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Student soldiers march through the North

Kent Driscoll
Northern News Services

Iqaluit (Oct 30/06) - The streets of Iqaluit were swarming with the military last week, uniforms were visible on every corner.

These were no ordinary soldiers, sailors and airmen, these were the best and the brightest the Canadian Armed Forces has to offer.

"They are senior officers and have been selected for a 10-month development course. They are part way through their careers and they are the future generals," said Lt.-Col. Susan Beharriell.

All of the soldiers are enroled in the Canadian Forces College in Toronto. They made a week-long visit to Nunavut and the NWT to experience the reality of working in the Arctic.

"When you look at the sovereignty issues, the strategic importance of Nunavut is obvious. With the increasing importance of the Arctic, it was important to get up here," said Beharriell.

It isn't every day that 124 tourists land in Iqaluit, so businesses received a boost at the cash register.

"We have had 60 or 70 of them here for sure, maybe more. We've sold diamonds, carvings, and some seal skin products," said Patsy Drake, manager of DJ's Sensations in Iqaluit. "It has been very busy. We had to open early, they were waiting for us."

These senior officers are mostly in their late 30s and early 40s. Most of the military students also visited Resolute, and along with books for the library, they brought letters for the school kids from their own children.

"There was a good foot of snow on the ground when we arrived, and another foot by the time we left. The Rangers set up a camp and they set up a range for the .303's (the rifle used by the Rangers)," Beharriell said of the brief tour of Resolute.

In Iqaluit, the students learned that when doing things in Nunavut, planning is key.

"One of the highlights was how difficult it was to get around, and the impact of the weather on planning," said Capt. (Navy) Tom Tulloch, director of the program. "Our international soldiers were just blown away, snow for some of them is a new concept."

"We talked with some people who are building the new health centre, and all the challenges they are facing. It really showed (the students) that every job needs to be planned for," said Beharriell.

Student soldiers can receive credit toward a masters of defence studies from the Royal Military College in Kingston, Ontario. This trip, the first of its kind in 15 years, falls under the national security studies section of their schooling.

Premier Paul Okalik answered questions from the future military leaders while Nunavut Tunngavik Incorporated did a presentation about the land claims agreement and DEW line clean-up. Local RCMP discussed community policing.

Even though the soldiers visited Resolute, residents shouldn't take that as a sign that the new Canadian Forces northern training centre is headed that way.

"Us coming has nothing to do with the training centre. That is a political decision, we are just a college educating our students," said Beharriell.