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By Steven Fouchard, Army Public Affairs
Oromocto, New Brunswick — 5th Canadian Division Support Base (5 CDSB) Gagetown is known as ‘The Home of the Army.' Why? Because it is home to the Combat Training Centre (CTC), where virtually every Canadian Army (CA) soldier will visit for training at some point.
Within CTC are 10 separate schools, including The Royal Canadian Armoured Corps School (RCACS).
In the following interview, RCAS Commandant Lieutenant-Colonel Vince Kirstein outlines the school's role in molding Armoured Soldiers and Officers, its part in ongoing efforts to strengthen the Army Reserve and the pleasures of being a tourist in your own country.
What do soldiers learn at RCACS?
We run all of the individual training for Armoured Soldiers and Officers in the Reserve and Regular Forces. After their Basic Military Qualification, soldiers come here to do what we call DP 1 or Developmental Period 1, which is where you get qualified to be a soldier in an armoured vehicle. We teach them driving. We teach them weapons handling and basic leadership – how they need to operate in the field both as an individual and as part of a crew.
Generally, the next course we run is Armour Crew Commander Common. It's ‘common' because we run it for every vehicle that we have. Which vehicle depends on which unit the soldier belongs to and what their qualifications are, because the Armoured units are all…
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