Shilo soldiers eager to help ‘our neighbours’

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This article was published 08/06/2021 (1917 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

It has been almost two weeks since the Canadian Armed Forces responded to Premier Brian Pallister’s call for federal military aid as it struggles to deal with the third wave of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Fifty military members from across Canada moved into 17 Wing in Winnipeg with an eye on June 30 as a tentative completion date, said Maj. Ian Van Dyke, commander of C Battery of the 1st Regiment Royal Canadian Horse Artillery (1RCHA) at CFB Shilo — and the man responsible for the smooth operation as commander for Task Force Bison, under Operation LASER.

Operation LASER is the name associated with the federal government’s response to the province’s call for military aid during the COVID-19 crisis.

Van Dyke is one of two officers from CFB Shilo co-ordinating federal military efforts from transportation and housing to managing military medical staff. Maj. Joel Bernier, commanding officer of 11 Canadian Forces Health Services Centre Shilo, is overseeing military medical staff operations on the ground during Operation LASER.

A separate team of aeromedical experts from CFB Trenton with assistance from the Royal Canadian Air Force’s 436 Squadron are also assisting the province in medical evacuations, bringing the total number of CAF members involved in Operation LASER to just over 60.

While military members assisting the province hail from across Canada, CFB Shilo has 12 members from 1RCHA involved in the effort.

The majority of the team are medical technicians and a few general duty nursing officers. Those are the people actually on the ground going in to assist in the province’s alternative isolation sites, Van Dyke said.

They help relieve the pressure and the staff who are working at those sites. As well, there are three lab technicians who are in two hospitals helping process COVID-19 tests.

The aeromedical team fly from CFB Trenton and stage in Winnipeg.

“They call it the packaging team. They prepare the patient. And then the patient is transported to base to a special module in the back of the Hercules (military cargo plane) that’s set up for these medical evacuations. They fly to whatever city or province is required of them.”

Van Dyke said 1RCHA’s support comes in the form of transporting members to shifts.

“It’s a hefty driver requirement,” he told The Sun in a telephone interview. Primarily, 1RCHA provides transportation and anything else non-medical or general duties.

Two drivers from 1RCHA also assist the aeromedical evacuation team on the tarmac at the airfield, he explained. The drivers are gunners and bombardiers from the regiment.

Helping their neighbours in their home province brings a certain amount of pride in the military members from CFB Shilo, Van Dyke said.

“The goal, in general, is to relieve the pressure on the Shared Health Manitoba system,” he said.

“Helping Manitoba through this third wave. The bottom line is relieving that pressure.”

Van Dyke said all members of the team are excited to help.

“It’s a bit of a unique situation, something the medical staff aren’t necessarily able to see on a day-to-day basis,” he said, referring to the military medical staff’s exposure to working with civilians during a pandemic.

“It’s definitely a good feeling to be able to help Manitobans when you live in the same province. It’s a little bit different than going to another province and helping out because these are potentially your neighbours. Some of the gunners and bombers on the team are from Winnipeg. They know the city. They’re excited to be here and help their hometown as well. No grumbling that I’ve heard about, having to be here, everyone’s happy to participate and happy to provide support to what is essentially our neighbours.”

From a quick and efficient response to the call from the province to the level of expertise trained military members have to assist, Van Dyke said the experience has been positive for the group.

» kkielley@brandonsun.com