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It's A Rugged Routine For Young Oniarios It isn't all ruthless parade | ground pounding, driving tanks about and relentless pinging at firing range targets. Every now and again the On- tario Regiment makes it really tough. . They pile everyone into a truck, drive them 50 miles north and dump them on a lonely hillside in 10 below zero! temperatures. The idea is survival. "Just suppose you are fight- ing a war. This is where you} might be. Make the best of it," says the officers. After that the officers retire te a respectable distance: and watch the militiamen fend for themselves. It is in conditions like these | that the potential leaders stand | out A recent senior NCO training | course exercise was very like | this. FLEET OF JEEPS The Regiment pulled out all the stops to make the thing as uncomfortable as possible. It started with a navigation | exercise using the Regiment's | fleet of jeeps. The radio-equipped jeeps were | gent over some of the roughest | roads in the county. En route; they conducted a radio com-| munication exercise which was | designed to test their map-read- | ing ability. They were also tested on} their ability to obtain and relay | information about the areas | through which they were travel-| ling. Just like a sports car rally each jeep had to meet a spe- cific time at a specific place. Inevitably some of the crews managed to stray off the| course, "Can you imagine trying to} find your way on a map, read | scripted information over the | radio and give directions to} your driver -- all at once," moaned the navigator of one crew who managed to finish the course 30 minutes late. "Your blankety - blank well lucky we got here at all," he added. The hard-stuff, unfortunately for the men, had only just be- gua. Ne sooner had they arrived than officers were ruaning about ordering a bivowac te be made and the vohicies cameou- | the chicken. | finally got his bird killed, and | then plucked it. To burn off the | pinfeathers he set light to a ture had frozen on | chicken. | gave the | site and dug the storage pits ; each man was issued with arc- | tice clothing consisting of ther- | sweaters, COLD WEATHER TRAINING CAN BE TOUGH For dinner militiamen first had to get 'chicken to pot' By this time appetites were running high. Chow, however, turned out to be canned and dehydrated ra- tions, There was a special meal | treat in store for Saturday din- ner, Chicken was on.the menu and the militiamen could hardly wait, As meal time came around | | there was still ne sign of the | cooking chicken. Instead the officers; bless their woolly socks, brought | round live chickens and handed | | The young Ontarios had to! kill, pluck, gut, cook and eat Axes were produced and the! chickens hurriedly beheaded. | RUINED HELMET One senior NCO candidate | steel helmet filled with kere- sene, The result was a ruined hel- met and a black and seared Between the "mealis" the men | carried out periods of instruc- tion in the field om radio com- munications and arms training. The radio training course men experience ina yoice transmission techniques and radio use. Beside their regular training the men finished off the camp and latrines. While working out of doors neck pants, hel- mal underwear, polo nylon | wind hooded parkas and wool mets, The latter completely shield- ed the face from the biting winds, A further test of the men's ingenuity was made when the tents were prepared. Each are- tic tent was fully insulated and } the groups were issued with ground sheets and rubber pon- cho type rain sheets. Some took advantage of the wooded area that surrounded the camp site and covered their tents with branches te act as extra insulation. Spruce breaches wore s90 | each morning | work efficiently without over- | These BEST WISHES to the ONTARIO REGIMENT on your Centennial spread under the ground sheets to keep the damp and cold out. Additional heating was _ sup- plied by small Coleman stoves. These were placed outside the tent at night. It was the job of | the '"'bull-cook" to rise first | and make the} men in his group a morning cup of tea. The stove is brought into the tent so that the men can have some small warmth as_ they dress for the day's work. One of the dangers of winter warfare is that the men may work too hard and faet during the training and work up a sweat. This can easily lead to a chill. The men are persuaded to SHUUUULULAOTUUUNUHUULLL BURNS Jewellers 20 SIMCOE NORTH exertion. The senior NCO candidates also|. had to watch their weapons during the camp. had to. be regularly checked to make sure no mois- to their weapons thus making them in- =| We Extend Hearty CONGRATULATIONS to the ONTARIO REGIMENT 100th ANNIVERSARY DIXON'S Robert Dixen Company Ltd 313 Alert St., Oshawa