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Mock exercise includes unique real life situations at CFB North Bay

'I like to tell people I basically am trying to break the system'
20180426MajorBaileyWingDragon
Major Scott Bailey near the south entrance of CFB North Bay. Photo by Chris Dawson.

Since Monday personnel at the military base have been taking part in Exercise WING DRAGON. 

“I like to tell people I basically am trying to break the system, find out what works and what does not work and wherever you need to fix the problem we are going to address it and this is how we trial it out with a lot of hands-on activities,” said Major Scott Bailey, Command Post Commander for Exercise WING DRAGON.

If you are traveling up to the base you can expect to see military members wearing protective gear and carrying weapons on base. Personnel may even pull over visitors to the base during the week-long exercise. 

“The point of Exercise WING DRAGON is to basically test all of our domestic emergency response plan procedures, our security plan stance and flush our procedures to make sure we are ready for whatever comes along,” said Major Bailey. 

And exercises like this are a reality for the Canadian military.  

“Going through security checkpoints might be underestimated by the public coming in so every effort we make to alleviate or at least advise them we are playing and acknowledge we are a small little island inside the city," Major Bailey explained.  

"Unlike larger bases where there is a large training area that you can go out and have fun in the bush and no one is around you for kilometres any time we do anything that we could make a lot of noise or attract attention just to a passerby, we just have to be aware of what is going on.”

Some of the scenarios they have taken part in include bomb threats, cyber threats, mock building evacuations and even a scenario where a car accident involved a vehicle filled with noxious gas.    

The WING DRAGON training exercise wraps up on Friday. 

 


Chris Dawson

About the Author: Chris Dawson

Chris Dawson has been with BayToday.ca since 2004. He has provided up-to-the-minute sports coverage and has become a key member of the BayToday news team.
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