 |
| R22R Veteran |
No, it's not what it sounds like. The guns I'm talking about are 3BAM's and the bikers in question are not an outlaw motorcycle gang. These guys were way, way tougher than any group of outlaw bikers ever assembled; they are all Canadian service veterans and members of the Royal Canadian Legion. 3BAM sent a detachment to fire a salute at the Legion branch in Mascouche on June 9th as they were having their annual rally there and it was a lot of fun for us too.
These guys are tough, believe me, but also very friendly and very appreciative of our participation. From the moment we arrived and dismounted from our vehicles, each of us was greeted with many friendly and welcoming handshakes from various members.
 |
| Capt Noreau |
3BAM members who participated in the event were Lcol Jaques Borne,
CWO Gilles Aubé, MWO Tom Savoie, Capt Maurice Noreau in his role and uniform as legion president, Ocdt Monique Champagne, Sgt Marc Castonguay, myself, Lsgt Michel Lapointe and Bdr Sylvain Bouchard. Ocdt Champagne was very smartly decked out in her newly arrived KD summer uniform, though wearing one of Gilles Aubé old SD caps since hers hasn't quite arrived yet. The boss was very impressed by how well she wore her new uniform and wanted to make certain I shot a photo so that he could show it to other unit members who's standards are maybe slipping a bit to demonstrate them of how to wear a uniform properly. That's quite a compliment coming from Gilles; trust me on this one Monique, so take it while you can ;o)
 |
| Ocdt Champagne and MWO (ret) Savoie |
|
 |
| One of the speeches being delivered. |
There were a few speeches before we fired, and as is always the case on 3BAM shoots it seems, the lighting conditions kept changing and there simply was no good position to place my camera for when the magic moment came. Either the sun was in the wrong position, or there were obstructions, distracting background elements, etc, etc. I never like shooting outdoors at this time of day as the sun is too high, too harsh and the quality of light...just blechh! Unfortunately, we can't fire the gun indoors. Well maybe we could in some places, but not without breaking all the windows and setting off all the smoke alarms. I don't think anyone is willing to do this just to make the photography easier, though I do wish I could do a bit more indoor photography of the equipment with controlled lighting as the little bit I've done so far has had a very positive response from 3BAM members. I digress. Back to our story.
 |
| The Detachment at the ready, waiting for the speeches to end. From right to left: LSgt Lapointe, MWO Savoie, Ocdt Champagne, BdrBouchard and Sgt Castonguay. |
 |
| Our first VIP gunner was a gunner! |
As is almost always the case, we found from among the crowd two "VIP" gunners to fire the gun, one being a former gunner himself, the other a former VanDoo, in fact the one who's jacket is featured in the opening photo of this story. A little bit of instruction on how to fire and the sequence of orders, safety protocols etc, and they were both ready to bang away. As we were fairly close to a busy road and firing in its general directly, the police politely and wisely suggested that all traffic be halted for a minute or two prior to firing, which was of course done. No need to cause a traffic accident with an unexpected discharge of artillery!
 |
| Boom! |
Things went pretty much according to plan thereafter and both shots went off without a hitch. Some of our VIP gunners are young and smallish and sometimes have a bit of difficulty pulling the firing handle back on the 25pdr, but not these guys! When Marc Castonguay yelled "Fire," the boom came right away. Unfortunately the strong light made it very difficult to time the exposures to catch the flash as well as I did in last weeks shots and so I think I have to work on this technique a bit. It's definitely possible, because I have done it. Timing....it's all timing.
 |
| The detachment and our VIP gunners pose for a photo. |
All while we were preparing to fire, they folks from the legion had a large BBQ heating up and so that once we'd done with the shots, they were ready to slap on the dogs and burgers, which were much appreciated. I packed my gear and lined up for the grub and headed indoors to quaff it down with a couple of Budweisers. As with last week, I did some good business on my own selling large prints to members of the outfit. This is telling me that whenever I go out, I have to make sure to bring a few prints from previous events with me. They make nice souvenirs and are being very well-received.
Anyway, after a pleasant hour or so of pigging out on burgers and beer (there were some wine drinkers too) we hooked in the gun and headed back to the barn, where Gilles, Tom, Marc, Sylvain and I did some maintenance on the gun before heading for home. Another job well-done.
Ubique!
Gary Menten
Photographer-Correspondent
3BAM
