Polished buttons, ceremonial swords, and soldiers wearing their finest regalia were on full display at the Rocky Mountain Rangers regimental ball over the weekend.
Regimental balls are the formal annual celebrations held by almost every military unit in Canada.
Lt. Col. Kevin Tyler said the recruitment campaign is always ongoing, and they have not yet reached their goal of one local part-time soldier for every 1,000 people in the city, but the foundations of B Company were now strong. The local unit is almost at 60 soldiers who are also students, business professionals, tradespeople, shopkeepers and so on, with soldiering as their second job with a community service kick.
"It's so impressive to see so many people here dressed so finely," Tyler told those gathered. "Three years ago there was nothing like this here...We have a sub-unit that is now viable and underway, and it has exceptional regimental association support."
The association is the civilian society that works to promote the unit - things like hosting the ball. Its president, Dan McLaren, celebrated the success of B-Company so far, and bestowed a scholarship on Cpl. Noah Irzinger in recognition of his exemplary skills as a soldier and simultaneously in his post-secondary education pursuits.
"He is someone punching above his weight class - keen, capable, dependable," said McLaren of the UNBC computer science student and graduate of Duchess Park Secondary School who is also a certified machine gunner and infanteer with the Rangers. "He started out hoping to be employed by [military technology company] Lockheed Martin but now I hear he is considering staying here, so Lockheed Martin's loss will hopefully be Prince George's gain. He is a great soldier, a future leader, a native son."
Also bestowed at the event was the military's official flag for engineers, given to soldier Travis Trussler for his work to refit a surplus local elementary school into Meadow Armory, B-Company's headquarters. Trussler was also promoted from Sgt. to Warrant Officer. He is both a member of the Rocky Mountain Rangers and is by profession an engineer with Ruskin Contracting.
Furthermore, newly appointed A-Company Capt. Rob Wishnicki was presented with his officer's commissioning scroll by British Columbia's new territorial brigade commander for domestic emergencies and disaster response.
Tyler said the war in Afghanistan is now over for Canadians, but military skills are still a major priority for the nation, with domestic emergency response, integrated exercises with the United Nations and allied countries, and "we will eventually be needed again" for hostile actions. The Prince George family of Rocky Mountain Rangers needed to be bigger, he said.
To join the young B-Company unit call 250-552-3417, visit the armory at 687 Dornbierer Cres., or go online to www.forces.ca.
