Kevin Wilson
Northern News Services

Yellowknife (Jan 30/02) - Far from the comfortable confines of headquarters, newcomers to Canadian Forces Northern Area get a taste of what life in the North is really like.

As a small Department of National Defence bus chugs off towards Highway 3, someone near the front asks if, "we're stopping at Tim Horton's along the way."

Not likely.

This particular vehicle is carrying officers and senior non-commissioned officers to observe and assist winter familiarization exercises, held this year on the northern arm of Great Slave Lake. Showing off a large double-double would probably go over poorly with the dozen or so military personnel spending their second day in the bush.

Armed forces members posted to Canadian Forces Northern Area are required to take the familiarization course, says Capt. Brian Martin, public affairs officer for CFNA.

"If they aren't doing it now, they'll be doing it next year," he says.

The week-long course involves four days of classroom instruction, plus three days on the land.

Martin says the idea is to get DND personnel "accustomed" to working in Arctic conditions.

The challenges of soldiering in the North are many. Guns are prone to jam and metal becomes brittle.

If metal touches exposed flesh, frostbite can occur in seconds.

"You wind up going a little slower, a little more meticulously," says Trevor Stoddart, an exercise participant.

The air force corporal was posted to Yellowknife last May from Cold Lake, Alta.

"It's different," he says. "Even though Cold Lake gets down to 20 or 30 below, here, it's a different kind of cold."

Capt. Bob Saunders, a training officer for CFNA, says the familiarization course is, "not overly demanding when it comes to physical skills."

Still, participants have to carry about 30 kilograms of gear including rations, tents, sleeping gear, and clothing.

They also have to fire pistols without wearing gloves, and build a "quincy", a shelter made by piling up a mound of snow, letting it sit, then hollowing it out.

Despite temperatures dipping to more than -30 C, Cpl. Andrew Eaton says it wasn't hard to stay warm.

"We were piling up the snow, and I was sweating. I said, 'Holy Toledo, that's a lot of work,'" says Eaton.

Eaton started his CFNA posting in August. It's "quite a different posting" from his previous one in Newport Corners, N.S.

From the comfort of a bivouac tent, Eaton says he's taking the new surroundings in stride.

"Like anything, it takes getting used to."