Article / July 18, 2014 / Project number: 14-0133

OTTAWA, ONTARIO — Approximately 118 Canadian Army soldiers from the 3rd Battalion, Royal Canadian Regiment (3 RCR) deployed on July 14th to Eastern Europe to participate in a multilateral, security cooperation training exercise.

The 3 RCR contingent, part of 2 Canadian Mechanized Brigade Group will relieve the contingent of soldiers from the 3rd Battalion, Princess Patricia’s Canadian Light Infantry (3 PPCLI) who are currently participating in Operation REASSURANCE.

The operation consists of multinational training opportunities that allow the Canadian Army to flex its capabilities and further demonstrate its leadership capacity.

“ Participation by the Canadian Army in multinational training exercises such as Operation REASSURANCE offers our soldiers additional opportunities to enhance their warfighting skills and increase interoperability with our international partners. The Canadian Army benefits from the diversity of such collective training exercises while completing their own training objectives and increasing their level of proficiency, ” said Lieutenant-General Marquis Hainse, Commander Canadian Army.

Participating nations currently include the three Baltic States: Latvia, Lithuania, and Estonia, as well as Canada, Finland, the United Kingdom, Norway, Denmark, Poland, and the United States.

The Canadian Army has trained with the Polish Army on many occasions in the past few years such as Exercise NORTHERN SAPPER, Exercise ORZEL ALERT, Exercise RAFALE BLANCHE, Exercise MAPLE ARCH and Exercise RAPID TRIDENT.

Written by Samantha Bayard, Army Public Affairs