SeanFromCanada's Blog

Originally posted on 09.30.13

Following a delightful lunch of field rations…which were actually pretty good…we were given guns. C7 automatic rifles to be more accurate.

It was just after noon, and I was now packing heat.

And so the education continued. We were taught some pretty specific stuff about safety – as you can imagine. Some of the soldiers helped each of us out with the assembly of the weapon (it arrived in parts for safety reasons). As we fumbled through the attachment of the rifle straps, and were told we would not be using the straps. John smiled, but the group didn’t pick up on the message.

After some more detailed instruction on handling the weapon, including the dos and don’ts of muzzle pointing, we were told we’d be walking 3 clicks to the firing range, where we’d get to fire the weapons!

A little known fact about CFB Edmonton is that it has a 4 Kilometre long concrete runway. It’s closed now, but previously it was a landing option for emergency situations with commercial, military and even NASA aircraft. I’ve now walked ¾ of it…it’s a long runway.

A 3km walk doesn’t even register on my radar screen – I do it in flip flops, eating ice cream, with a 4 year old circling my angles. No problem, nothing but enjoyable. Well…this was different.

I have no idea how much our helmets weighed, but it felt like I could generate forward momentum by throwing my head forward and letting my legs flop forward. That thing was a presence on my head! If the chin strap was loose, the helmet bobbed around on my head like a bobble-head doll. If I tightened the strap around my chin (properly), it made the whole helmet… even worse (if that’s even possible).

Fortunately, we got a great weather day for the event. 25⁰C and blue sky. It certainly added to the challenge of the 3km walk, but I preferred it to rain and wind.

The real challenge was carrying the C7. It was heavy, big and awkward to hold. The proper way to carry it is to have your left hand on the barrel and the right wrapped around the shoulder stock, hand around (but not on) the trigger area. It causes your right shoulder to flare your elbow away from your body, requiring the majority of your arm muscles to be ‘semi-engaged’, just to hold the weapon. After walking in this position for, oh, about 78 seconds, I wondered how long I’d be able to maintain the hold… seriously, the fidgeting started almost immediately. It’s the only way I’d want to carry my weapon when walking through the jungles of Nam, but our little saunter down the runway didn’t present the same level of threat…so without my adrenaline, the C7 was going to make this a long walk.

We were told to form up in two columns and to stay in file for the duration of the walk. Making two evenly spaced and populated lines looked with a bunch of preschoolers planning a wedding. John smiled and waited patiently as we sorted ourselves out. Finally ready, we set off. It’s strangely hard to walk at the same pace as others, when tightly assembled, carrying weapons. Within a few minutes, we had more or less ‘opted out’ of the formal lines, but we kept a semblance of them for the entire distance.

It was the weight of the rifles that caused all our dissention in the ranks. By the time we were a kilometre into the walk, more than half the group had swung their weapons over their shoulders (using the afore mentioned straps)….The group now resembled more of a tennis group, walking around with their rackets at the country club.

John spoke about the importance of pace. He said it’s a calculated and careful practice when covering long distances. Dehydration and exhaustion are an ever present problem, especially since Paratroopers are often carrying heavy packs (full of ammunition, water and other gear). It doesn’t do anyone on Canada’s side any good to lose soldiers on the way to the battle, nor to arrive completely out of it. They place people at the front and back of the column who are specifically monitoring the pace and condition of the group. The group only moves as fast as its slowest member. They stick together.

As I walked along, semi-enduring / semi-enjoying the journey, I caught my mind drifting. I thought of my business, my family, my friends, what’d that beer in the Officer’s club was going to taste like…letting my mind wander made the whole journey more enjoyable. And then I realized – this is a civilian luxury. Soldiers can’t be walking through a war zone thinking about anything else but the mission and survival. I can only imagine how much harder, and longer, a 3 K walk through Afghanistan is…the level of alertness required, the ever present risk of IEDs and other mines, the heat, the dust…I tried to put my mind into the circumstance, and I immediately noticed the walk became far more strenuous.

Excitement grew as the final ¼ kilometre melted away and the sounds of ammunition being expended grew. We were ready for the shade of the firing range briefing area…ready to use the weapons we’d just carted down that long runway.