While the sight of a boat equipped with large machine guns gliding along the Okanagan Lake may have caused concern in recent days, there is nothing to fear.
They are not loaded.
Seaman Capt. Daniel Cramer offered that reassurance Tuesday when he spoke to reporters about the Naval Security Team’s training and recruiting mission in the Okanagan.
“When we completely drive out one of our defenders for operations, we have two different machine guns mounted on the forward section of the ship,” he said.
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“We have a C6 (machine gun) and a C9 (machine gun) mounted on the stern and you know they are effective. Oh, and we don’t have ammo here today just to be clear.”
Cramer and the rest of the naval security team are in the Okanagan for a combination of public outreach and testing of their ability to deploy remotely.
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“Although we do a lot of training in Esquimalt, which is close to Victoria BC, this gives us an opportunity to see if we took all of our assets and our people, picked them up and dropped them off somewhere else, how effectively we would be able to do things to the ones we train? he said.
“It’s very easy for us to get support from all of our units because we work so closely together when we’re at home, but how well can we do all the things we train for if we don’t have as much help? so close?
To find out, they’re doing some navigational and tactical training.
“We’re doing a certain number of tactical moves, coming up with different formations and moving different boats into different positions and just seeing how smoothly we can facilitate all of those moves,” he said.
There are 19 people on the lake with three different pontoons.
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And they have a position looking for “anxious people who like to work hard and have fun doing important work.”
Cramer explained that people come to the decision to join their ranks from different walks of life. Cramer originally joined the Royal Canadian Navy and his trade was hull technician.
In that job, people learn everything from welding, carpentry, air conditioner and heater maintenance, sheet metal work, firefighting, and flood response.
“As I got into that trade, I was able to appreciate how much respect he had for…those who work in the deck department because, you know, they’re professional sailors and they get to run the boats, handle all the evolutions of the nautical,” he said.
He said that “I really appreciated that it was hard work that had a real impact. “
For those who are interested, they will be at the Rotary Marina docks in Kelowna through Saturday.
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