🚀 go-pugleaf

On Thu, 06 Jul 2006 18:57:02 GMT, "Arved Sandstrom"
<asandstrom@accesswave.ca> wrote:

>"Andrew Chaplin" <ab.chaplin@yourfinger.rogers.com> wrote in message 
>news:IvmdnSxofuJscDHZnZ2dnUVZ_o6dnZ2d@giganews.com...
>> "Arved Sandstrom" <asandstrom@accesswave.ca> wrote in message
>> news:_J3rg.97495$I61.20336@clgrps13...
>>
>>> Andrew, I was hoping it would not come to this, but you've thrown down 
>>> the
>>> gauntlet. A "how bad was it?" contest it shall be.
>>>
>>> But before we get into describing how shitty various areas were, I stand 
>>> in
>>> defense of Gagtown. In summer, it holds its own in terms of producing 
>>> dust
>>> and sand. As a connoisseur, I'd rate it about an 8 on the Sandstrom "Road
>>> March Visibility Scale" - eight meaning that at 2 AM on a dry summer 
>>> morning
>>> the gunner who is the driver sees the catseyes of the prime mover in 
>>> front
>>> just about when his grille sees the muzzle of the howitzer ahead.
>>>
>>> But to enter into the contest, I will indeed proffer Gagetown as the
>>> hellhole of the universe. It has the ideal Atlantic mix of wet cold - and
>>> after having patrolled in Central American jungles I now know that mixed
>>> growth boreal forests are worse.
>>
>> I draw a distinction between dust and sand. Sand you can shovel, dust you
>> can't. There is no doubt that Gagetown seems very dusty for about four 
>> weeks
>> in late July and early August, and it's a fine dust that is easily stirred 
>> up
>> by vehicle tires, but the roads are built with aggregate that is brought 
>> in
>> from elsewhere -- Minto, I think; the local dirt produces very little 
>> dust.
>> (Now you know why M Battery insisted on pretty tight march discipline.)
>
>You have a point - there is dust and then there is sand. Dust is a problem 
>regardless, no matter whether it derives from sand or earth. Sand, if it is 
>of the right consistency, can actually make life quite pleasant - decent 
>drainage, possibly very little dust, and excellent digging. Since a good 
>sand is also optimum material for sandbags (some people may scratch their 
>heads and say, well, of course you put sand in sandbags, but consider this - 
>what if there be no sand?), the sand you scoop out from your field works 
>goes right into bags.
>
>My guess would be that the most stupendous dust is generated in a clayey 
>terrain. In summer, once that's had time to dry out, it's dust city when 
>pulverized. Bragg comes to mind - it's reasonably sandy still, but also 
>quite clayey. Truly sandy operating areas, like all of Camp Lejeune, are 
>actually quite pleasant.
>
>The other point - and your comment about roads leads to this remark - is 
>that a great deal of the motor traffic on a military base stays on roads, 
>even if they are quite secondary roads or nearly trails. As a result, one's 
>impressions of the dustiness of a training area are more accurately 
>impressions of the dustiness of the roads, not of the base in general.
>
>> That point conceded, I am fairly sure that Gagetown is not boreal forest. 
>> I
>> think it is classified as second-growth mixed Acadian forest. That doesn't
>> make it any easier to get through. (Gagetown is also that place where the 
>> laws
>> of physics have little effect and one finds standing water on the sides of
>> hills.)
>
>I think you're right about Gagetown being Acadian forest - I find that this 
>is the predominant forest cover in NB. There are boreal or boreal-type 
>forests in NB - namely bog forests and coastal (fog) forests - just as there 
>are in NS, and the odds are good that Gagetown has bog forest patches here 
>and there. But in general NS, NB and PEI are substantially Acadian. Although 
>as one approaches the Quebec border it shades over into Great 
>Lakes-St.Lawrence forests. Newfoundland, OTOH, is classified as being all 
>boreal.
>
>On the ground I'm not much aware of the distinction, seeing as how large 
>swaths of Acadian forest resemble large swaths of boreal forest. There is 
>certainly no problem in NB or NS in locating an impenetrable mass of spruce, 
>fir, pine and tamarack to struggle through - in that vegetation cover 
>visibility may be on the order of 5 metres, and movement rates are glacial.
>
>Gagetown is well-situated for exposing troops to truly bad weather. It's far 
>enough inland in NB to catch cold air masses roving out of Quebec in 
>wintertime, so it can get cold there in a way which is not common in Nova 
>Scotia. A buddy of mine got his ears frostbit there. And spring and fall are 
>characterized by endless stretches of wet cold: 35,40,45 degrees F, with 
>constant rain and occasional sleet. Having been based at, or trained in, 
>virtually every clime and place, I've frequently asserted (and certainly 
>believe) that without a doubt the most hostile and challenging environment 
>to survive in is presented by the early spring and late fall of a temperate 
>zone.
>
>AHS 
>

Strange, but my family and I truly enjoy it here.
We get much less snow than Moncton and being airforce groundcrew I
don't get field time anyway.
After 10 years in Cold Lake this place is great.