Prepare to heave... heave!

ST. THOMAS, Ontario - Recently, troops from three Ontario-based Reserve engineer regiments, 31, 32 and 33 Combat Engineer Regiments (CER), gathered at the armoury in the City of St. Thomas, not only to build steel bridges, but also ties of friendship and comradeship.

For the younger engineers, the presence of more than 100 troops was a great opportunity to tap a wealth of experience and it gave them the opportunity to experience the technically and physically demanding rigors of building a medium girder bridge (MGB) and an Acrow bridge.

Building started early on an unusually warm autumn morning once the engineers were divided into two main groups. One group was responsible for assembling the Acrow Bridge while the second group was tasked with building the MGB. The Acrow Bridge will rest in front of the armoury as a monument to the engineers, right next to the Sherman tank, a reminder of the Elgin Regiment’s armoured past.

For many of the engineers, this was their first hands-on exposure to assembling bridges. Private Miro Mostovac of 33 CER was very excited about the opportunity, as well as the opportunity to work with members of the other two brigades. “So far, it seems pretty good, everything seems to be working really nice,” he stated.

Sergeant Jayme Querry, 33 CER, is an old hand at building bridges.“The main concept is for the younger soldiers to get acquainted with the bridges,” he declared. “I’m hoping the troops will actually go home, essentially understand the bridge and how it gets put together.”

In the back of the armoury, another crew of engineers was busy assembling the MGB, which is a modern functional equivalent of the Bailey bridge of Second World War fame. The pallets of interconnecting pieces can be very intimidating to those who are not familiar with the MGB. No need to apply if you have a bad back as there does not seem to be anything small about this piece of equipment.

Bridge assembly is a daunting task. “When it’s done, it’s going to look like this bridge appeared from nowhere,” commented Sgt Anderson Thomas, 32 CER. He felt that the weekend was an excellent chance to get together and involve the newer troops into the business of building bridges. “It’s rewarding for them, it’s what engineers do, build bridges.”

Source: The Maple Leaf, Vol 10, #37