REMEMBERING OUR SOLDIERS IS PROMOTING UNITY AND RESPONSIBILITY
Remembrance Day 2023 - Aurora Cenotaph

Remembering Our Soldiers is Promoting Unity and Responsibility

Pristinae Virtutis Memor — Remembering their Gallantry in Former Days — is one of the core mottos The Queen’s York Rangers is founded upon. Every year, the Regiment participates in the Remembrance Day parade that is hosted by the Aurora Legion to honour and commemorate the soldiers who served and sacrificed for Canada and the Canadian nation. The parade is a yearly tradition to bring together the residents of Aurora and those who are serving in various capacities to demonstrate unity and dedication to a single ideal: Canada.

This year’s parade was held on the 11th of November. The march started at Dr. G.W. Williams Secondary School toward the Cenotaph on Yonge, where key figures in the military, police, and multiple levels of government paid their respect to our veterans by laying a wreath on behalf of the community they represented. The Cenotaph is a memorial dedicated to the fallen soldiers of the First World War in 1925. From the regiment, the Commanding Officer, Lieutenant-Colonel Matthew Lennox, and the Regimental Sergeant Major, Chief Warrant Officer Matthew French, led the march toward the Cenotaph, where they were joined by Honorary Colonel Sally M. Horsfall Eaton. The mayor of Aurora, multiple MPPs, and officials from the York Regional Police were present as well. The parade ended with a brunch hosted by the Aurora Legion.

The Remembrance Day parade not only pays respect to our soldiers and veterans and commemorates them, but it also creates a sense of unity and shared responsibility between the currently serving members, government officials, and the residents. With unity and responsibility, the path and the objective — that is, serving Canada and the Canadian nation — becomes evermore clear. Lest we forget those who served and those who are serving in various capacities and forms.
                  

                         
   
More photos: https://photos.app.goo.gl/ftUA6XbCoM1uyqWj9

STAND-TO 2023/24
2Lt Gholami 

The Queen’s York Rangers (1st American Regiment) stand-to parade was held on 13 September 2023 at John Graves Simcoe Armoury in Aurora. During the stand-to, multiple crucial points were passed down to leadership and troops, including the Commanding Officers’ mission statement for the training year.

Commanding Officer Lieutenant-Colonel Matt Lennox emphasized the significance of high readiness, particularly during the volatile times the world and our allies are experiencing. The mission for the Rangers is to “train professional, resilient, and ethical cavalry soldiers” in order to provide 32 Canadian Brigade Group with “mission-ready personnel capable of undertaking Domestic and/or Expeditionary Ops”. As such, the particular focus for the current training year is on building the capacity of present and future members via two lines of effort: training and administration. The motto is “train to win”. In combat, there is no grace and honour in second place. As a result, Regimental leadership is expected to develop realistic and challenging training plans that are aligned with the Canadian Armed Forces training doctrine and the current operating environment. Further, each Ranger is expected to develop their individual levels of expertise, discipline, and operational fitness.

The CO’s remarks were followed by promotions and awards to recognize Rangers’ individual advancement, dedication, and achievements. Lieutenant Robinson who has been a Ranger for six years was promoted. Now Captain Robinson, she holds the position of Headquarters Admin Officer.

Lieutenant Gerber who has been a Ranger for five years was also promoted. Captain Gerber is currently holding the position of Regimental Admin Officer. Trooper Bloemen, who is currently finishing her studies at the Royal Military College in Kingston, was commissioned from the ranks and promoted to Second Lieutenant. 2Lt Bloemen is currently awaiting her next career course which is BMOQ Mod-2. 

Officer Cadet Gholami was also promoted to Second Lieutenant. He has been with the unit for nearly two years. He finished BMOQ-Army over the summer and has been active in the administration of the unit since. Sgt Sagolili who has been a Ranger for twenty-six years was promoted to Warrant Officer and is currently holding the position of troop warrant within the unit.

Troopers Casado Franco, Dichter Leyba, and Figlarz were promoted to Corporal and are active armoured soldiers — an integral part of every field exercise.

Further, Sergeant Kristensen received the second clasp to his Canadian Forces Decoration to recognize 32 years of service in the CAF. Master-Corporal Buckindale received an award for being the Top Instructor in recognition of his efforts in instructing courses. Sergeant Wilson, Master- Corporals Buckindale, Diamond, Douvinos, and Henzie, and Corporals Belsky and Medley, received Command Team coins. All the awards and promotions were done in the presence of the CO and the RSM.

In conclusion, the mission statement and operative plan for the training year were passed down to leadership and troops, keeping in mind the volatile situation of the world, and in particular, the efforts of our allies in maintaining peace and order. Every Ranger has a collective and individual responsibility to maintain readiness and operational fitness throughout their careers so that they can effectively serve Canadian interests.

