Derek Neary
Northern News Services

Fort Providence (Mar 26/04) - Members of the Canadian Armed Forces wrapped up a two-week advanced winter warfare course with an exhibition on Saturday.

Pictured above, Leroy Landry, bottom right, gets the feel of a machine gun while Nolan Bonnetrouge gets into a prone position next to him. - Derek Neary/NNSL photos

A few dozen people, mostly kids, came to see the weapons, snowmobiles, radios and a 10-person tent on display. They also rode in the BV-206 all-terrain vehicle.

"Cool" and "You guys have awesome equipment" were some of the comments from the delighted youths, many of whom took home leftover army rations such as trail mix, dehydrated pineapple tidbits and hot chocolate powder.

It was the second consecutive year that the exercise was held in Fort Providence. Lieut. Richard Schmidt, the course instructor, noted that the preferred location is above the tree line, but the Hercules transport plane required to mobilize the troops and equipment to the Inuvik area was diverted to Haiti, where the government was recently overthrown.

The exercise allowed the 32 members of the military to work alongside the Fort Providence Ranger Patrol Group.

Cpl. James Matto said he and several other Rangers acted as bush guides for the military, showed them how to trap, make a shelter and go ice fishing.

In return, the soldiers taught the Rangers some navigational techniques. The Rangers also got to fire the military's automatic weapons. Using the machine guns was quite a thrill compared to the Rangers' .303-calibre, single-load rifles, Matto acknowledged.

"Once you start shooting you just feel like keep on going," he said, chuckling.

The Armed Forces' snowmobiles, mid-1990s models, were inferior to those used by the Rangers, however.

"They sure are slow, boy," Matto said.

Schmidt said the Rangers' knowledge was invaluable on the land and on the lake ice.

"Most of them have grown up in the area and know it like the back of their hand," said Schmidt.

Matto noted that he wouldn't mind serving as a military guide again in the future.

"It would be nice if they come back again next year," he said. "They're a lot of fun."