Viking.

[Scott Bentley]

Originally Posted by Craig S.

So, how did you come to own the 5/4??? Maybe some visiting unit on winter exercise forget to load it up for the trip home?

The CAST Brigade:

The 1st Canadian Division was reformed in November of 1989 followed the Canadian Government's decision to end the Canadian Air-Sea Transportable (CAST) Brigade Group commitment to reinforce Northern Norway. 5th Canadian Brigade Group, or more accurately, 5e Groupe-Brigade du Canada, based in Quebec, was thus available for other tasks. The CAST rapid-reinforcement commitment had been encountering problems, most graphically demonstrated during Exercise BRAVE LION in 1986, which prompted Canada to start formal consultations with NATO about consolidating the CAST Brigade and 4th Canadian Mechanized Brigade Group, based in southern Germany. The two separate forces would have meant critical logistical and medical support needs would have gone unmet in case of real war. The hole thus created by the removal of the CAST Brigade Group was filled, to a degree, by the creation of a NATO Composite Force (NCF) which Canada promised a battalion group towards.

Many vehicles were prepositioned in Norway for the CAST Brigade. In an act to save face/money, most of the equipment was turned over to Norway when the commitment was terminated. This included the lionshare of Canadas deployed MOSV BV-202 and 206 Fleet. I find it rather odd that we gave away some of the most useful vehicles for our climate, which we never did replenish.

Scotty