Rankin Inlet (Mar 05/03) - The famous Quebec Van Doo regiment received some healthy instruction on Arctic survival in Rankin Inlet this past month.

The Canadian Armed Forces First Battalion of the Royal 22 Regiment (1 R22R) from CFB Val Cartier, Que., were trained in the ways of Arctic survival by members of the Rankin Inlet Patrol of the Canadian Rangers.

Maj. Robin Lessard said 89 soldiers took part in the exercise from Feb. 15-24.

He said most of the men spent six days and five nights on the land adapting to the Arctic environment.

"The men found it very cold but, in any type of harsh environment, soldiers must first learn how survive before learning how to work, serve and fight," said Lessard.

The major said, in his opinion, the Arctic presents the harshest challenge of all environments for soldiers to function effectively in.

He said without the help of the Rangers, the Van Doos could not have learned how to survive so quickly.

"We had to rely on the Rangers' help to achieve the level of training we accomplished during our time in Rankin.

"In fact, you may not survive here at all if you don't learn what the Rangers are trying to teach you."

Lessard said the extreme cold did cause some problems with army equipment.

He said 10 soldiers were stationed at the FOL to take care of resupply and fix problems that cropped up with their snowmachines.

"We also ran into problems with our lanterns and Coleman stoves, but nothing we couldn't overcome.

"The Rangers used their experience to teach our soldiers how to solve the problems they faced.

"It was one of the challenges the Arctic presented us with -- to learn how to react in the face of such adversity."

Lessard said there are still a few areas with their Arctic equipment the army needs to improved upon, but, overall, things weren't too bad.

He said the Van Doos even conducted a shooting range while on the land.

One platoon built the range and every soldier was able to try his weapon.

The soldiers used three weapons: the C-7 (a 5.56-millimetre rifle), the C-9 (a 5.56 millimetre light machine gun) and the C-6, (a 7.62 millimetre machine gun).

"The weapons all worked pretty well and we allowed the Rangers to test our firepower and get some experience using them.

"It was good for our soldiers to realize the impact of their weapons on the snow construction we made, because the snow here is a lot harder than in Southern Canada."