Canadian Rangers

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Canadian Rangers

Can Rgr Crest2.gif

Canadian Rangers badge
Lineup 1942
Country Canada
Armed forces CanadaCanada Canadian Armed Forces
Armed forces Canadian Army
Branch of service Special unit
motto Vigilans

The Canadian Rangers are a major non-combat organization of the Canadian armed forces , made up of part-time volunteer reservists , primarily indigenous Canadians (natives) and Inuit , whose main mission is the military presence and surveillance in remote areas of Canada .

In contrast to the military dominated Canadian Rangers, the Canadian national park are gamekeepers as Parks Canada Ranger called.

history

The Rangers were founded in 1942 as the Pacific Coast Militia Rangers ( PCMR ) to investigate and delay a possible Japanese invasion. In 1947 they were renamed Canadian Rangers and their area of ​​operation was expanded to include surveillance of the northern and arctic areas.

With the growing interest in Arctic raw material deposits and the Northwest Passage , the Canadian Rangers grew in importance since the 1970s. At the same time, the service in the regiment offers the natives an income opportunity and independence from social welfare by contributing their traditional skills and knowledge.

In 1996 the Junior Canadian Rangers program was introduced. It provides recreational activities and training in traditional and ranger skills to young people aged 12 to 18 from remote areas, securing new talent for the Canadian Rangers.

organization

The Canadian Rangers have about 5,000 members who provided their service to 178 locations, 165 groups and in elucidation five patrol associations ; (Canadian Ranger Patrol Group CRPG) are divided. The largest patrol association is responsible for the northern areas of Canada and has its headquarters in Yellowknife . Most of the rangers are Inuit . Ranger members often take on leadership roles in the communities of people living in remote areas.

Operational area CRPG Awareness groups Relatives Location
Canadian Forces Northern Area (CFNA) 1 CRPG 58 1575 Yellowknife
Land Forces Quebec Area (LFQA) 2 CRPG 23 696 CFB Saint-Jean , Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu
Land Forces Central Area (LFCA) 3 CRPG 15th 422 CFB Borden
Land Forces Western Area (LFWA) 4 CRPG 38 695 Victoria
Land Forces Atlantic Area (LFAA) 5 CRPG 29 743 CFB Gander

assignment

The Canadian Rangers serve to maintain Canadian sovereignty in the northern areas, which are sparsely populated, highly articulated and remote and cannot be economically monitored by conventional forces of the Canadian Army . This is also and especially to be understood in connection with Canada's sovereignty claim on the Northwest Passage , which is contested by the United States and other countries.

Tasks and types of use

The main task of the Canadian Rangers is to monitor the northern areas of Canada and to maintain Canada's sovereign claims. The arctic areas and other national wilderness areas are among the regiment's exclusively designated areas of operation . The operations of the Canadian Rangers have the character of an expedition . To carry out the assignment, patrols lasting several weeks ( sovereignty patrols , SOV PATS) are carried out with snowmobiles . The weather conditions in the operational areas often have temperatures of −50 ° C and wind speeds of 115 km / h.

Canadian Rangers' duties in detail

  • Monitoring in the context of military operations in the operational area
  • Preservation of Canadian sovereignty and formation of rescue teams in emergencies
  • Support with search and rescue operations in the emergency room
  • Assistance in the event of an aircraft accident in the operational area
  • Reporting unusual and unidentified activity on Canada's territory in the far north
  • Monitoring and reporting of unidentified ship movements in the area northeast of the coast of Québec in Salluit Bay
  • Supporting other parts of the Canadian armed forces with advice and training for the dry and cold climate zone
  • Implementation of Northern Warning System Patrols (NWS PATS)
  • Deployment of scouts and guides to prevent illegal immigration on the west coast of Canada

The Canadian Rangers provided disaster relief in 1999 in the Kangiqsualujjuaq avalanche disaster in northern Québec . In 2007 they had the first task of keeping an eye out for Inuit from Greenland who were reported to be illegally hunting Canadian polar bears in the north of Ellesmere Island .

Recruitment and training

Canadian Rangers in Nunavut , Canada
Training camp in northern Canada

The Canadian Rangers soldiers are part-time volunteer reservists. The training can already take place in the Canadian Junior Ranger program. In addition to general wilderness skills, the training also teaches components of “traditional skills”, i.e. the traditional lifestyles and behavior of the respective natives, since Eskimos and Inuit , First Nations and Métis as well as European Francophone and English-speaking Canadians belong to the regiment . The salary is paid exclusively during the period of deployment and training.

