By Lt Moreau-Beaudry Construction Engineer Tp Comd
On February 10, 2020, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and the Chief of Defence Staff, General Jonathan Vance, visited Canadian soldiers deployed on Operation IMPACT at Camp Canada, Ali Al Salem Air Base, Kuwait.
The Prime Minister took the time to recognize the service of the men and women who were away from their families over the Christmas holidays and during the volatile first weeks of the New Year in the Middle East.
“You step up,” said Prime Minister Trudeau. “You step up every day far from your loved ones, far from your families, because you believe in the values that Canada stands for and you know we need to work hard and, yes, fight to ensure that those values find purchase elsewhere around the world where people want the same kinds of things that we do: safety, security for their families, opportunities to grow up in a peaceful community and country.”
During their visit, the Prime Minister and the Chief of Defence Staff were kind enough to take a picture with the Operation IMPACT Construction Engineering Troop. The troop’s primary role is the maintenance and construction of Camp Canada’s infrastructure.
Since their arrival in December 2019, the Construction Engineering Troop has worked diligently to build accommodations and defensive infrastructure. The camp has grown significantly in a few short months, and there have been an increasing number of improvement, maintenance and repair work orders for the troop to complete.
Through all of this, the troop has persevered, working long hours to ensure the availability of camp infrastructure can enable mission success. The Engineer community can take pride in the work their skilled tradespeople have done, and continue to do overseas.
Operation IMPACT is Canada’s training mission in the Middle East. While the mission is headquartered in Kuwait, Canadian Armed Forces members are also deployed to Iraq, Jordan and Lebanon to help strengthen those countries’ operational capabilities. This is done primarily through training and mentoring.