Articles by Emokhare Paul Anthony

Technology

Army reserve units host Prince Albert open house

Prince Albert residents who are interested in a career in the army or reserves had a chance to check things out as 38 Brigade held a rotating open house in Prince Albert on Saturday. Ramsay Bellisle, the North Saskatchewan Regiment Company Commander, which is based out of Prince Albert, said the goal is bring in new recruits. “We’re here, this is what we’re doing, and we’re looking for more people,” Bellisle said when asked to sum up the purpose. Bellisle said 38 Brigade is the command component from Thunder Bay up to Prince Albert. The Brigade is running the open houses. “There is a new open house that is done across the province, which just happens to be the current one is at this time in Prince Albert and the next one is potentially in Regina or Moose.” said Bellisle. Bellisle said the purpose of the open house is not just to highlight the North Saskatchewan regiment which is in Prince Albert, but all the units and commands that are available in the primary reserves in Saskatchewan. Belisle said the naval reserve and artillery reserve were the only reserves unable to attend the open house in Prince Albert. Bellisle said there’s infantry units in Prince Albert Saskatoon and Regina, and on Saturday they gave demonstrations with night vision goggles and house clearing drills, while displaying some of the gear reservists use. Other units in attendance included the Saskatchewan Dragoons based out of Moose Jaw, and the signals unit based out of Saskatoon. Bellisle said recruiters were on hand for both the reserves and the regular force. He said the goal was to show potential recruits that no matter where they moved in Western Canada, there was a reserve they could join. “Predominantly, Prince Albert tends to be high school students, or people just out of high school, and then they tend to feed out to other communities, so if you’re joining the reserves in Prince Albert, you may stay in Prince Albert, you may find a job or if you end up going to Saskatoon or Regina for university, you may go there. We’ve had plenty of troops and soldiers move,” he said. “You have employment opportunities across the province.” -With files from Michael Oleksyn/Daily Herald