The
competition may be over but the story isn’t.
There’s still the matter of getting home. As I’ve mentioned before, when you live far
above the 60th parallel, travelling anywhere is an adventure on its
own.
Everyone had to get up at 5am on May
10 because many things needed to get done before the buses arrived at 7:15am. The mess hall helped by starting breakfast
earlier than usual. Once everyone was
fed, Rainbow Block needed to be cleaned.
All used bedding was placed in cleaning bins and garbage was brought outside
for disposal. Luggage & rifle cases were
labelled, brought outside, and organized into piles. Cadets were required to travel in uniform and
officers in CADPAT fatigues.
The buses arrived at 7:10am. My cadets were ready. We looked tired but there would be plenty of
time to sleep on the plane. All around
us, cadets, officers, and civilian coaches were saying their goodbyes. I already said my farewells to the officers that
were my roommates for the past week. I
thanked them for the rules & suggestions they gave me for increasing the skill
levels of my cadets and to better improve their chances of reaching the top of
the shooting ranks.
We
loaded our gear & boarded our assigned bus.
The bus convoy departed Work Point at 7:30am. We arrived at Victoria Airport at 8am. The airport is actually located to the north
of Victoria next to the town of Sidney.
Everyone disembarked and unloaded their luggage and rifle cases. We spent some time filling out firearm
declaration forms even though air rifles aren’t classified as firearms. The airlines treat anything that looks like a
gun as a gun. We were the last ones to
check in because our flight to Vancouver wasn’t until 11:30am. We spent two hours glued to our phones before
we were called to board the plane.
Our
flight to Vancouver took 30 minutes. We
walked around the terminal, did some shopping, and then proceeded to our
gate. We boarded the plane to Ottawa at
2pm. The flight across the country was mostly
uneventful. I drifted in and out of sleep. Mastering the art of sleeping in the sitting
position is still a work-in-progress for me.
The
plane touched down at 9:40pm. We collected
our luggage and rifle cases in the Arrivals Area and caught the shuttle to the
hotel. We retreated to our rooms for the
night and got much-needed rest.
 |
| Sunrise over Ottawa. |
The
journey home continued on the morning of May 11. I let my cadets travel in civilian clothing. We checked out of the hotel at 6:30am and
caught the airport shuttle at 6:45am. We
checked in and made it through security without difficulty. We were up in the air flying towards Iqaluit
at 9:30am.
 |
| Iqaluit. |
The
plane touched down just after noon and taxied to the terminal building. We bought lunch at the Tundra Takeout
restaurant in the airport lobby. We met
a few familiar faces before boarding the plane to Arctic Bay at 2pm.
 |
| Iqaluit Airport. |
Our
final flight was alright. The only thing
that surprised me was that the plane flew really close to the old Nansivik
Airport. The pilots usually follow Adams
Sound before the final approach. I guess
they wanted to fly a different path this time.
We
were greeted by Frank, parents, and friends inside the Arctic Bay terminal. Everyone was glad we made it home on time. The parents thanked me for looking after
their children for the past 9 days. I
was driven home by Frank who asked me what transpired in Esquimalt? I gave him a brief summary.
 |
| Old Nanisivik Airport. |
Once
again, I would like to thank my civilian employer for granting me leave to supervise
& coach the cadets in Victoria, B.C.
The National Marksmanship Competition was an eye-opening experience and
I learned a lot. I took a lot of informative
& memorable photographs of the trip, many of which are posted on this blog. Positive changes to 3045’s marksmanship
program are coming after the summer.
End
of National Marksmanship Competition mini-series.
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