More military vehicles on P.E.I. roads this summer as part of training course

If you're on P.E.I., you may be seeing more military vehicles on the roads in rural and urban areas. 

That's because a driving training course for military reservists is taking place on the Island.

Seventeen soldiers are being trained to operate a light military vehicle known as a G-Wagon. The jeep-style vehicle was used during the response to post-tropical storm Fiona last fall.

The course is being run out of Slemon Park in Summerside between now and Aug. 22.

Capt. Rory O'Donnell, course officer for the RQ Trooper Course, said the soldiers need the training to be promoted to the rank of trooper. The promotion comes with a pay raise and opportunities for more instruction. 

"In order for them to get qualified on this vehicle, they have to put in just under 500 kilometres of driver training before they test and become qualified on it," O'Donnell said.

"A big chunk of that 500 kilometres is highway driving and built-up city driving. And so we're using the Island roads and and cities to do that."

Reservists from P.E.I., Nova Scotia, and New Brunswick are being trained by about 10 staff, including driver instructors. 

O'Donnell said having more people trained on the vehicle could help in the future if the military responds to emergency situations like Fiona.

"The vehicles that ... the Prince Edward Island Regiment used are the G-Wagons that they're being trained on," O'Donnell said. 

"If we didn't have the people that were trained on it when Fiona struck, we wouldn't have been able to mobilize.... This training means that if those sort of things happen again, we'll have the people that can respond."