Training for new members of the regiment begins with a ten-day course on orientation and handguns , such as those completed by the rest of the Canadian armed forces . A general component of the training is the implementation of patrols in the wilderness, rescue support in the event of aviation accidents, forest fires and floods in the inaccessible areas of the respective operational area. The training takes place according to the previous knowledge of the reservists and the area in which the respective unit is stationed and deployed within Canada. Further courses are held for trainers, patrol leaders and operators of special equipment or activities such as radio operators or helpers in the medical service.

The patrols leader of the Canadian Rangers as leader of the independent reconnaissance some units in the sergeant rank of a Canadian Ranger Sergeant are elected and not appointed as usual in the Canadian armed forces. The elucidation of partial units are divided into reconnaissance troops, by a section leader in rank master corporal ( Sergeant ) or corporal ( NCO be performed) as a squad leader. The majority of Canadian Rangers serve as crew rank .

equipment

The rangers are uniformed in the color red and orange with a parka, sweatshirt , baseball cap , CADPAT uniform trousers and military boots. The eye-catching color is due to the fact that they also carry out rescue missions. But this also camouflages in the brown-orange tundra, the main area of ​​application of the native rangers. The rest of the clothing required for the respective deployment region, as well as other equipment, is provided by the rangers, for which the Canadian Army pays an equipment fee for operations and during exercises. The equipment provided by the rangers includes snowmobiles ( light over snow vehicles , LOSV), quads , motor boats and other field and bivouac equipment, as this must be individually adapted for the dry and cold climate zone and this type of equipment is not part of the Canadian Army equipment is. A special feature is that in addition to a modern GPS device, a sun compass is carried by every ranger. In the dry and cold climate zone of the far north, the rangers still use cotton wall tents in order to minimize the risk of fire, as the tents are used for cooking. The equipment includes the Elcan 7x50 binoculars, a German license production.

Armament

The Canadian Rangers only carry weapons with them for hunting and self-protection against polar bears, other predators and large game . The armament used to consist of the Lee-Enfield No. 4 in caliber .303 British , which was characterized by its robustness and reliability even at extremely low temperatures and for which every ranger received 200  cartridges per year.

In the early days of the formation, the Canadian Rangers often had to make do with their own rifles and shotguns when the rest of the Canadian armed forces were armed with Enfield rifles, Bren machine guns, and Browning pistols. As a result, 3000 Winchester Model 94/64 rifles and 1800 Marlin rifles were previously procured in 1936 before Lee-Enfields army stocks were issued.

Since the supply of spare parts and maintenance of the Lee-Enfield became increasingly difficult with the end of its use by the Canadian armed forces in the 1950s, an invitation to tender was issued in August 2011 to purchase a new rifle in the 7.6 × 51 mm NATO / caliber . 308 With an order volume of around 10,000 pieces, these weapons are to be used over a period of 30 years. The tender was ended again in October 2011. Three years later, another tender was issued with the aim of introducing the new rifles between 2015 and 2019. In April 2015, Colt Canada was awarded the contract to produce the new weapons with the designation C-19 under license. In June 2015 33 rifles based on the Finnish Tikka T3 Compact Tactical Rifle (CTR) were delivered to the 4 CRPG and ranger instructors of all other CRPG were instructed in the new weapons. In the trial phase between August and November 2015, the new rifles were tested for reliability, accuracy and robustness even at temperatures as low as −51 ° C.

The equipment of the C-19 consists of a magazine for ten cartridges, a sighting device for combat distances of 100 to 600 meters, as well as an enlarged trigger guard and repeating lever for operation with gloves on. The then Canadian Defense Minister Julian Fantino declared in July 2015 that 6,820 rifles were to be procured. The procurement contract includes development costs, spare parts supply and ammunition totaling US $ 28 million.

Counterpart in Alaska

The counterpart in Alaska was the Alaska Territorial Guard or Eskimo Scouts with up to 6389 men .

literature

Web links

Commons : Canadian Rangers  - Collection of images, videos, and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BR5qHRcz85U CANADIAN RANGERS
  2. ^ Canadian Rangers approve of smaller, more powerful new rifles. Canadian Army, Sept. 28, 2015.
  3. ↑ http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/thunder-bay/canadian-rangers-test-new-top-tier-weapon-1.3143122 Canadian Rangers test new 'top-tier weapon'. CBCnews, July 10, 2015.