CFB Suffield

Canadian Forces Base Suffield (also CFB Suffield), is the largest Canadian Forces Base and the largest Commonwealth military training base. It is located in southeastern Alberta 50 km north of the city of Medicine Hat and 250 km southeast of Calgary.

The base has its own radio station, CKBF-FM, which airs programming for both the Canadian and British military personnel stationed at the base.

Chemical warfare training

The lands comprising modern-day CFB Suffield were known as the "Suffield Block", resulting from the Dominion Land Survey and comprised marginal agricultural land, given the perpetual semi-arid climate. Some settlement was attempted, but most farms were abandoned during the droughts of the 1920s. The total area measures approximately 2,690 square kilometres [http://www.army.dnd.ca/cfb_suffield/aboutus_general.html] and borders an area north of the South Saskatchewan River.

Following the fall of Algeria to Nazi Germany, the British Army required a new training facility for carrying out experiments in chemical warfare. In 1941, the federal government expropriated the Suffield Block, purchasing the majority of the land from the Canadian Pacific Railway and the Hudson's Bay Company; 452 residents were displaced. Experimental Station Suffield commenced operations on June 11, 1941.

British forces left the joint operation of Suffield to the Canadian Army in 1946. In 1947 the Canadian Army turned operation of Experimental Station Suffield over to the Defence Research Board. In 1950 the facility was renamed Suffield Experimental Station and in 1967 it was renamed to Defence Research Establishment Suffield (DRES). Throughout the period from 1947-1971, the Canadian Army continued occasional use of the Suffield ranges.

Armoured unit training

In 1971 an agreement was signed between the British and Canadian governments permitting the British Army to use over three-quarters of DRES for armoured, infantry, and artillery live-fire training. DRES was renamed Canadian Forces Base Suffield (CFB Suffield) and new base housing and support facilities were constructed for the British Army and Canadian Forces personnel, including a new headquarters community at Ralston. DRES continued until 2002 when it was merged into a new organization Defence Research and Development Canada (DRDC).

British Army training has continued at Suffield since 1971, with the shared-use agreement being extended several times (currently until 2006). Regular and reserve units of Canadian Forces Land Force Command began to make use of the base beginning in 1991, around the same time as the downgrading of CFB Wainwright. The British Army Training Unit Suffield (BATUS) consists of pool training equipment used by army units rotating through the base on exercises, as well as a training "opposition force" (OPFOR).

Defence R&D Canada−Suffield

Defence R&D Canada (DRDC) is an agency of the Canadian Department of National Defence responding to the scientific and technological needs of the Canadian Forces. Its mission is to ensure that the CF remains scientifically and operationally relevant. The agency is made up of six research laboratories, one of which being DRDC Suffield. DRDC Suffield is the lead laboratory for Chemical and Biological Defence research, as well as in areas generally related to military engineering, mobility systems, and weapons system evaluation.

Wildlife refuge

Ironically, the decision to designate the Suffield Block a military training facility in 1941 left tens of square kilometres of undisturbed prairie grassland intact from the effects of industrial agriculture. In 1992, the military signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Environment Canada and in 2003 lands along the South Saskatchewan River comprising some 458 square kilometres were designated as the Suffield National Wildlife Area.

Numismatic History

See Postal Orders of Alberta.

ee also

*Science and technology in Canada

External links

* [http://www.army.dnd.ca/cfb_suffield CFB Suffield -- official website]
* [http://www.thestar.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pagename=thestar/Layout/Article_Type1&c=Article&cid=1121638810195&call_pageid=968332188492&col=968793972154&t=TS_Home&DPL=IvsNDS%2f7ChAX&tacodalogin=yes Nerve gas tests revealed] ("Toronto Star", July 18, 2005). Soldiers, scientists exposed to sarin, VX gas, documents show.