Base closures?

[dapaterson]

The CAF has too much of the wrong, aged, expensive to maintain and operate infrastructure, and in turn has insufficient funds to lifecycle it.

The insistence of every unit needing its own facilities is part of the problem...

 

[Ostrozac]

The insistence of every unit needing its own facilities is part of the problem...

Oddly enough, the trend is for units to own infrastructure and share equipment — while it probably should be the other way around. It makes sense for units to focus their maintenance money and time on the stewardship of the gear they will take overseas — sharing tents, vehicles, radios and weapons while owning a building is a little backwards.

 

[dapaterson]

My understanding is that projects including LVM and ERC are sharing pooled infrastructure funds to build shared facilities, instead of dedicated facilities for each vehicle for each unit. Common sense, but by not, is sneaking in.

 

[markppcli]

Tent city in the winter isn't going to work that well. I'm all for finding funding solutions but this isn't a "fix it tomorrow" problem. Base closures need to be deliberate and coupled with planned infrastructure spending at the new home. Since we're not going to get new infra money any base closure should be a non starter. I could flippantly suggest we shut down Shilo and move it to Wainwright or vice versa but I think it creates more problems than money it saves.

It was flippant but the whole topic of this thread is which base would you close. I’d close anything that exists as purely a step long the way for training. We need to reduce the wasted time in our training systems all around.

My understanding is that projects including LVM and ERC are sharing pooled infrastructure funds to build shared facilities, instead of dedicated facilities for each vehicle for each unit. Common sense, but by not, is sneaking in.

I generally don’t like the idea of base vehicle pools as opposed to units holding their vehicles in their own buildings where the rest of the stores are, and it’s more easily accessed.

 

[dapaterson]

I generally don’t like the idea of base vehicle pools as opposed to units holding their vehicles in their own buildings where the rest of the stores are, and it’s more easily accessed.

Most vehicles are fine in a parking lot. Maintenance facilities can be shared.

 

[PrairieFella]

If there's an underutilized base in the CA with room to grow from other base closures I'd say Shilo. It supported what was basically a German brigade back in the day and it has an excellent training area. In a bit of a tough area though for CTs though, being somewhere in the middle between 1 and 2 CMBG. That and the non-starter of infrastructure upgrades would be needed.

 

[markppcli]

I’m less enthused about the idea of moving people around. I will die on the hill of rationalizing how many man hours are lost to moving soldier X from their home, to CFLRS, to some where else to wait for DP1, then finally posted to their unit nearly a year later. We have to get better at getting more out of those three year initial contracts. Meaford, and to a lesser extent Wainwright (due to being a Bde training area), represent the zenith of this waste. If I had my way combat arms soldiers would go from civilian to OFP at their respective schools in Gagetown, Sigs in Kingston, CSS in Borden, ect. No more waiting 4 months in Pat platoon, no three moves to get to your unit, ect ect.

Shilo can indeed house more people, space wise that is. If I was going to move things here though it’d be the artillery school, which would allow for W Bty to then close down with its tasks filled by Fd batteries and its people filling our anemic units.

 

[Cloud Cover]

I think the Libs are going to find a way to make SK pay dearly for holding back the Carbon Taxes. Base closures, while a problem for the CAF, is not a problem for a government that doesn’t give a crap about its own military.
Deleting a base, no matter the financial cost or inconvenience to the CAF, isn’t going to cost the Libs anything from a province they will not likely win a seat in for a very long time.
Same with Depot- don’t think they wouldn’t “shit can” that place and move it to a friendly riding in a split second.

 

[ueo]

Not nuclear, the Meaford proposal is pumped-storage hydroelectric.

Meaford pumped hydro project a key to TC Energy’s transition

TC Energy Corp., a Calgary-headquartered energy company, sees pumped hydro as a part of its shift to a cleaner portfolio with a 1,000-megawatt project in Meaford, Ont. named Ontario Pumped Storage. Though it has not emerged without criticism.

sustainablebiz.ca

I'm old. what the hell is pumped storage. Always thought to store elec energy one needed big rechargable batteries. Educate me.

 

[Rudburg]

I'm old. what the hell is pumped storage. Always thought to store elec energy one needed big rechargable batteries. Educate me.

Demand low - pump water up a hill.

Demand high - release the water down the hill and use it to turn a turbine, generating electricity.

It's a net consumer of energy, but it allows you to store energy that otherwise would be wasted (ie solar and wind produced when there is a low demand for it).

 

[ueo]

Demand low - pump water up a hill.

Demand high - release the water down the hill and use it to turn a turbine, generating electricity.

It's a net consumer of energy, but it allows you to store energy that otherwise would be wasted (ie solar and wind produced when there is a low demand for it).

Might work with big hills but I do not remember Mfd vert rise much more than aprox 200 or so meters,

 

[ueo]

Keep the real estate, keep a few commissionaires to unlock the gates as needed to use the training areas, but close the outsourced base operations and the training centre.

In short terms, reinvent the friggin whele!

 

[Bruce Monkhouse]

Might work with big hills but I do not remember Mfd vert rise much more than aprox 200 or so meters,

Towards the water side it's a pretty decent decent....

 

[rmc_wannabe]

Towards the water side it's a pretty decent decent....

shudder memories of schlepping a toboggan up Warner Hill in January...

 

[Brad Sallows]

Might work with big hills but I do not remember Mfd vert rise much more than aprox 200 or so meters,

The key isn't the drop; it's having a large enough reservoir to contain as much as will typically ever be pumped.

 

[SupersonicMax]

The key isn't the drop; it's having a large enough reservoir to contain as much as will typically ever be pumped.

Height is certainly a factor, as important as mass. Potential Energy = mass x height x gravity.

 

[Brad Sallows]

Height is certainly a factor, as important as mass. Potential Energy = mass x height x gravity.

If you have redundant energy to spare to move to the higher potential; yes. The terminal velocity of the stream - and I have no idea what that might be - would presumably establish a height beyond which there is nothing further to be gained, and at which it'd be better to pump more volume than to pump it higher.

 

[suffolkowner]

There was an air bladder system installed on Toronto Island same idea really. Pump bladder full at night release during day. Not sure what happened to it as I know the bladder failed a couple of times

 

[lenaitch]

Might work with big hills but I do not remember Mfd vert rise much more than aprox 200 or so meters,

150 meters according to one source.

It's the potential energy stored in the reservoir, both because of its height and volume when released. They are proposing 1000MW of production and marketing it as 'leveling' power to handle peak loads.

There's been another proposal kicking around for years in an abandoned open pit iron mine near Marmora which would be a closed system (the same water moved back and forth between an upper and lower reservoir).

 

[OldSolduer]

shudder memories of schlepping a toboggan up Warner Hill in January...

Shilo has those badlands where schlepping is not very much fun