Bridging the St Lawrence on a raft
Some unusual boats took to the St Lawrence River during a 35 Combat Engineer Regiment exercise
By Lt David Brochu, Public Affairs Officer (PAO), 35 CER
Rafts were deployed on the St Lawrence River by 35 Combat Engineer Regiment (35 CER) on the weekend of May 24 and 25. The Quebec reserve unit was conducting an exercise in preparation for 35 CER regimental celebrations that will take place September 17 and 18 in Quebec City and be open to the public.
The exercise began with loading the boats and the pieces of the raft into the water at Sainte-Foy marina on the shores of the St. Lawrence. It was a beautiful day and the sun was shining when the troops arrived at the marina early Saturday morning. After receiving safety instructions, the troops were ready to assemble the medium raft (MR)—a very useful craft for combat engineers because it can be assembled and disassembled quickly. The medium raft can be used to transport any type of Canadian Forces vehicle, ranging from wheeled personnel carriers to Leopard C2 tanks, across a body of water.
To assemble the raft, the troops had to first launch the boats (“BBE”) that are used in the construction process, then lower the various pieces of the raft into the water. One by one, the large metal pieces were attached together to form an enormous raft ready to be loaded with vehicles. Construction went smoothly. Once the raft was assembled, the drivers made short trial runs on the river to practise manoeuvring it. The drivers’ skills were certainly put to the test in this stretch of the St Lawrence, as there are a number of rocks very close to the water’s surface that could seriously damage a raft. The combat engineers practised assembling and disassembling the MR several times throughout the day to ensure that they could execute the procedure quickly.
Bridging is a very useful skill for combat engineers, particularly during tactical operations but also during domestic operations and humanitarian aid missions. Judging by the success of this exercise in a real urban setting, we can say that 35 CER is ready for anything.
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