Exercise URBAN GRIZZLY
17 - 19 February 2006
Photos by 2Lt Gavin Mills and Cpl Michael Dorosh

Exercise URBAN GRIZZLY brought together Militia units from across southern Alberta acting under the Battle Group South headquarters. "A" Company, composed primarily of The Calgary Highlanders, carried out urban operations training in a variety of locales around the city while "B" Squadron, formed around a cadre of the King's Own Calgary Regiment, conducted independent training.

The Calgary Highlanders have been focused on the Three Block War concept for the 2005-2006 training year (the idea that future operational deployments might see the need for peacekeeping, humanitarian aid, and warfighting skills all within the same mission). Training for this exercise, conducted on the Family Day long weekend, consumed the Regiment for much of the two months leading up to the actual Exercise.

Practicing for URBAN GRIZZLY - 14 Jan 2006 (click thumbnails to enlarge)
	As work-up to the exercise in February, Mewata Armouries was converted into a wartorn urban environment on several Wednesday nights and weekends, and soldiers put through their paces.
	NCOs watch closely as their sections negotiate the basement corridors while training in urban operations.
Practicing for URBAN GRIZZLY - 28 Jan 2006
	Calgary Highlanders training at a Calgary Police Service facility.
	Battalion Deputy Commanding Officer Major Mike Vernon, at right, with Company Sergeant Major Bob Besse, listen to Warrant Officer Mike Smith report on the day's training.
	Master Corporal Rob Jackson pauses to discuss the finer points of the Geneva Convention with a medic of 15 Field Ambulance. Medical personnel are permitted by international convention to carry weapons, only to be used in the defence of themselves and their patients. The Canadian Army has always respected the international symbol of the Red Cross.
	Something old, something new, something borrowed, something blue...Infantrymen from the 20th Century would have loved to have had access to durable knee and elbow pads.
	The facilities in use by the Calgary Police Service provide the Highlanders with a wide array of scenarios to recreate in training; buses of civilians and scaling ladders have not often been utilized in the more familiar exercises in Wainwright.
Practicing for URBAN GRIZZLY - 9 Feb 2006
	In the absence of a real house, the Regiment has decided it is just as easy to make one on the parade square out of tables and crates...imagination is part of the training plan - we've been using "Militia Bullets" for years...
URBAN GRIZZLY - 18 Feb 2006 (click thumbnails to enlarge)

	A large proportion of soldiers employed on the exercise are relatively new to the Army and are considered "untrained." While they have not qualified in their trades, those who have had basic training with weapons safety and handling are grouped under Company Sergeant Major Dave Turnbull of The Calgary Highlanders. Here, CSM Turnbull takes a platoon of young soldiers on a march from Mewata Armouries.
	The area surrounding the Armouries has changed dramatically in recent years, with large new apartment buildings and condominiums adding to the already congested skyline. The Regimental Monument can be seen to the left of the photo, on its pedestal on the northeast lawn of the Armoury.
	The time honoured tradition of foot inspection. Private Sherwin Wong of the King's Own Calgary Regiment empties his Black Cadillacs for CSM Turnbull. The newer soldiers received advice on keeping their feet healthy. During the First World War, the Calgary Highlanders' predecessors took pride in their low incidence of foot-related concerns, especially trenchfoot - at that time considered a reliable indicator of a unit's discipline. Medical attention from 15 Field Ambulance was made available to soldiers with blisters.
Cordon and Search Trained soldiers of the The Calgary Highlanders participated in activities in several training locations utilized by the Calgary Police Service and the Calgary Fire Department. This series of photographs was taken at abandoned military quarters. Captain Kyle Clapperton and Warrant Officer Jim MacDonald created a series of realistic scenarios with a live Opposing Force (OPFOR) for a force of Highlanders to work through.
	Corporal Tunnicliffe takes up a firing position covering his buddies in a corridor. The tried and true Browning 9mm pistol was first used by Calgary Highlanders in combat in 1944(!) In the tight confines of an urban environment, the pistol offers greater freedom of movement.
	Corporal Matt Bird carries the standard C7A1 rifle with Elcan optical sight; the CADPAT camouflage pattern of the newly issued Tactical Vests (TVs) contrasts with the lighter shades of well-worn uniforms.
	House-clearing and urban operations call for lightly-equipped troops who have shed bulky impedimenta; the newly issued small pack systems have been left behind.
	The yellow Blank Firing Attachment on the C7A1 gives away the training nature of this operation. The current pattern of drop holster can be seen in this photo as well.
	Sergeant Dan Schmidt leads men of his section in a room by room search for weapons, belligerents, and booby traps. They were not to be disappointed.
	Master Corporal Cody Martin looks high...
	...and a section mate looks low...
	...until finally a person is discovered. Determining whether he is a friendly civilian or a suspected terrorist is part of the challenge. While the southern Alberta units of 41 Canadian Brigade Group go through drills in a "pretend" environment, Calgary Highlanders continue to head to Afghanistan in greater numbers, to perform these drills for real.