T
tatonka
Guest
First off, let me say what a pleasure it is to read some intelligent discussion online. A nice change from the slagging I‘ve seen on other sites.
The adoption of a mountain ops role is something being discussed within the Calgary Highlanders. Junior leaders are in favour of it; seniors need more convincing. I think it makes sense for a number of reasons, given our geographic location, our light infantry designation, and the desire to challenge young soldiers with tough training and new skills (They are equally enthusiastic about FIBUA and really enjoyed a brief amphibious ex off Albert Head in March). Of course, mountain ops would augment core combat skills (ie, we wouldn‘t be doing this to exclusion of other general purpose skills). The challenge is finding time to conduct specialized training, acquiring the necessary equipment, and then wrapping everything up in a realistic tactical scenario.
Just conducting a basic mountain ops course will require a good deal of effort.
If such skills as FIBUA, airmobile, amphibious ops and mountain ops are to survive, we don‘t need specialized units for each one... but it makes sense to assign these tasks to specific units based on their geographic locations and the availability of specialized resources--whether they are regs or reserves.
The adoption of a mountain ops role is something being discussed within the Calgary Highlanders. Junior leaders are in favour of it; seniors need more convincing. I think it makes sense for a number of reasons, given our geographic location, our light infantry designation, and the desire to challenge young soldiers with tough training and new skills (They are equally enthusiastic about FIBUA and really enjoyed a brief amphibious ex off Albert Head in March). Of course, mountain ops would augment core combat skills (ie, we wouldn‘t be doing this to exclusion of other general purpose skills). The challenge is finding time to conduct specialized training, acquiring the necessary equipment, and then wrapping everything up in a realistic tactical scenario.
Just conducting a basic mountain ops course will require a good deal of effort.
If such skills as FIBUA, airmobile, amphibious ops and mountain ops are to survive, we don‘t need specialized units for each one... but it makes sense to assign these tasks to specific units based on their geographic locations and the availability of specialized resources--whether they are regs or reserves.