They may have encountered a few potholes pulling into town, but that was nothing a few 20-ton machines on eight jumbo tires couldn’t handle.

The Sudbury Armoury was the destination Monday for an impressive convoy of military vehicles that will eventually make its way overseas to participate in a NATO mission in Latvia.

Most of the fleet, comprising 37 vehicles in all, were LAV 6 personnel carriers out of Petawawa, which look kind of like tanks but feature smaller guns and move on beefy tires instead of tracks.

The European country that beckons them in July counts a few stretches of pitted pavement itself, judging by a news feature on typical traits called Things of Latvia. The first subject in the series? Potholes.

But it wasn’t really to prepare for a bumpy Baltic ride that the big military rigs picked the Nickel City for a pit (so to speak) stop.

Lt. Andrew MacInnis, of the 1st Battalion of the Royal Canadian Regiment, said the city was just the first overnight stop on a six-day tour that mimics what the troops will be doing overseas.

"A big part of our mission will be driving around Latvia in order to get to locations with the multinational battle group, and then conducting operations," he said. "So there will be a lot of cross-border, long-scale road moves."

The mobile exercise this week, dubbed the Lacplesis Pursuit after a legendary bear-slayer of Latvian lore, will stay within the confines of Ontario, but give the 200 soldiers involved a chance to warm up and work out any kinks before their deployment in July.

Simultaneously, it provides a chance to connect with the public and showcase what the armed forces is doing these days.

"It’s a great opportunity to drive around Ontario and outreach to Canadians of all backgrounds and demographics," said MacInnis.

He said a troop movement of this scale hasn’t been seen domestically in about a decade, since soldiers were dispatched to deal with the 1997 flooding in Manitoba, and the Toronto ice storm in 1998.

The armoured vehicles left Petawawa on Monday morning, passing through North Bay and veering north to the Temagami area before circling back down to Sudbury via Highways 64 and 17.

The contingent will travel next to Peterborough, Kingston and Toronto — where they will be quartered at historic Fort York, and take in a Toronto FC game — before wrapping up at Meaford, where a more strategic exercise (Lacplesis Defender) will be carried out at a training compound.

The urban stops present a bit of an organizational challenge but should be a treat for members of the public who aren’t accustomed to glimpsing such traffic. "It’s to show that we’re out here," said MacInnis. "Most bases are in more rural areas so it’s not very often they get to see us and all our equipment driving around."

MacInnis said the LAV 6 vehicles may look cumbersome but don’t have any problem travelling highways. "They can clear 100 kms/hour, but we typically keep it at about 80, only because we have some other, older vehicles with us and we’re driving in a convoy, so we have to accommodate everybody."

The lieutenant, who served earlier in Afghanistan, said he’s looking forward to the mission in Latvia, which is part of a NATO-led effort to deter Russian aggression called Operation Reassurance.

"We’ve spent two years in Latvia as the Canadian Armed Forces in general, and we’ll be relieving Roto 9 of the 2nd Battalion of the RCR when we go over there," he said. "Our deployment is Enhanced Forward Presence Roto 10."

The placement of allied forces in the region goes back to the annexation of Crimea by Russia in 2014.

"NATO unanimously decided that we would have a presence out there to prevent a conflict like that from happening to other neighbours as well," said MacInnis. "We still have deployments and operations in Ukraine and Poland, but Latvia is the more recent one that’s happened in the last two years. Right now we will have people there until next year, and then at that point it will be a higher discussion to dictate whether the mission will continue."

He said Canada is playing a lead role in an international battle group that also features contributions from Slovenia, Slovakia, Albania, Czech Republic, Italy, Spain, Latvia and Poland.

"It’s a great opportunity for us to work with other nations," said MacInnis. "And it will be interesting to work in such a massive context, because we’ll be a mechanized battle group."

MacInnis said there are risks inherent in any military deployment but this one will differ from what he experienced in 2010 in Afghanistan, when Canadian troops were fighting a counter-insurgency and improvised explosive devices were a constant threat.

"Our primary mission is to detect, deter and, if necessary, defend Latvia from any aggression from Russia," he said. "There’s movement on the border and a reason we’re going there, but our presence in itself should be enough to prevent another conflict like Ukraine from occurring."

Latvia is also a "first-world country," he said, so conditions are more advanced than is the case in many other areas that require a military action.

It’s also a hockey nation — their national team reached the quarterfinals at the 2014 Winter Olympics, losing 2-1 to Canada — and MacInnis said "our guys are kind of excited about putting on their gear and being on the ice."

The deployment will last six months, he said, from July to January.

In the meantime, the group was preparing to bunk down for the night at the 2nd Battalion Irish Regiment building on Riverside Drive, which might not be a four-star hotel but has everything the soldiers could ask for, according to MacInnis.

"We’re used to pretty austere conditions, so a big open drill hall or gymnasium is very easy for us to get around, and very comfortable for us," he said.

MacInnis said the convoy would be overnighting in other armouries and barracks as it makes its rounds of the province, while also interacting with Latvian clubs and the public in general.

"We’re all really excited to be doing this," he said. "It’s been really positive so far and we’re looking forward to seeing the rest of the Canadians we meet. And if anyone does see us, hopefully they don’t hesitate to come and say hi."

jmoodie@postmedia.com