The newest vehicle in Canada鈥檚 armed forces fleet gets going about 90 km/h on the highway before its massive wheels start to wobble.
Of course, it likely won鈥檛 be used much on highways.
Vernon-based B.C. Dragoons received seven more Tactical Armoured Patrol Vehicles (TAPV) at its armoury Tuesday morning.
鈥淭hey鈥檙e fun,鈥� said Capt. Jeff Daley, adjutant/operations officer with the B.C. Dragoons as the vehicles arrived individually safely strapped to a Bassani Transportation Services Inc. trailer.
鈥淲e call the drivers TAPV pilots. They have lots of switches and buttons inside them.鈥�
Master Cpls Thomas Fisher and Brandon Ingram, both from 琉璃神社, had the honour of taking the first two TAPV off the trucks and driving them inside the large armoury garage.
鈥淚鈥檝e had about 10 days of training on them,鈥� said Fisher. 鈥淲e drove over different types of terrain and had them out on the highway.鈥�
Added Daley: 鈥淲e can train on them so we can augment the regular force.鈥�
The B.C. Dragoons are currently recruiting, a process that involves screening and testing.
鈥淚 can hire like 70 guys,鈥� said Daley. 鈥淢cDonald鈥檚 can鈥檛 do that. Tim Hortons can鈥檛 do that. The brilliant thing about the reserves is you don鈥檛 have to deploy.鈥�
Join now and train over the summer, and Daley says a person would be learning to drive the TAPV by fall.
roger@vernonmorningstar.com
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