about approximately 575 soldiers who will be on the move,” explained the public affairs officer, Captain Kathleen Soucy, when reached by telephone. Most of the troops will come from the Fifth Canadian Mechanized Brigade Group.
Their training will essentially consist of Enhanced Combat Skills (ACC) training, “an important exercise that is being done jointly with the Americans,” added Ms.me Soucy.
Several sessions will take place starting in January 2023, in the “Joint Readiness Training Center” (JRTC), a vast infrastructure belonging to the American army where several Canadian soldiers complete their military training. At the end of their training period, starting in early February, the Canadian vehicles “will gradually return” to Valcartier, the Canadian army said.
Reassure the population
Who says military trips often says concerns. In the past, the movement of military convoys has regularly drawn the attention of citizens on social networks, with some expressing concern at the sight of a military presence. Such clarification by the Canadian Armed Forces is also intended to “reassure and inform the population correctly”, pointed out Mr.me Soucy about it.
In 2020, a video showing a train carrying military vehicles in Montreal went viral online, with many Internet users mistakenly believing that the army had been sent to the region in the context of the health crisis linked to COVID-19 . In reality, it was a simple operation to move military equipment.
More recently, in April, seven military helicopters returning to their base also caught the attention of many Montrealers when they flew over the city.
In October, The Press had spent an entire day in the field with the Canadian Armed Forces as troops conducted a military exercise on the St. Lawrence Islands, east of the island of Montreal. The Coast Guard was then invited to join. One of the objectives was to teach officers to cooperate in the event of a disaster—for example, a flood—that would require the evacuation of civilians.