Officer Training

Heroes Remember

Officer Training

Transcript

It’s interesting because my generation of officers in the Canadian Forces were pretty well trained by the officers who did World War Two and they saw things a good bit different maybe than one would see them today. The concept of fighting in those days was that it was a combat team and the combat team consisted of the armour, the infantry, and the artillery and the engineers. Now the engineers their job primarily was to ensure we could keep moving by blowing up minefields in front of us and developing roads and stuff like that. The armour and the artillery worked very close together and so it was in your benefit to know what the guy in the infantry side, what his problems were and how hard it was to keep up with you, etc., etc. and he would sit in your turret, see what it was like sitting up there, trying to keep an eye on what he was doing. The same thing with the gunners, so we sort of just learned our trades, if you want to call it that way, and you learned three trades, really. No matter where you go, if you’ve trained well and if you are a professional then, and you go in and you do the job professionally as a soldier your opponents, if you want to call them that or the people you’re trying to impose your will upon, they’ll see that. They’ll understand and respond to that. So in protection, although they call it peacekeeping, the best way to prepare for peacekeeping is to train for war.

Description

Mr. Henry describes his officer training and the rationale for “training for war”.

William Henry

William Henry was born September 2, 1939 in Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island. His father was a Second World War Veteran, which inspired Mr. Henry to join the School Cadet Corps. He received officer training and was commissioned in the 17th Recce, PEI Regiment. Upon completing his degree at Dalhousie University, he was re-commissioned in the Royal Canadian Dragoons. Mr. Henry eventually joined the Lord Strathcona’s Horse, attaining the rank of Major. His tours of duty included Cyprus, writing the orders of occupation for Sinai, and acting as an observer in Lebanon, a role he found difficult given his training as a military strategist.

Meta Data

Medium:: Video
Owner:: Veterans Affairs Canada
Duration:: 1:57
Person Interviewed:: William Henry
War, Conflict or Mission:: Second World War
Location/Theatre:: Holland/Netherlands
Branch:: Army
Units/Ship:: Lord Strathcona’s Horse
Rank:: Major
Occupation:: Observer, Controller

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Officer Training

Heroes Remember