COLD LAKE, ALBERTA, Canada-- As tensions in the fictitious nation of West Isle increased, Canadians were happy to see members of 3rd Battalion, Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry (3 PPCLI) arrive to conduct non-combatant evacuation operations in the exercise scenario.
Following this exercise, Vanguard Company will be ready to deploy anywhere in the world, in support of the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade Development (DFATD), to evacuate Canadian nationals, explains Canadian Army Lieutenant Colonel John Errington, Commanding Officer 3 PPCLI.
More often than not, political instability in foreign countries is the reason for the immediate extraction of Canadian nationals, yet other situations may also trigger the need to deploy Vanguard Company.
"Vanguard Company's mission during this exercise, and abroad, is to extract Canadian Entitled Personnel from different threat environments, whether it's a natural disaster or political instability," explains Canadian Army Maj. Hue Atwell, Vanguard Company commander with 3 PPCLI.
A non-combatant evacuation operation (NEO) deploys forces within 72 hours in response to a sudden rapidly deteriorating situation in an affected nation that is threatening the safety of Canadians. A NEO is only conducted when all means of personal and commercial transportation have been exhausted.
Although time is of the essence, once Vanguard Company has deployed, there are protocols to be followed and a wide range of responsibilities that each organization involved is responsible for before extracting the Canadian Entitled Personnel to pre-designated safe havens.
"The task can be anywhere from seven to 14 days and range in scope from small groups of logisticians who are deployed to coordinate the benign extraction of Canadians, to deploying a company of 100 plus soldiers in order to provide security for both the Canadian Entitled Personnel and adjoining organizations such as Citizenship and Immigration Canada, DFATD, and the Red Cross, which all have different roles and responsibilities during a NEO," Atwell explains.
Conducted as a sub-exercise of Ex MAPLE RESOLVE 14, this training will validate the readiness of the 3 PPCLI soldiers who are tasked to support DFATD during a NEO from July 1, 2014, to June 30, 2015.
"The 3rd Battalion prides itself on these types of operations, on being ready for short notice tasks, so we want to make sure we are agile and able to deploy and respond, should the nation and chain of command require us for any type of NEO," Errington says.
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