Tactical Route Markers

[Jock Auld]

Guys,

Not sure if these are of 'historic interest' but it was a shame to see them go in the skip so I saved a handful.  I would guess these are from Iraq or Afghanistan, can you imagine the appeal if anyone had stopped to souvenir the Afrikakorp equivalent or any of these signs one sees on pictures of route junctions. 

[peter monahan]

I live just down the road from Canadian Forces Base Borden, our largest training establishment, with something like 35 different schools.  One of the bigger ones seems to be to train militia types to drive our trucks /lorries, so I not inferquently run across route markers stapled to telephone poles on the roads round town.  Ours seem to consist solely of black clubs, spades, hearts and diamonds on white paper, not a patch on those lovely things!

[Laurence Strong]

CFB Borden is Canada's largest training "Wing". CFB Suffield is Canada's largest training establishment. In terms of size Borden is 90 km2, while Suffield is 2700 km2

 

 

 

 

Cheers

Larry

[Jock Auld]

Been to Suffield or 'BATUS' quite a few times.  They say it is the size of Wales yet in all my time they never really changed the Exercises in any meaningful way.  Except after a bad patch in 1994 where we had a few safety mishaps.  I think they stopped the 'Danger Close' demo for a while!

[Laurence Strong]

Also home to DRES "Defence Research Establishment Suffield". which as the Experimental Station Suffield, then under the administration of the Canadian Army, commenced operations on June 11, 1941 as a joint British/Canadian biological and chemical defense facility. Renamed Suffield Experimental Station in August 1950, and finally named DRES July 1967.

 

A couple DRES highlights:

Exercise Vacuum was undertaken in the fall of 1968 with the objective “To test, under realistic battle conditions, new defensive doctrine, training agents, clothing and equipment designed as a result of shortcomings brought out in previous trials...” Almost 2000 men participated in Exercise Vacuum, which was held on the Suffield Block. Simulants (mainly based on the tear gas CS) were used in the experimental phase of Exercise Vacuum

 

Distant Plain 6 was a 100-ton detonation (spherical form) in 1967, The Prairie Flat 500 ton detonation (spherical form) on 9 August 1968 at the Watching Hill test site formed a 64-meter diameter crater, The Dialpack 500 ton detonation on 23 July 1970.

 

 

Cheers

Larry

[Jock Auld]

Got another pile of these, Routes Star, Oak, Heart and I guess Palm?

[peter monahan]

A 64 meter crate would be pretty d*** impressive!  When I worked my way through college in a mine - at 18 years old I got paid to blow stuff up! - we routinely blew 500-1000 pounds once a week, but that was safely undergound and I could feel the blast at my house, some 5-6 miles from the mine site. [ Never blew it on my shift.  ]