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Reservists could take over in Bosnia Garrison working on peacekeeping plan By PAUL COWAN, EDMONTON SUN Officers at Edmonton Garrison are working on a scheme that could eventually have reservists take over peacekeeping duties from army regulars in Bosnia. Edmonton-based Land Force Western Area is putting together a unit composed entirely of reservists to serve alongside regulars of the 1st Battalion of the Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry in Bosnia this fall. Normally, on peacekeeping missions reservists are distributed amongst regular units. "It's entirely within the realm of possibilities that this could lead to an entire battle group made up of reservists being deployed to Bosnia," said LFWA operations officer Maj. Steve McCluskey. "If everything goes as we hope, they would deploy for Roto 18 which is due to begin March 2006." The 119-strong unit, called the Composite Reserve Infantry Company, will be commanded by the Loyal Edmonton Regiment's Maj. Paul Bury. The Loyal Eddies are expected to make a big contribution to the unit along with other reservists from regiments stationed across LFWA, from Vancouver Island to Thunder Bay, Ont. Bury said a lot of how top brass in Ottawa will judge the experiment depends on the reservists' performance in Bosnia. "There is a lot of attention from various sources but I have no doubt we will succeed," he said. The unit is one of three rifle companies going on Roto 6 to Bosnia with the 1 PPCLI Battle Group. So many reservists want the mission that there aren't enough vacancies within the rifle company. Some may go to Bosnia on Roto 7 with a second reserve rifle company while others will be attached to regular units deploying on Roto 6. McCluskey said around 220 reservists are expected to take part in Roto 6. "There is a cap of 20% reserve participation in missions at the moment but that could start to change," he explained. "Bosnia is now seen as a mature theatre of operations and, while not totally benign, it is not as dangerous now as it was in earlier rotations. The time seems ripe to look at using reservists as more than augmentees." http://www.canoe.ca/EdmontonNews/es.es-01-24-0016.html --------------------------- ANTI-NATO INFORMATION LIST ==^================================================================ This email was sent to: [email protected] EASY UNSUBSCRIBE click here: http://topica.com/u/?a84x2u.a9WB2D Or send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] T O P I C A -- Register now to manage your mail! http://www.topica.com/partner/tag02/register ==^================================================================
