By LCol (Ret.) Mike Lagace, 38 Canadian Brigade Group Public Affairs
While the Primary Reserves are tasked to support the Canadian Forces in rapid Arctic deployments, the age-old question remains- how do you effectively answer the call when temperatures, ranging in -50c, cause your breath to freeze over and equipment constantly fail.
Part of the answer is your ability to transport supplies, including arctic tents and petrol and live off an unforgiving terrain.
As 38 Canadian Brigade Group mounts its tasking to exercise the Arctic Response Company Group (ARCG), it prepares its soldiers in many “gateway” training exercises where by the time they go north, they can survive. Exercise Komatic is the first, and one of the most important exercises where soldiers begin their arctic indoctrination to survive.
Held at Minto Armories on 23-24 November, 50 soldiers began the preparation.
For centuries Canadians in the north, Inuit, has the answers to survival. Hunting, fishing and survival in the winter relied on the basic tools, including the Qamutiik (Komatik) sled- an age-old sled that continues to this day. These sleds traditionally are pulled by dog teams, power toboggans and even human force.
“I was taught several years ago to build the traditional Komatik when I first started on the Arctic Response Company Group (ARCG)’, explained WO Tom Hughes, 37, of the 38 Combat Engineer Unit (38 CER).
A 12-year veteran of arctic training at 38 Brigade, this year he holds the ARCG Plans Warrant Officer position. Getting his soldiers and equipment ready for incredibly difficult terrain is his mission.
“I was trained to build the Komatiks by the Inuit back in 2012,” he continued. “ They would not last with the force of the rock terrain in the north.” He compared Sweden and Norway and made it very clear, “their terrain is not like Canada’s- we have hard snow and rock and need something better”.
Thus in 2019, with the first purchase of a new style sled from Alaska, a Canadian team made of Hughes and another Manitoba reservist, Master Corporal Anson Pops, of the Royal Winnipeg Rifles, who was a red seal carpenter, took the design, primarily the material it was made from, and turned it into an incredibly functional “Skimmer”, as it’s now called” where it glides across arctic rock and ice, as well as deep snow.
Our guardians of the north, Canadian Rangers, who teach the military survival in the north experienced the Manitoba creation, “Ranger Patrol groups in the arctic love them.”
Formed with Ultra High Molecular Weight (UHMW) polyethylene, it turned a 400-pound traditional sled into a 100-pound all-terrain transport capability giving one power toboggan the ability to tow three in a “daisy” chain trailer. Each Skimmer can carry up to 1500 pounds.
“We modified it now so it can even recover a power sled,” WO Hughes proudly claimed. “Only the skis are outside the Skimmers and the track is inside the skimmer.”
With the Canadian Force’s sovereignty mission changing in the north, where domestic operations and search missions evolved into warfare training, so must the needs to transport weaponry.
“I am modifying some of these skimmers to handle ambulance carry as well as our kit of weapons- a 50 Cal, C6, C7, C9 and even our ALGS (a grenade launching system),” WO Hughes explained. Each soldier will also sling their personal C7 weapons whilst on the sleds.
WO Hughes finished, “Each sled costs about $2,000 to build and we can build 20 sleds in a week, so it becomes very affordable and great capability.”
A passing sergeant finished off the day of skimmer preparation with a most simple comment, “they are truly excellent for the north Arctic.”
The ARCG next Arctic bound will be put to the test in Manitoba in January in Netley Creek Provincial Park where they shake out the gear and survive a January weekend in a very well-known winter province. February the ARCG deploys to Carcross, Yukon where the temperatures may be warmer than Manitoba.
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