Batus
 

I'm off to BATUS (Alberta) at 3.00 am on Sunday morning with my TA unit to help service the vehicles prior to Winter storage.

Can anyone confirm what the weather is currently like.

I assume there is nothing interesting to look at locally.

Re: Batus
 

Hi Neil;

This should give you an idea, look here

I myself went through BATUS 28 years ago and of all the British units to be there at the time was the 9th/12th Lancers who we had just served together with on Cyprus, that made for some fun nights in Medicine Hat ....... and in the Mess..... :D

Cheers

Hi Neil

Depends if you're single or married!!

Vehicle-wise, you'd have to get away from Suffield for weekends or something to visit Edmonton, Wainwright, and Calgary. Nice Museums in Calgary.

Depends what you want to see and what time you'll have to see it!!

As for weather there this time of the year; you could potentially see temps from plus15C to minus25C. Again dependent on how long you're in our fair land.

regards
Darrell

Thanks for the replies guys. My unit is only in Canada for our two week camp.

It seems like a long way to go for two weeks, but I suppose our regular counterparts are heavily committed elsewhere at the present time.

Bald-Assed Prarie
 

The training area is so barren that individual trees are unique enough to be bear names on the map. Judging distance in some places is damned near impossible because of the lack of visual reference points. On the plus side, it really is quite spectacular to see such wide open spaces, too bad the novelty wears off quickly.
Give us your immpressions upon your return.

There are even small clumps of trees that are fenced off so you can't run them over.
The term "wasteland" would describe Suffield to a T. Anyone who ever though Shilo was barren and crappy hasn't been to Suffield.

As to temperatures, the prairies are currently dipping into the below zero range at nights, and daytime highs are in the mid teens. In two weeks from now, you could see snow, but not likely to stay on the gound yet.

.... I remember being in the training area seven days before we even came across a tree ..... not much to see ......

...another image of Suffield (BATUS) ......

http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e3...ark/BATUS3.jpg

Hi

Awww, it ain't so bad, unless you suck at interpreting contours while map reading.

Yeah, there isn't alot to see but you sure can see a lot of it. It's not the biggest training area in the commonwealth for nothing. (Funny that; I'd have thought the Aussies would be able to cliam that title.) :D

Do let us know what you thought of it though.

regards
Darrell

I was in Medicine Hat for a week and just got back. It was t-shirt weather until the sun got low and you'd need a jacket. You don't get the full effect of the bleakness around Suffield until it's 20 or 30 below F. I haul a lot of feed barley out to some feedlots in southern Alberta and go by there quite a bit. There's a bar and cafe in the little town of Jenner several miles north of the base that quite a few military types end up at. Calgary is only about 100 miles away and Edmonton is about 300.

Now just compare those barren photos of Suffield against the lush prairie jungle of Shilo that you see here.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...r/Dscf0061.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...r/Dscf0060.jpg

Of course, these were taken in early winter, so the lush brown/yellow scrub has been gently covered with some white stuff we call snow.

And heres a summertime photo....mid June, before the dry season begins.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...cture_1075.jpg
The left flank is all poison Ivy, the price we pay to live in paradise.

Photos are of some milsurp matches we hold here in Shilo. Period dress is worn by those who have them.