QAUSUITTUQ/RESOLUTE - Internal assessment documents for a military course that was partially held in Resolute show that there are many improvements yet to be made, as rations and snowmobiles froze, and personnel were not properly clothed.

Canadian Forces members used tents during their fishing and hunting survival skills training near 12 Miles Lake as part of the Advanced Winter Warfare course this spring based out of Resolute. - photo courtesy of Errol J. Morel/Canadian Forces

"Although the course was a success in graduating 33 students, there were numerous support issues that put the successful completion of the course at risk," stated the document, issued to Nunavut News/North recently.

From Jan. 14 to March 28, the military held its Advanced Winter Warfare course that included sub-Arctic and Arctic phases, with the Arctic phase held for the first time in Resolute, March 8 to 18.

"What we realized is conducting operations in the North is very complicated," said Lt.-Col. Marco Rancourt. "You always have to take into consideration the environment in planning an operation. The Arctic is the Arctic."

In all, 33 students from all over the regular army and reserve successfully completed the course, the aim of which was to provide subject matter experts on survival and mobility in the North.

The course has been in place for a while but suffered in recent years due to lack of candidates, but now there is increased interest and priority placed on the course by the present government, he said.

"I wouldn't say I was expecting to see that many, and I call it 'little things' to be addressed. Because it was our first trial in that course, it's not really surprising," said Rancourt.

Difficulties encountered in the course included problems in getting the personnel and equipment up to Resolute, problems with equipment including snowmobiles, machetes and shovels, and problems with rations.

The Hercules aircrafts tasked to move personnel and equipment to Resolute had an unusually high rate of failure, causing the course to be shortened in length and some equipment did not arrive.

Rancourt said though the deployment had several hitches, it ended up being beneficial to the group since proper acclimatization had not occurred in the sub-Arctic phase in Meaford, Ont., where it had been warmer than expected.

Snowmobiles were flown in with their gas tanks empty due to airforce aircraft regulations prohibiting a full tank due to variations in air pressure that might cause leaks. However, this meant that once on the ground, condensation built up in the gas tanks and they froze.

"The problem could have been avoided if we would have known about the consequences," said Rancourt, adding that in the future, they may arrange for someone to be immediately available to fill the tanks once the snowmobiles are on the ground.

Cpl. Norman Idlout was among six Canadian Rangers who assisted the military while in Resolute.

Idlout said he helped the Advanced Winter Warfare participants train in snow and ice conditions, such as building snow shelters and properly tying equipment on to kamotiqs.

"The Rangers here are pretty new to this, too. We're learning with them," said Idlout, 31, who has been with the Canadian Rangers for 14 years. "So it was pretty good. At the end they improved a lot."

Idlout said the Rangers were shorthanded and there were supposed to have been 12 assisting. Also, some of the rangers were fairly new so they benefited from learning things such as making snow shelters, looking for drinking water, determining the direction to take with snow drifts.

Idlout has assisted in other programs and courses as a Ranger and said this time was different.

"There were more things to do. It was a lot of fun," said Idlout.

The report also stated more interaction is needed with the community and "the course is isolated/insulated... and is not receiving the exposure to Inuit culture that it had when operating in other locations."

Students were outfitted with mukluks designed in the 1970s, according to Rancourt, and were not optimal. They also did not have proper hand protection and hands were fully exposed when mitts were taken off, so working gloves were suggested.

Because of rapid condensation, head protection easily got wet, prompting a recommendation of two toques, balaclavas and neck gaitors in the future.

The assessment documents also show that the flat-headed shovels and machetes used were inadequate for building snow shelters in the Arctic because of the hardness of the snow.

There were also problems with the food, and rations would freeze.