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port to the Army flying the CH-146Griffon; 402 Sqn n Winnipeg s equippedwith theCT-142 Dash8 and providessup-port to the Canadian Forces AirNavigation School. There is also one'reserve-heavy'light within 408 THS, CFlight, based n Edmonton.

ty. But the Air Force,which s still short ofthe 3,000 reservists hat it would like tohave in total, is actively recruiting forreservists.Nonetheless, uval said hat hiswing is finally at the point that it hasmeaningful numbers of reservists.They~ome from all walks of life -helicopter,pilots, airline pilots, maintenanceengi-neers, students, civil servants, businesspeopleand academics.

reinvest-ing in the Reserves,making them

bigger,better equipped and more viable.Long gone are the days of being labelled'weekendwarriors' or 'flying clubs', TheReserves re now playing a critical rolehelping o easehe strain on RegularForceunits that arebeing stretched eyond heirlimits in such places as Afghanistan,Bosnia-Herzegovinand the Ahbian Sea.

1 Wing, parent unit to the Air Force'ssix TacticalHelicopter Squadrons THSs),is a pioneer ntegrating the Reserves ndRegular Force personnel ogether. MostAir ForceWings and squadrons ompriseboth Regular and Reserve orce person-nel. The CF calls t 'Total Force'.However,three of the units are consideredreserve-heavy' squadrons: 400 THS in Borden,Ontario and 438e Escadron tactiqued'helicopteres (ETAH) in St-Hubert,Quebec provide tactical helicopter sup-

TACTICAllY FOCUSEDEquipped with the Griffon helicopter,reserve-heavy squadrons now have thetools that allow them to serve a meaning-ful purpose. "The reserve-heavysquadrons are flying the same aircraft, ful-filling the same roles and the same tasks asmy other tactical aviation squadrons,which means a much sharper focus andcapability:' said Col Marcel Duval, whocommands 1 Wing from its headquartersin Kingston, Ontario. He was referring towhen the Reserveswere equipped with theCH-136 Kiowa (JetRanger), which theGriffon replaced. The Reservesdidn't have

12VReserve ircrewsand maintenanceechni-cianshavebeenaugmenting heir RegularForce counterparts deployed o Bosnia-Herzegovina ince 1998.NATO is leadinga 20,OOO-strong eacekeepingmissioncalled the Stabilization Force (SFOR)~which maintains he securityenvironmentnecessaryo enable he Balkancountry torebuild after the devastationof years ofconflict. Canada's ontribution to SFOR scalled Operation Palladium, which

the ability to train to use he I(jowa to itsfullest potential in the role that it wasintended for: battlefield reconnaissance.The skill level required o maintain nap-of-the-earthcapabilitieswashigh, and heknowledge required to work intimatelywith the Army in fire-support coordina-tion required a high level of training thatthe Reserve squadrons were bot fullycapable f carrying out, given he amountof training required for such a role.However,with the arrival of the Griffontheir role haschanged, or the most part,to providing utility transport.

Duval old HELICOPTERShat froman augmentationperspective here is nodoubt that the Reservesre playing a verykey role within 1 Wing. With 1,320per-sonnel currently assigned o the wing,including 450 part-time personnel,he ispleasedwith the numbers of reserviststhat are illing the ranks,which is provid-ing the wing with a greatdealof flexibili-

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Checking the rotorhead after a mission.

Griffons are operated by a three-person crew.

Briefing or a nightmission.

given he current shortage f personnel n1 Wing. The wing is short 16%of its allo-cated ilots.

grounds, mostly from Air Canada. ButAllward said a number of commercialhel-icopter pilots are starting o oin. Studentfrom flight colleges are also inquiringabout oining the squadron.

New pilots who join the unit willcomplete an 85-hour helicopter conver~ion course at the squadron. CanadiaHelicoptershas been contracted to pro-Vide a Bell 206B etRangerat eachof thethree reserve-heavynits for flight train-ing. Under normal circumstancest wouldtake threemonths to put a pilot throughthe conversioncourseand then anothefour to five months of training Off theGriffon. But since eservists annot com-mit to 10 months at a time, it can akeaslong as wo and a half years o get fullycheckedout on the Griffon. Allward saithat the reserve-heavyquadrons re try-ing to makecommitments o speedup hetraining. "You give us X amount of daysamonth and we'll give you X amount of

includes a battle group known as TaskForce Bosnia-Herzegovina. The battlegroup s alsoproviding helicoptersupportwith eightGriffons. For he first time sincethe inception of the Task Force, twoTactical Helicopter Squadrons haverecently taken on two consecutivesix-month deploymentsoverseas: 30 ETAHand 'reserve-heavy' 38 ETAH have beendeployed spart of ROTO 10nd 11 or OpPalladium.

Duval explained that becauseof 1Wing's new '12 V' concept (12-monthsquadron asking with variable personneltour lengths), t is easier or reservists oaugmentRegularForceunits during inter-national operations. 12V allows he wingto rotate a larger pool of personnelmorefrequently and for shorter periods. "It is,for 1 Wing, a way of fulfilling our com-mitments n the faceof seriouspersonnelshortfalls,while reducing he stress ausedby frequent overseas eployments,"With

typical six-month rotations,only half of asquadron would deploy; with the 12 Vconcept,all members of a squadron arecalled o deploy. This larger pool of per-sonnel allows individuals to deploy fortwo to three 56-day periods over 12months. With the personnel shortage,Duval said, his is the only way or 1 Wingto provide a two-yearbreak o eachof itsthree deployable HSs. For the first t ime,it also allows reservists o deploy for 56-dayperiods.

