THUNDER BAY – Thunder Bay saw over 140 sailors, soldiers and air personnel from across Ontario and Manitoba this week for “Exercise Waking Giant”, a training exercise held in Thunder Bay’s area of Lake Superior.
Commander Nathanael Moulson, HMCS Griffon, says that this exercise helps them hone their skills out on the water, exercise their ability to respond to domestic emergencies, and just overall sharpen their capabilities.
“This exercise is really focused on their conduct on the water,” he said. “So, of course, you know, their boat handling skills.”
Personnel were on board the Alexander Henry on Saturday practicing climbing up the side of the ship and then they undertook a casualty clearing exercise which sees some sailors posing as casualties aboard the historic ship.
“Throughout the weekend, [teams] will climb up the side of the ship and then they'll go find the casualties,” said Coulson. “All sailors are trained in first aid, and they'll treat them with their first aid skills, be evaluated and then, that all is all part of a challenge, a competition that runs throughout the different teams.
Moulson says that “Exercise Waking Giant” one of the larger exercises held throughout the year across the country and is critically important, especially for reservists.
“The unique thing about reservists is that most of them have full time jobs. So, we have chiropractors, we have doctors, we have, you know, electricians and plumbers and nurses, all different trades... and then they come out on the weekends like these where they perform their Navy job,” he said.
“So, it's very important to keep those skills fresh and ultimately that enables them to contribute to operations, whether it's overseas or domestically.”
Moulson says that, for those interested, there are many ways to get involved, participate and join the Navy including their co-op education program which he says was very successful last year.
“We had a very high success rate, they seemed to have had a great time and now they're full-fledged members of the Naval Reserve and they're here this weekend participating, but they are students, the rest of their time they're in local high schools,” he said.
“So, that's a great a great way to check out the Navy to see if it's something that you know citizens of Thunder Bay are interested in, and of course there's various other ways to enrol, but that's a great one for young people.”