CAMP WORTHY 2023
LCol Matt Lennox, CD, A de C - Commanding Officer, The Queen's York Rangers (1st American Regiment)(RCAC)

Summer is always a busy period for army reserve training in the Canadian Armed Forces. Most units – ours included – have personnel and equipment scattered everywhere from Gagetown to Meaford to places in-between, either attending training courses as candidates or supporting courses as instructors. From our Divisional Commander on down, the main effort of the summer period (from early May to late August) is therefore on individual training (IT), with the vast majority of resources, planning, coordination, logistics, and everything else going to support that main effort. 

However, when we consider that most folks take vacation in the summer and that post-secondary schools are generally not in session, summer is also ideal for at least some collective training (CT). CT is critical both for retention and for the training of formed elements (in our case, Armoured skillsets at the crew, troop, and squadron levels). As a result, large-scale reserve concentration exercises of one or two weeks are nothing new – and summer 2023 was no exception.

To this end, The Queen’s York Rangers were tasked with the planning and execution of a concentration exercise called Camp Worthy. Camp Worthy was first conducted in 2022 under the leadership of the Governor General’s Horse Guards, and brought together all Armoured Corps reserve units (with some assistance and participation courtesy of our Regular Force counterparts at the Royal Canadian Dragoons) from across Ontario. In 2022, the focus of Camp Worthy was strictly on IT, which was particularly important after a few years of COVID-reduced training and qualifications. 

Building on that initial success, as the Rangers assumed the lead for Camp Worthy in 2023, one my first planning efforts was to set the mandate for the next iteration of the concentration exercise. In consultation with all my fellow Armoured COs and their RSMs, we agreed that Camp Worthy 2023 needed to synthesize IT and CT. 

The outcome of this agreement and initial planning efforts was a 10-day CT exercise at the Squadron level, while simultaneously conducting an Armoured Master Corporal rank qualification (“RQ MCpl”) IT course. As an aside, the RQ MCpl course is a vital gateway for NCO development, and has been a challenging shortfall across the Armoured reserves in recent years, so Camp Worthy was an ideal opportunity to achieve it.

On paper (as the saying goes), this looked great. We would conduct an old-school squadron-sized exercise with a badly-needed individual training course seamlessly nested within it. We had the support of each unit, our respective Brigades, our Division, and the Armoured School. In reality, the practical challenges were many. 

Midway through the planning phase, it became apparent that we would need a dedicated course officer and second-in-command, not to mention an instructor cadre, to actually deliver the RQ MCpl training and verify that candidates were meeting the required standards. Bit by bit, this meant decoupling the RQ MCpl course from the squadron exercise. As the commanding officer of this whole affair, I had to designate a main effort – then ensure the main effort was supported. 

Given our Corps’ overall need for NCOs, it was crystal clear to me that the RQ MCpl course was the main effort. The squadron exercise, while exciting and dynamic, had to be secondary. Resources and time also had to be prioritized for the course, as required, once we were in the execution phase in Petawawa. This led to some occasionally tense “debates” among our composite leadership.

By the time Camp Worthy concluded, the RQ MCpl course and the squadron exercise had become almost entirely separate entities. Integration did occur, but it was limited to the last 36 hours of the exercise. That said, we passed 40-plus master corporals from across the participating units, which is a major step in NCO development. At the same time, our composite squadron got the opportunity to practice crew- and troop-level cavalry and reconnaissance tasks, culminating in a mounted squadron-sized attack across the Matawa Plain. 

Based on those two outcomes, I consider Camp Worthy 2023 a success. There were also numerous lessons learned from the experience, not least of which is that the complete integration of IT and CT is still a significant challenge. This is important, as we see Canadian Army training increasingly embrace the idea of “experiential learning”, which wants to leverage that integration. 

On a personal level as a commanding officer, my biggest lesson-learned was the importance of the main effort. I knew this importance – on paper – already, but both the planning phase in the months leading up to Camp Worthy as well as the execution phase once it was underway, really drove this home to me.

To wrap this up, I am reminded of one of Colonel Chuck Oliviero’s many adages: “It’s good to learn from your own mistakes but it’s better to learn from somebody else's' “ (if you’re reading this, Col O, I’m paraphrasing). The Ontario Regiment is scheduled to plan Camp Worthy for 2024. If they can learn from my mistakes, I have no doubt that Camp Worthy 2024 will be even more successful.
     
                                   
                       
 

A RANGER OVERCOMES...
LCol Liam Morrissey MBE, CD, FRGS
British Army 

In the early planning for the Rangers to parade at the British Cenotaph on Remembrance Sunday in November, it was made very clear by our hosts at the Green Howards that name changes would not be permitted after a deadline in August. The main reason is that the parade has 10,000 personnel drawn from across HM Forces and the Royal British Legion (RBL) requires basic vetting on every marcher.

