Goose Bay: Promises & updates

[Kirkhill]

Dipping toe in roiled waters just to offer this -

There was a comment that Goose Bay wouldn't be a good training match with our current operating environment.  Neither were any of our other locales either apparently.  Hence the move to Kamloops for CSOR.  Vernon might be a good option for a BC base but the locals all now own high price properties by the lake and apparently there is some sort of organization intimately tied to many of the restaurants.

Point is - we need to be able to operate in a variety of environments, including cold places, wet places and bug infested places.  The good news, apparently, is that Goose Bay meets all of those requirements.  It sounds like a heck of a training bargain.  ;D.

 

[geo]

Kirkhill..... agree with you that the Goose does offer some good potential facilities but, uncertain if you would want to be sent there permanently...

 

[Gunner]

Geo, exactly.  Access to training areas is much different from living at an isolated posting.

 

[geo]

When they built up Wainright they did not move 1 Bde facilities.....
not necessary to move anyone to "da goose"

Matter of fact, I think it is good for our visibility within the country to move troops & train in areas outside of our regular training haunts.  It trains our movement people and it gives Joe public a peek at all that shiny equipment he's bought.

1 or 2 weeks ago, CSOR and their air wing was doing some training in and around Montreal. Helos dropping assault teams onto skyscrapers. picking up people from rooftops.  Some people were grumpy about it but - they're grumpy about most everything.

 

[Kirkhill]

Kirkhill..... agree with you that the Goose does offer some good potential facilities but, uncertain if you would want to be sent there permanently...

Actually here I agree as well. 

Something like the Arctic Warfare Training Centre being proposed (Company sized establishment) may be more realistic along with a continued Air Force Recce and Response capability.

 

[GAP]

Labrador asks Harper to pony up on promised drone squadron
By Lee Berthiaume, Postmedia News March 5, 2012
Article Link

OTTAWA — When he was opposition leader, Stephen Harper promised Newfoundland and Labrador that if his Conservatives formed a government, he would station a squadron of drones at one of the province's military bases for Arctic surveillance.

More than six years later, the province and community of Happy Valley-Goose Bay are pressing the Conservative government to pony up.

"The original commitment was made back in 2006 during the federal election," said Newfoundland Intergovernmental Affairs Minister Nick McGrath. "We've been monitoring it ever since then."

The airfield at Canadian Forces Base Goose Bay in Labrador was built originally by the American and Canadian militaries during the Second World War for anti-submarine aircraft.

CFB Goose Bay remained a Cold War staging base for the U.S. through to the 1980s, at which point the Americans left and NATO allies including Britain, Germany and Italy used it as a permanent training facility until the mid-2000s when those agreements ran out.

A spokesman for Defence Minister Peter MacKay said in an email that the Conservative government has invested $20 million in upgrading the airfield and $300 million in decontaminating sites around the base. It has also tried to attract other militaries to conduct training in the area.
More on link

 

[The Bread Guy]

And here's the letter promising it (6 page PDF)
http://bit.ly/wMhT2p

 

[dimsum]

I can see 5 Wing being used intermittently as a launch/recovery base for missions up north, but permanently?  I wouldn't even want to imagine the issues involved in sending a few hundred members and their dependants to Goose Bay for 3 years. 

 

[Journeyman]

I wouldn't even want to imagine the issues involved in sending a few hundred members and their dependants to Goose Bay for 3 years.

At one time the base was the largest airbase in the north-east, supporting the USAF and several NATO airforces, one of the last Pinetree Line radar stations...and protesters of fighter aircraft low-level flight training. It had a pretty significant CF population.

 

[chrisf]

The base itself is still quite large, though largely unused...

 

[GAP]

So how come SAR doesn't  base out of there?

 

[Journeyman]

The base itself is still quite large, though largely unused...

  :facepalm:
Yes, I assume that the runway has not shrunk and is still large enough to accomodate fighters and airliners. Perhaps I should have said "populous," or "the Goose Bay-Happy Valley Legion has lots of bar stools."

So how come SAR doesn't  base out of there?

Goose Bay's 444 Combat Support Squadron, with CH-146 Griffons, do SAR taskings

 

[dapaterson]

According to Wikipedia, Happy Valley-Goose Bay has a population of 7572, or roughly a third of the size of the crowd at the Bell Centre when the Canadiens play a home game.

 

[Journeyman]

And I did use the past tense, with the implication, responding to Dimsum, that an in-flux of CF personnel/families could once again be supported.

Simply add Walmart, expand Timmies, bring in more bar waitresses.  ;D

 

[GAP]

And I did use the past tense, with the implication, responding to Dimsum, that an in-flux of CF personnel/families could once again be supported.

Simply add Walmart and Target, etc, expand Timmies, bring in more bar waitresses (what's wrong with the ones that worked there 20 years ago?).  ;D

 

[Journeyman]

...bring in more bar waitresses (what's wrong with the ones that worked there 20 years ago?).    ;D 

You know how guys are -- always wanting to upgrade to the latest model. 

 

[PMedMoe]

You know how guys are -- always wanting to upgrade to the latest model. 

Well, the ones from twenty years ago would probably be closer to your age.  >

But I did notice you said "more" not "younger". 

 

[Edward Campbell]

And I did use the past tense, with the implication, responding to Dimsum, that an in-flux of CF personnel/families could once again be supported.

Simply add Walmart, expand Timmies, bring in more bar waitresses.  ;D

Take the skinny ones from here ... 

 

[GAP]

Well, the ones from twenty years ago would probably be closer to your age.  >

But I did notice you said "more" not "younger". 

Hey!! a perfect opportunity for Seniors to get out of the house and do something useful.....what could go wrong?

 

[jeffb]

So, does anyone want to tell the good people of Labrador that Canada currently doesn't have any "Drones" that are even remotely capable of performing the services they are asking for? Also, aren't UAV's only allowed to fly in restricted airspace in Canada?