Photo By Maj. Mikel Arcovitch | U.S. Army and Canadian Soldiers practiced and conducted tactical insertion on an open...... read more read more
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RESOLUTE BAY, Nunavut, Canada --New York Air National Guard Airmen from the 105th and 109th Airlift Wings played a key role in the Canadian Forces’ annual Guerrier Nordique Arctic training exercise which ran from February 22 to March 22.
Six C-17 Globemaster III strategic airlifters from the 105th made 23 flights to move 285 reserve soldiers from the 2nd Canadian Division, and over 90 tons of cargo, to the Resolute Bay Airport on Cornwallis Island in the Arctic Ocean. Seventy-four 105th Airmen supported the mission.
From there, an LC-130 assigned to the 109th Airlift Wing moved 37 Canadian and American Soldiers 60 miles further north to a location on the Arctic ice east of Little Cornwallis Island.
Sixty 109th Airmen deployed to Resolute Bay in Canada's Nunavut Territory, where temperatures can reach minus 50 degrees Fahrenheit, with two LC-130 Hercules “Skibirds” to support the exercise.
They were joined by Army National Guard Soldiers from Vermont, Utah, New Hampshire, and Connecticut, who worked alongside the Canadian reserve Soldiers.
Moving troops from Quebec to the Arctic was a challenge for the 105th Airmen, according to Major Rodrigo Nagle, one of the pilots.
Resolute Bay Airport is not equipped with radar. That, combined with a runway made up of frozen gravel and ice, made operating the C-17 challenging, he explained.
“We flew 2,000 miles. We landed on an austere field, which is something most cargo planes don’t do. We unloaded and loaded cargo and people and flew another 2,000 miles back, basically all on our own,” said Lt. Col. Andrew Townsend, another C-17 pilot.
Loading and unloading the planes in the extreme cold, also presented challenges, the Airmen said.
There were computer malfunctions caused by the cold, which meant doing weight and balance calculations with pencil and paper. And chunks of ice and snow that had to be chipped off cargo pallets to fit them into the aircraft’s restraint rails.
“The cargo upload in such extremely cold conditions presented some unique challenges for us,” said Master Sgt. James Segreti, one of the loadmasters.
The Airmen from the 109th worked with the Royal Canadian Air Force’s 440th Transport Squadron to prepare a 6,000 foot-long “ski-way” so the LC-130s could land on the sea ice.
The Canadians used their smaller two-engine Twin Otter ski-equipped planes to land the 109th’s Polar Camp Skiway Team. That team then used snowmobiles and other special gear to groom a landing area for the much larger LC-130s.
And while doing that they were guarded by Canadian Rangers whose job was polar bear patrol.
“The living conditions at camp are demanding. They’re long days of grooming in the cold, and changes in the weather can uproot your plans in minutes. But seeing that first LC-130 land on a ski-way that you created out of nothing makes it worth it,” said Lt. Col. Matthew Sala, officer-in-charge of the ski-way team.
When the ski-way was done, a New York LC-130 flew 37 Army National Guard and Canadian Reserve Soldiers to the remote location.
Soldiers and Airman loaded the LC-130 at the Canadian Armed Forces Arctic Training Center in Resolute Bay. They were flown northwest to ski landing area on the Arctic ice.
After landing, Soldiers disembarked and set a security perimeter 100 meters from the landing zone. Dressed in white camouflage, Soldiers established their security positions.
Soldiers were equipped with individual weapons, machine guns, and everything needed to sustain themselves for up to three days in the Arctic.
“We've been flying missions in Greenland and Antarctica for over 30 years, and this is the first time we've ever conducted a tactical insertion with Canadian reserve Soldiers," Sala said.
"This is just the starting point for us to build from. We hope to expand our capacity and have more training missions like we had here with Guerrier Nordique," Sala said.
During the exercise, the 109th Airmen transported over 29 tons of cargo and 89 Soldiers and Airmen to and from the remote camp.
"This is only the beginning," said Canadian Army Lt. Col. Andre Morin, land component commander for Guerrier Nordique.
"The partnership between the Canadians and Americans is invaluable. I would like to see this exercise grow from here and make it bigger and better. We have now confirmed that we have the ability to deliver Soldiers in a very difficult environment,” he added.
109th Airlift Wing medical technicians on the mission used the opportunity to work with their Canadian counterparts and learn how to transport patients on the smaller Canadian Twin Otters planes.
Col. Christian Sander, the commander of the 109th, said that participating in the exercise was important training for his wing.
“I’m proud and excited for the hard work of our LC-130 aviators and other multi-capable Airmen in support of the Guerrier Noridque exercise,” he said.
Vermont Army National Guard Major Matt Hefner, the officer-in-charge of the U.S. Army contingent, who participated in five previous Guerrier Noridque exercises, said the 105th and 109th made a tremendous contribution to the exercise’s success.
“We certainly hope they continue in this multinational and now joint training,” Hefner said.
Vermont Army National Guard Capt. Mikel Arcovitch contributed to this report
| Date Taken: | 03.29.2023 |
| Date Posted: | 03.29.2023 15:14 |
| Story ID: | 441475 |
| Location: | RESOLUTE BAY , NUNAVUT, CA |
| Web Views: | 198 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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