8 Field Engineer Regiment

Encyclopedia : 8 : 8F : 8FI : 8 Field Engineer Regiment

Contents

1 The Regiment
2 History
3 Training and Deployments
4 Mascot
5 Future

The Regiment

8 Field Engineer Regiment (8 FER) is the Reserve (Milita) unit of the Canadian Military Engineers in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. The unit parades Wednesday evenings and Saturdays at the Lt. Col. Debney Armoury, in Edmonton. It is assigned to 41 Canadian Brigade Group, part of Land Forces Western Area. The unit is currenty commaned by Lt. Col. D. O'Keefe, with MWO R. Luard as the unit's Regimental Sergeant Major.

History

8 Field Engineer Regiment traces it linage to 9th Army Troops Company (Canadian Engineers), which recruited from the Edmonton Area During the First World War. The unit was disbanded following the end of the war.

In 1937, following a reorganization of the Militia in Canada, 9th Army Troops Company was reactivated to serve in the local militia. During the Second World War 9th Army Troops Company served as part of 1st Battalion Army Troops (Royal Canadian Engineers). Through most of the war, they served as construction troops supporting First Canadian Army. At the end of the war 9th Army Troops Company was redesignated 33 Field Squadron (Royal Canadian Engineers).

In 1948, 8 Field Regiment, Royal Canadian Engineers was created around 33 Field Squadron to encompass the Engineer Militia in the Province of Alberta. Throughout its post-War history the Regiment has had Squadrons in Edmonton, Yellowknife, NWT, Calgary, and Lethbridge.

By the late 1980's the Regiment had two field Squadrons, 25 Field Squadron in Edmonton and 33 Field Squadron in Calgary. 33 Field Engineer Squadron became independent in 1991, and an 85 Support Squadron was activated to provide Heavy Equipment support to the Regiment

Training and Deployments

As a reserve unit, 8 Field Engineer Regiment continues to train in skills to support the Canadian Forces aboard and at home. In recent years the Regiment has conducted exercises in:

Fort Lewis, Washington, US.
CFB Wainwright, Alberta
CFB Suffield, Alberta
CFB Cold Lake, Alberta
Outlook, Saskatchewan

Personnel from the unit has also been deployed on United Nations and NATO peacekeeping missions including:

Bosina (Operation Palladium),
Afganistan (Operation Athena and Operation Archer).

Mascot

Due in large part to their natural construction ablilities, and their presence in the canadian wilderness the beaver has long been the symbol of military engineering in Canada. The official mascot of 8 FER is Bentley F. Beaver, which is a stuffed beaver located in the 1 Troop offices in the Debney Armoury.

Future

The reserve units of the Canadian Military Engineers are currently about to begin a reorgization. The purposal being put forth is that each reserve Brigade in Canada will have a single "Combat Engineer Regiment" with the same number as the Brigade.

For 8 Field Engineer Regiment, this will most likely result in its transformation with 33 Field Engineer Squadron joining it into 41 Combat Engineer Regiment, since it belongs to 41 Canadian Brigade Group.

However, some details of reorganization have yet to be determined and may be cancelled or delayed.

From Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Original article here. Support Wikipedia by contributing or donating.
All text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License See Wikipedia Copyrights for details.