Exercise COMMON GROUND 2018: Preparing future Leaders of the Canadian Army
News release
November 8, 2018 – Gagetown (NB) – National Defence / Canadian Armed Forces
Hundreds of Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) members will be taking part in this year's Exercise COMMON GROUND; commencing on Saturday, 10 November. This training aligns with Canada's Defence Policy, Strong, Secure, Engaged, which stresses the importance for realistic, challenging and regular Army training up to the brigade group-level.
Hosted by the Combat Training Centre's Tactics School, Exercise COMMON GROUND 2018 is a combined arms multi-course exercise that represents a culmination of progressive, intensive and realistic training to help produce a scalable, agile and responsive Canadian Army (CA). Conducting combined arms training events such as Exercise COMMON GROUND 2018 is one of the ways the CA ensures its members are well-trained and prepared to work as part of a larger team when on operations both at home and abroad.
Exercise COMMON GROUND 2018 also gives many CA members their first comprehensive introduction to combined arms operations, and how the various capabilities and trades functions can be integrated throughout their career.
Additional multimedia
"Exercise COMMON GROUND 2018 serves as a pivotal training requirement in the Canadian Army's ability to produce strong, proud and combat-ready leaders for the operations of tomorrow. As the Centre of Excellence for individual training within the Canadian Army, the Combat Training Centre remains dedicated to preparing Canadian soldiers for the challenges they will face in promoting Canada's values and interests at home and abroad."
– Colonel John Errington, Commander, Combat Training Centre
"The greatest resource in the Army continues to be its people, as each of us collectively contributes to the goals of protecting Canada and promoting our country's interests at home and abroad. Exercise COMMON GROUND 2018 exemplifies the requirement for progressive and realistic training at all levels to produce the highest calibre of soldiers, enabling us to meet our mandates."
– Lieutenant-Colonel Christian Caron, Commanding Officer, Tactics School
Quick facts
The Combat Training Centre's Tactics School is based at the 5th Canadian Division Support Base Gagetown.
Exercise COMMON GROUND 2018 involves personnel from six different career courses: Combat Team Commander's Course, Squadron Sergeant Major Course, Company Sergeant Major Course, Advanced Sniper Course, Infantry Officer Course, and the Advanced Reconnaissance Patrolman Course.
Exposing Canadian Armed Forces officers and non-commissioned members to various courses provides them with a better understanding of the inherent strengths of the Canadian Army's combat team operations and allows them to bring this knowledge back to their home units.
The main component of Exercise COMMON GROUND 2018 is the Tactic School's Combat Team Commander's Course. The goal of the course is to prepare new and future sub-unit army commanders to lead a combined and collective combat team in a contemporary training or operations environment.
The units participating in Exercise COMMON GROUND 2018 include:
- 2nd Regiment, Royal Canadian Horse Artillery (Petawawa, ON);
- C Squadron, Royal Canadian Dragoons (Gagetown, NB);
- 2nd Battalion, The Royal Canadian Regiment (Gagetown, NB);
- 2 Combat Engineer Regiment (Petawawa, ON);
- 2 Field Ambulance (Petawawa, ON);
- 2 Service Battalion (Petawawa, ON);
- 403 Helicopter Operational Training Squadron, Royal Canadian Air Force (Gagetown, NB); and
- 5th Canadian Division Support Group (Gagetown, NB).
