Howitzer guns, armed soldiers and military vehicles were all on display as the Canadian Forces held a military training exercise at the Collingwood Regional Airport.

More than 150 soldiers from the Canadian Forces Reserves from across Ontario participated in a road move exercise Aug. 21, which saw them move 105 millimetre howitzer guns, set them up and create a fire base just off of the runway.

Capt. Christopher Parker, regimental operations officer, said this is the one exercise a year where the regular forces works with the reserves.

“We’re practising a road move, which is a real life scenario where the guns will have to move through civilian lands and civilian roads and then they will occupy an area,” he said. “In a case of war or a case of any type of conflict, this is the type of scenario we’re going to be dealing with.”

The members of the military reserve train once a month and this exercise is seen as the culmination of summer training.

“This is a circular defence position, essentially having established a fire base, so the infantry can essentially move all around this area,” said Maj. Justin Brunelle in an interview with simcoe.com. “This is more reflective of urban operations, conflicts we would have lived through in the Balkans and Afghanistan.”

Brunelle said this exercise teaches the reserve soldiers about analyzing a situation, following instructions and implementing a plan.

“It’s a methodology of how you would attack any problem,” he said. “A lot of these folks have never worked together.”

The reserves also held artillery training at the 4th Canadian Division Training Centre in Meaford, where they fired the guns.