Windsor Regiment participates in winter training

by Hailey Trealout

The Windsor Regiment held an exercise at the F.A. Tilston V.C. Armoury Jan. 19 in preparation for the upcoming winter exercise in February.

The exercise is organized every year to help refresh the troops on how to function safely in extreme weather conditions. The troops were separated into teams and worked together to unload toboggans packed with necessary tools to efficiently operate in the winter. The process of setting up camp and knocking it back down in a timely fashion continued over the span of a few hours.

Trooper Sarah Taylor has been with the Windsor Regiment since September 2011. She said this was her first time participating in the exercise.

“It went well,” said Taylor. “I learned how to set up Arctic tents and if I didn’t know how to do something I’d always ask to figure out how to do it correctly, or how to do it to begin with because I’ve actually never done it before.”

After a break, the troops were briefed on call-signs, which are used as identifications over the communications system in their jeeps.

Cpl. Vincent Colussi participated in the exercise and said the practice for voice procedures gave every troop the chance to work through several scenarios.

“There are designated call signs for everyone that’s out there,” said Colussi. “They are going through the list, all reading together. Whoever has to say something, would scramble it out of order, so if they have to say a situation report they had to put it in the proper order, write it down before they say it, think about it, and then they’ll say it over the radio.”

Cpl. Aaron Mascaro was one of the three senior corporals to supervise the exercises. He said teamwork and preparation were the two key points the troops focused on.

“The biggest things to remember especially with the regiment are to look after one another because it’s very exhausting work,” said Mascaro. “Being able to show them what I’ve seen, what I’ve learned, what works, what doesn’t, and actually have them receive that and use that knowledge is a really good feeling.”

The next exercise will be in Meaford, Ont. where the troops will have a chance to use the skills they learned.