Ice Road Trucking

Vehicles from 38 Canadian Brigade Group's Combat Service Support Tactical Group keep their safety distances while crossing the ice road.

WINNIPEG, Mb - "It's my first time on an ice road. Those cracks there look intimidating but I guess they don't go all the way through," said Corporal Pierce Hinton, a Mobile Support Equipment Operator with 17 (Winnipeg) Service Battalion.

38 Canadian Brigade Group's, Combat Service Support Tactical Group (CSS TG) took part in Exercise ROLLING DART around Lake Winnipeg's provincially maintained ice roads from 26-28 February.

"The CSS TG is taking advantage of Manitoba's winter roads," said Lieutenant-Colonel Barb McManus, Commanding Officer of the CSS TG. "We're going just short of 16 kilometres across to Bloodvein First Nation."

The convoy, consisting of 16 vehicles divided into two packets of eight vehicles, traveled from Winnipeg to Pine Dock, Manitoba, where the ice road began. After a final safety briefing, the vehicles slowly began to drive across Lake Winnipeg.

Corporal Don Schellenberg hands out promotional items to local residents of Bloodvein First Nation

"It feels very stable; feels like you're driving on a regular road," said Cpl Hinton.

"This is a tiny bridge," he said, as he approached a small bridge over a pressure crack. "The truck barely fits on it."

For safety reasons, the vehicles traveled at 20 kilometres per hour with at least 300 metres between each vehicle.

"We've got snowmobiles on the sides who will be checking up on the convoy. We don't wear seatbelts and we keep one window open just in case we were to break through the ice, said Cpl Hinton. You have a better chance of escaping."

In addition to the training, the Unit wanted to connect with the people living in nearby communities and planned a community visit at the Bloodvein school. Soldiers talked with the local residents, students and children and invited them to climb in and on the military vehicles on display.

After a presentation to the Chief Frank Young of Bloodvein First Nation, the soldiers mounted their vehicles for the return trip.

"It went absolutely phenomenal," said Lieutenant Paul Lanthier, Training and Recruiting Officer for the CSS TG. "It's the first time I've ever done this. I must say at first, you're not sure how the lake is going to react to the vehicle..It's slow moving but it was a great experience."

Lt Lanthier said the training is important and is related to support to potential arctic tasks. "We're doing this in hopes that if the CSS world is ever called up for domestic operations up north, we will be more prepared because we have done some ice driving."

38 CBG's CSS TG is planning on more future ice road driver skills training and Manitoba's lake region offers a perfect training environment given its 2200 kilometres of winter roads.

These winter roads not only facilitate the hauling of freight to northern and remote communities, but also provide the residents with temporary inter-community travel as well as road access to the rest of the province.

Article and photos by Cpl Bill Gomm a photojournalist with 38 CBG