DND released late last week that 30 members of the 1st Canadian Mechanized Brigade Group (1 CMBG) based out of Edmonton, Alberta are taking part in Exercise CITADEL KLEBER at the Mourmelon Training grounds in France.
The CAF announced that the training exercise began on March 3 2015, and will run until March 20 2015. The CAF in recent years has stepped up its training exercises with France, and more are expected in the future according to DND.
Exercise CITADEL KLEBER also includes troops from Belgium, Spain, and the Netherlands. It totals more than 1,700 troops. The exercise is being led by France, who is getting ready to take over the NATO Rapid Response HQ in 2017.
The 1 CMBG troops are taking the opportunity to plan and execute crisis response situations and sharpen their interoperability skills with NATO allies.