'Southerners' help Canadian soldiers maintain readiness

By Spc. Osama Ayyad, 10th Mountain Division JournalistJune 5, 2015

'Southerners' help Canadian soldiers maintain readiness
1 / 3 Show Caption + Hide Caption – Canadian army Lt. Col. Carla Harding, commander of 2nd Service Battalion, 2nd Canadian Mechanized Brigade Group, 4th Canadian Division, and Chief Warrant Officer William James, B Company, 10th Brigade Support Battalion, 1st Brigade Combat Team, 10th ... (Photo Credit: U.S. Army) VIEW ORIGINAL
'Southerners' help Canadian soldiers maintain readiness
2 / 3 Show Caption + Hide Caption – Canadian soldiers, of the Royal Canadian Electrical Mechanical Engineers, 2nd Service Battalion, 2nd Canadian Mechanized Brigade Group, 4th Canadian Division, and Soldiers, of A Company, 10th Brigade Support Battalion, 1st Brigade Combat Team, 10th M... (Photo Credit: U.S. Army) VIEW ORIGINAL
'Southerners' help Canadian soldiers maintain readiness
3 / 3 Show Caption + Hide Caption – Canadian soldiers, of the Royal Canadian Electrical Mechanical Engineers, 2nd Service Battalion, 2nd Canadian Mechanized Brigade Group, 4th Canadian Division, and Soldiers, of A Company, 10th Brigade Support Battalion, 1st Brigade Combat Team, 10th M... (Photo Credit: U.S. Army) VIEW ORIGINAL

FORT DRUM, N.Y. (June 4, 2015) -- Fighting alongside Americans, more than 40,000 Canadian armed forces members served in Afghanistan between 2001 - 2014. Of them, 158 made the ultimate sacrifice. U.S. and Canadian forces have worked together in Afghanistan, and with their geographical proximity, the North American countries have a mutual interest in each other's national security.

Soldiers, of the 2nd Service Battalion, 2nd Canadian Mechanized Brigade Group, 4th Canadian Division, trained side-by-side with Soldiers, of the 10th Brigade Support Battalion, or BSB, 1st Brigade Combat Team, 10th Mountain Division (Light Infantry), during Operation Southern Sustainer, held on Fort Drum, New York, May 20-26.

The 10th BSB coordinated and provided training opportunities to the unit based in Petawawa, Ontario, such as marksmanship ranges, convoy security training exercises and sling loading vehicles for transport using a CH-47 Chinook.

Canadian army Capt. William Lister, second in command of 2nd Service Battalion's Forward Support Group, said that he hopes Operation Southern Sustainer is the first of many collaborations with 10th BSB, which he called their "sister battalion."

Both battalions are combat service support or sustainment units, which provide combat units with logistics, maintenance and health services. While the sister battalions speak the same language, use similar equipment and have similar missions, they use different acronyms, organizational structures, training and methods of operation. Their internal communication is different, and they used the exercise to learn some of each other's tactics, techniques and procedures.

Platoons, from both battalions, worked together to produce a standard for operations and procedure using terminology from both services, so American and Canadian can communicate during exercise and real-world operations, Lister said.

Among the outcomes, which Canadian army Lt. Col. Carla Harding, 2nd Service Battalion commander, wanted to see, was smoother interoperability. Harding said she wanted her organization to understand and experience how U.S. Army equivalent units operate, in hopes that the 2nd Service Battalion would function better with their American counterparts in the future.

"We like going on deployed operations with you guys," Harding said. "Think about it. We're (all) North Americans, so our ethos and values aren't that different."

Another one of Harding's desired outcomes was to build the relationship between U.S. Army and Canadian troops.

Soldiers, of A Company, 10th BSB, and soldiers, of the Royal Canadian Electric Mechanical Engineers, did that by training and qualifying with each other's weapons at a squad automatic weapon range. Afterwards, they traded Canadian rations with U.S. Army meals-ready-to-eat.

Chief Warrant Officer 2 William James, B Company, 10th BSB, range officer in charge, said he enjoyed hosting the Canadian troops and hoped their time at his range built camaraderie between them and the U.S. Soldiers.

While some Canadian soldiers called Fort Drum Soldiers "southerners" and northern Upstate New York's weather "tropical," those at the range said the bond between the Canadians and their American counterparts is like family.

Related Links:

Army.mil: News

Army.mil: North America News

10th Mountain Division and Fort Drum

Fort Drum on Facebook