Stage III Marksmanship (2019) – Part 1

I woke up really early on the morning of April 4 and took a quick shower.  Once out of the bathroom, I got dressed in my military CADPAT uniform.  I checked my suitcase and backpack to make sure I had everything ready to go.  It was time for another out-of-town cadet trip.

            

3045’s Marksmanship Team of 2019 did very well at the Stage II Postal Shoot and was selected to compete at the Stage III Territorial competition . . . in Gimli, Manitoba.  (The Northwestern cadet region is attached & administered by the Prairie region, based in Winnipeg, Manitoba).  The Postal Shoot is when the northern cadet corps receive competition scoring targets from Winnipeg and have their selected cadets shoot them.  The targets are then mailed back to Winnipeg to be reviewed by a team of officers.  The officers select the best teams to advance to Stage III.  Stage I is creating your marksmanship team.

            

I was taking a team of five cadets to Gimli.  They weren’t required to wear nor bring their green uniforms but I ordered them to wear their 3045 hoodie sweaters so that it would be easier for me to identify them at the airports.  They were all smiles and excited when I met them at the airport.  I was excited too.  This would be my first time visiting the military base at Gimli. 

            

I would be gone for three school days plus a weekend.  I prepared three days of lesson plans for the supply teacher.

            

We flew to Pond Inlet first and waited inside the terminal while the ground crew refuelled the plane.  There were some clouds in the sky but overall, the weather was clear.  We were told to board the plane after twenty-five minutes. 

            

The flight to Iqaluit was uneventful.  We landed in the big city at 12:15pm.  The sun shined brightly over us as we disembarked and walked into the large red terminal building.  We hung around for forty minutes before going through security and then boarding the large First Air Boeing 737 plane.  We lifted off into the sky at 1:15pm, bound for Ottawa.

            

First Air’s Iqaluit-Ottawa (and vice-versa) flight route, I personally believe, is a showpiece for tourists, investors, and politicians.  The service you get on this flight is more and better than the other flight routes that First Air provides.  The food is better and alcohol is served.  Iqaluit draws a lot of tourists and passenger traffic because it’s the territorial capital, the largest city in Nunavut, and has all the amenities of a southern city.  Every time I hear someone praising First Air’s flight service, I have to stop myself from rolling my eyes and saying, “You just came off the Ottawa-Iqaluit flight, didn’t you?”  The flights to the smaller communities are okay, but don’t expect large meals, alcohol, and a lot of space. 

            

I did eat some of the food they provided on the flight, but I refrained from consuming alcohol.  Military officers are strictly prohibited from consuming alcohol when escorting cadets.

            

We landed in Ottawa at 5pm.  We picked up our luggage and caught the shuttle to a nearby hotel.  We would be staying the night.  I let the cadets settle into their rooms before meeting them in the main lobby an hour later.  I told them we still had plenty of time before our next flight and asked them what they wanted to do?  They informed me that they wanted to go somewhere for dinner and then shopping.  After throwing around names of restaurants, we settled on Montana’s.  I called a taxi to take us there.  The cadets ordered ribs and I enjoyed a steak.  The remainder of the evening was spent shopping at a nearby Wal-Mart.

            

Waiting for our flight to Toronto.

Toronto skyline.

We were up early the next morning, checking out of the hotel, and catching the shuttle to the airport.  An hour later we were waiting for our flight to Toronto at the departure gate.  We boarded an Air Canada turboprop plane.  I got a window seat next to the landing gear.  The flight lasted 50 minutes.  I took a few photos of the distant Toronto skyline and filmed the landing gear touching the runway.  Once we were all inside the terminal, we immediately started looking for the gate with our next flight number.

            

Live

Right

There was a Booster Juice smoothie bar near our gate and several of the cadets went inside to buy smoothies.  I went inside as well but not to buy a drink.  One of the walls was entirely covered by baseballs.  Well, almost entirely.  There were many empty spaces and upon closer inspection, the empty spaces formed the words, “Live Right”.  Must be a new slogan, I thought.

            

The flight to Winnipeg lasted a little over three hours.  The plane touched down at 2pm.  We were met by an officer in the Arrivals area.  He was easy to spot because he was also wearing CADPAT.  We collected our luggage and followed him to a military blue van.  He drove us to CFB Winnipeg.  There we met the Rankin Inlet cadets.  We hung around on base before eating dinner at the mess hall.  An hour later, we were driven to Polo Park to do some shopping for an hour or two.  It’s always a good idea to take northern cadets shopping at least once on a trip like this because there so much more to buy.

            

We finally hit the road at 7:30pm.  Both teams were driven to the Gimli Training Centre (GTC) in two blue military vans.  Gimli is north of Winnipeg and it takes an hour to drive there by car.  The GTC is actually a former military base now known as Gimli Industrial Park Airport.  The airport is home to several tenants, one of which is the Gimli Cadet Flying Training Centre (GCFTC).

            

We were taken to an old hangar where the competition would take place.  The exterior & interior need to be renovated.  Twenty-five shooting lanes were set up in the middle of the hangar.  This was my first time seeing the more expensive and modern equipment.  The equipment I’m speaking of are the SIUS Electronic Scoring Systems. 

Behind the SIUS target.

These Swiss-made products use metal acoustic microphones to measure the sounds made by the lead pellets hitting the paper targets.  The five microphones work in tandem to triangulate – (or would that be pentigulate?) – the precise spot where the lead pellet hit the target.  The result shows up on a computer screen that the shooter sees.  This technology makes it possible for competitors to shoot better than a perfect 10 bullseye.  A perfect shot is now a 10.9.  I was told by an officer that these systems are very expensive, around $1500 CAD per set.  A complete set comes with a target, screen, and panel. 

There were wires and extension cords everywhere.  All the systems were connected to each other and were fed to two laptop computers & two monitors at the back of the hangar.  The judges would be sitting here, monitoring & recording all the results.

Judges table.

The officers-in-charge showed us where our team rooms would be.  By this time, the Manitoba cadet teams were arriving.  The shooting area was only occupying a small part of the hangar.  Other areas were being used to store military supplies, disassembled aircraft, and aircraft engine parts.  It’s safe to assume that air cadets use this hangar to learn about aircraft and how they work. 

I had my cadets bring in our rifle cases and shooting jackets into our designated room.  They put on their shooting jackets and got their air rifles ready because they had to be checked.  The judges wanted to be sure that we were using authorized air rifles and hadn’t made any illegal modifications.  It took some time to get through the long checkup line but I was happy when the inspecting officer told me that all of our rifles were good to go.

The officer who picked us up at the Winnipeg Airport drove us to the barracks where we would be staying for the duration of the competition.  The cadets were given room keys and directions on how to find their rooms.  They were also told what areas were off limits and that the common area was the only place where the male & female cadets could hang out together.  As a CIC officer, I got my own room! 

            

Lights out was at 10:30pm.  I bet it took some time for the cadets to fall asleep because they were all excited about the first day of the competition. 

To be continued . . .