1 Wing currently has 74 personneldeployed o Bosnia,of whom an averageof 15%are eservists.Duval said hat withno end in sight for the deployment inBosnia,he wouldn't be surprised f thatnumber ncreases ven urther because fthe new 12 V concept. 1 Wing has hadunits deployed nternationally for sevenconsecutive ears now, and without thesupport of the reservists t would havebeendifficult to support the deployments

MAINTAININGTANDARDSThe primary function of 'reserve-heayy'squadronss to train reservists, aid 1ColScottAlIward,commandingofficer of 400Sqn n Borden. We rain our Crewso thesame tandardas he RegularForce thereis no double standard, t just takesa ittlelonger becausehe reservists annot givesus six or eight months at a time, whichmeans hat you alsodon't get he continu-ity that you would normally have. Butwhen they are fully trained nothing setsthem apart, which allowsus to carry outthe samemissionsas any other TACHE1squadron;' AlIward said. "I expect thesame f my Reserve ircrews s1 do of myRegularForce ircrews."

The majority of the 16 Reserve ilotsat 400 Sqn come from fixed-wing back-

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HELICOPTERINDUSTRYCOOPERATIONPROGRAM

Through HEll COP (Helicopter IndustryCooperationProgram), he Air Reservesaretrying to increase the number of civilian-licensed helicopter pilots within its ranks. Anumber of commercial helicopter pilots,especially with 408 Sqn's Air ReserveAugmentation Flight in Edmonton, havetaken advantage of the program.

ENROLMENTTANDARDS:.Canadian citizen or landed immigrant..Between the ages of 17 and 55..Completed high school to grade 12 withadvanced math, physics and chemistry.Pass a physical fitness test and medicalexamination..Obtain an acceptable standard on thegeneral classification tests..Possess a commercial helicopter licencewith at least 500 hours. Instrument rating isnot a prerequisite but a definite asset..Must be referred to HEUCOP by a mem-ber of the Reserve squadron.

Each of 1 Wing's 'reserve heavy' squadrons is equipped with eight Grillon helicopters. Soldiers from 3 PPClI get the signal to board.

training daysa month to speed he train-ing process p."

Once pilots have qualified on theGriffon, they are required o fly the sameamount of proficiency hours on the heli-copter as Regular Forcepilots. Pilots arerequired o fly a minimum of 85 hours ayear, but given the number of missionsthat the squadron carries out, pilots will

Oncea candidate as been selectedntothe program,he applicant ill completeflying skillsassessment. uccessfulandi-dates will then be enrolled n the AirReserves.FIRST EAR'S RAINING.Basic Officer Training Course at Borden(13 weeks)..Basic Helicopter School at the Reservesquadron. Training is conducted on aJetRanger..Operational Training begins on the CH-146 Griffon.

typically fly 100 hours a year versus 230-240 hours a year for Regular Force pilots.

Besides raining, 400 Sqn is providingcombat-ready tactical helicopter forces foroperations and support of the Army."Despite the fact that we are low-readinessunits, reserve-heavy squadrons play anintegral role in 1 Wing:' AlIward said. "Weare being assigned meaningful tasks. Not

only are we providing logis-tics support, VIP transport,troop transport, surveillanceand support to other gov-ernment agencies such asthe RCMP domestically, butwe are also being deployedoverseas to augment inter-national deployments:'

It is typical for 400Sqn to piggyback its fielddeployments with its sisterunit, 427 Sqn at Petawawa,Ontario. The squadron usu-ally deploys into the fieldwith four Griffons, but it candeploy as many as six of itseight Griffons -seven ifenough reservists can com-mit to an operation. "Weencourage our reservists to

take part in as many operations as theirschedules will permit;' Allward said. "Wework around their schedules to get thetraining benefits that we would get fromexercises."

This summer 400 Sqn will agafu pro-vide helicopter support for OperationHurricane, which is the resupply of radarsites in the high Arctic between Eurekaand Alert. Normally assigned taa RegularForce squadron in 2000, 400 Sqn was thefirst 'reserve-heavy' squadron to beassigned the task. "We were able to provethat we could support the operation pri-marily with reservists, which opened upnew challenges o a different typb of tIYingin a different part of Canada that wewouldn't normally operate in," Allwardsaid. This year 400 Sqn will provide two orthree Griffons to support the operationover a two-month period.

Allward believes that the reserve-heavy squadrons have proven they have agreat capability that is being exploited."We have the aircraft, a capability and ameaningful mission;' he said. "The con-cept of the reserves being a tIying club isgone. I think you will f ind that there is anoperational focus in all of the Reserveunits now." "

SECONDEAR'S RAINING.Continue with Griffonaircrewupgrades,tactical lying, and Night Vision Gogglequalifications..Speciality courses such as AircrewLand/SeaSurvival,aeromedicalraining,landorientationield raining.At presenthere s no periodof obligatoryservice, ut his s under eview.

26 HELICOPTERS Magazine 'August/Sept 200~