Three units find a home with Canadian Combat Support Brigade

In what Commander Marc LaFortune describes as the X-Men of the Canadian Army, Canadian Combat Support Brigade (CCSB) welcomed three additional units, 4th Artillery Regiment, 4 Engineer Support Regiment and 21 Electronic Warfare Regiment on April 5, 2018.

“We used to call them ‘orphan units,’ that don’t belong to a CMBG (Canadian Mechanized Brigade Group) and they report directly to the division,” said Commander LaFortune. “Now all those folks report to me and really have a place to call home, for lack of a better term, and they are part of a brigade.”

The 4th Artillery Unit and 4 Engineer Support Regiment are both located in Gagetown, NB, while 21 Electronic Warfare Regiment is located in Kingston, ON with subunits located in cities across Canada, such as Halifax, Valcartier, Petawawa, Ottawa, Kingston, and Edmonton.

“It really gives a flavour of what is actually an organization that belongs to the division in Atlantic Canada that is represented across Canada,” said Commander LaFortune.

The transition was four years in the making, but Commander LaFortune said they’re not done yet, there’s still a bit of work needing to go into it. He adds, the decision for this or any reorganization is never taken lightly and hopes they continue to grow.

“This isn’t going to be what we look like as we continue to grow and examine what it is that we need in this brigade. But certainly, I would say, that it’s a 90 per cent solution,” he said. “We have an opportunity here to achieve some synergy, to bring all these units together, with their own special capabilities together and provide a more coherent output in terms of what we do.”