When Sgt Skelly was tasked to deploy to Europe after the RBL deadline had passed it was hoped that his replacement on the Ranger visiting party, WO Sagolili, would be granted permission to use Skelly’s ticket. An official attempt to change the ticket was rejected by the RBL. The intention on the day of the event was for WO Sagolili to report to the assembly area at Horse Guards in Whitehall and simply enter on Skelly’s ticket and “fake it.” With such a large group it was assessed as unlikely security would verify the ticket name against military ID. But in the lead up to the parade the war in Gaza had commenced and London was on edge from a variety of marches from differing groups for and against Israel and Palestine respectively. These marches saw 300,000 demonstrators on to the streets each weekend with counter-demonstrators in evidence. As well, localised violence did occur. 

So, on Remembrance Sunday security was extremely tight, and WO Sagolili was denied entry to the Horse Guards as his ticket name did not match his ID. His Ranger colleagues were granted access, and he was not. With a lesser Regiment, at this point the story may have ended. For the Rangers, it is only the beginning….

Article continues: https://www.qyrang.ca/blog/2023/11/26/a-ranger-overcomes-lcol-liam-morrissey-mbe-cd-frgs-british-army

PROMOTIONS, HONOURS AND AWARDS

Promotions from Stand-to

Tpr Casado-Franco to Cpl
Tpr Dichter-Leyba to Cpl
Tpr Figlarz to Cpl
Sgt Sagolili to WO
Tpr Bloemen to OCdt 
OCdt Gholami to 2Lt
Lt Robinson to Capt
Lt Gerber to Capt

H&A from Stand-to:

Canadian Forces Decoration 2nd clasp to Sgt Kristensen

Queen's York Rangers Top Instructor to MCpl Buckindale

Command Coins:

• Sgt Wilson
• MCpl Buckindale
• MCpl Diamond
• MCpl Douvinos
• MCpl Henzie
• Cpl Belski
• Cpl Medley

               
 

CHERRIES, AND THE GREAT BLACKOUT OF AUGUST 2003
Russ Baird, CD - Life Member RCAC (Cavalry) Association

* Editor's Note: THE RANGER welcomes first person anecdotes from former serving Rangers, here is one from Russ Baird...

Cherry-picking is an accusation that someone gets the best and easiest assignments, leaving the tough work for the less privileged staff members. In this true story, the survivors got to pick the cherries, and no one was marginalized.

I served in the Canadian reserves 1959-2009, often as a “contracted officer” on taskings of a few weeks to over two years. In 1980 I won a “cherry”, command of Exercise Summer Viking, leading to over two years of amazing full time employment at army HQ. When I was a Ranger from 1990 to 1992, my summer employment was commanding the “student militia” armoured training at Blackdown (Borden) and Meaford.

On August 14, 2003, Ontario suffered an electrical blackout of record proportions.  That was 20 years ago. The 13th  would have been my dad's 88th birthday except that we had buried him for his 65th, in 1980. As a Canadian army (contracted reservist) officer, I was brought down from commanding that Arctic exercise. I saluted as the casket was lowered, topped by my dad’s five WW2 North Nova Scotia Highlanders (“The Patsies of the Ninth” brigade) medals, borrowed from Hal Liddell.  He had the same medals, but Cpl Baird’s, (Company Clerk of Support Company and recorder for the trial of SS MGen Kurt Mayer) were inaccessible, and Hal’s were “mounted”. This made it easy for me to scoop them back for Hal as the casket was lowered, before dirt was tossed, in the vets section of the North York cemetery. 

The story continues: www.qyrang.ca/blog/2023/11/18/memories-of-ontarios-great-blackout-of-august-14-2003

A Fireside Chat with Barb Thurston, Member of the Regimental Council and daughter of Jean Bell
Vikki Ollers - Regimental Council

Another Remembrance Day parade has come and gone. The editors of The Ranger thought it appropriate to revisit the generous donation of Jean Bell that purchased many new sets of the Regiment’s dress uniform. Accordingly, Vicki Ollers sat down for a chat with Barb Thurston, a current member of Council and one of Jean's daughters.

VO - Like everyone who attends Regimental parades, I'm sure you enjoy seeing Rangers dressed in their blue patrol uniforms. These uniforms must have a special meaning for your family.

BT - Yes, everyone loves a parade, especially someone who was in the orbit of BGen George Bell for many years. My mother, Jean Bell, loved a parade more than anyone else I know. She especially enjoyed seeing the soldiers of George's regiment, the Royal Canadian Dragoons, and later his adopted regiment, The Queen's York Rangers, in their patrol uniforms.

VO – So you must have enjoyed several parades too. Is there one parade that stands out for you?

BT – I was at Fort York when the Governor General was present for a change of command, and I also met the Lieutenant Governor that same day. It was very exciting as a proud Canadian to meet the Queen’s Representatives, both to Canada and to Ontario!

VO - Tell me more about how Jean decided to donate funds to purchase uniforms for the Rangers.

The interview continues: www.qyrang.ca/blog/2023/11/18/a-fireside-chat-with-barb-thurston-member-of-the-regimental-council-of-the-queens-york-rangers-and-daughter-of-jean-bell