Lest we Forget November 11 2007
Evolution..to
Motto of this Proud Corps Arte et Marte (By Skill and By Fighting)
The Canadian Military are known world wide for their Make Do attitude, turning Non operating kit into Operable items be they vehicles or weapons. The Royal Canadian Electrical and Mechanical Engineers became the Electrical Mechanical Engineers. Whatever name,,,,,,,,,, the men and women of this corps, Repair everything from a coleman lantern to computerised weaponry, often in darkness or under enemy fire.
Christie Blatchford wrote a great piece in the Globe and mail about these tradespeople.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20071024.wafghan18/BNStory/blatchfordafghanistan
I share with you a couple of memorable paragraphs from Ms Blatchford's excellent coverage of this Invaluable unit currently serving in Afghanistan.
With a rifle or a wrench, these troops make it work
For the maintainers, job No. 1 is to fix things on the 800 vehicles, thousands of guns and weapons, high-tech geegaws such as night-vision sights, scopes, radios and cell and satellite phones used by the Canadian battle group -- and fix them fast, usually on the fly in the field, and sometimes working at night by the red lights that can't be seen by the enemy.
These guys can fix anything, says their boss, Lt.-Col. Conrad. And they're ferociously proud -- what they hate the most is leaving something on the battleground. They'd rip up their underwear to fix that LAV, the Light Armoured Vehicle that has performed so heroically in Afghanistan.
The commander of the maintenance platoon, Captain Chris Wood, gleefully recalls the fellow who, faced with a broken fan belt out in the field and no replacement at hand, took a knife and shaved a wider belt down to fit. He made it work, he said. Another maintainer used a seat strap -- because nothing else was available -- to get the air lines on a vehicle working again, which in turn unlocked the brakes and allowed the vehicle to power up and keep moving.
Axles and differentials on the LAVs, considered the miracle machines of this conflict; shredded tires on the platforms that carry the spanking new big guns of the Royal Canadian Horse Artillery; transmission cases in the workhorse Bisons; whole transmissions and engines in the formidable new Nyalas: The maintainers fix them all.
Thankyou to the Hon.Peter MacKay for his Inaugral visit and speech to the troops in Afghanistan early this morning.
Nil Sine labore
Robby
