Winnipeg: Exercise Charging Bison

In Winnipeg, shots are being fired, pyrotechnics are going off, and the Canadian military has its boots on the ground. There is no crisis. No enemy to detain. The city is not under martial law, but Canadian soliders are undering training in real sections of the city. This all started on sunday and will continue until this saturday under the title of Exercise Charging Bison. The mission is said to train soldiers for the conditions of urban warfare. The guns are loaded with blanks and pyrotechnics take the place of real explosions. About 500 soldiers are patrolling part of the city in order to "develop independence of thought and action at the lowest group level, while reinforcing individual soldier skills within the context of a Full Spectrum Operations environment" according the army website. There is no affirmation that these soldiers will be going to Afghanistan because, they are only set to deploy overseas in 2008.

I find this worrisome. Though, it does make sense to train soldiers in urban combat due to the change in military operations from the army ahead of you to being in the middle of possible friendlies with a enemy here and there, I still find it troubling. If the army wishes to train like that they should have their own facility not on Canadian streets. The result is a desensitization of the public towards the military. Living in Ottawa and going downtown on a regular basis I often see members of the armed forces in uniform however, they are not there to police the people of Ottawa. Instead they are there simply coming to and from work. To see soldiers patrolling the streets with armoured vehicles and weapons only makes it seem more normal. I do not under any circumstances become patrolled by the military.