An open house at the Portage Armoury is taking place Wednesday evening between 7:00 p.m. and 10:00 p.m. Sergeant Nathaniel FiIlion explains it's an opportunity to come down and see what they do as an artillery reserve regiment on a normal training evening. 

"Portage Armoury is a Canadian Army Artillery Reserve unit," says FiIlion. "That means that we train to operate howitzers. Wednesday evening is one of our regularly scheduled work evenings and it's an opportunity for the public to come down to ask questions, to see what we do, and to see if working part-time with the Canadian Armed Forces is something that might interest them."

At least one recruiter will be present for the duration of the evening, and you can ask questions about joining. There'll also be a few soldiers showing people some of the equipment that they use and some things they do in their regular Wednesday evening training. 

"We'll have a medium-service vehicle system, some small arms; things like rifles and machine guns, as well as tours of the museum, artifacts, and the mess, which is an establishment where troops would relax after hours."

FiIlion notes you can come down and interact with the Canadian Armed Forces. He explains it's a prestigious environment that you can belong to and a way to support the country through being prepared with the military. 

Portage members helping with sandbagging during 2011 floodPortage members helping in Brandon with sandbagging during 2011 flood

"This is something that's not generally done every year. So, normally what we do is we try and go to places like schools or colleges to tell people about the unit. This will be the first one that's been done since COVID-19."

He adds many involved are currently away in B.C., deployed on a domestic operation called Palaci. 

"They use cannon to fire into the mountains while the highways are closed to create avalanches. Some of our members are out there on that and have volunteered to go out there. So, I do know that numbers might look a little bit small out there, but there will certainly be staff on site to show people around and answer any questions that they have." 

FiIlion says the soldiers were also involved in the flooding in 2011.

"The armouries became headquarters. And there were in the neighbourhood of over 1,000 troops came out to support the local community, sandbagging the embankments of the Assiniboine River to prevent widespread flooding throughout the southern half of the province. That's certainly one thing I was actually a part of that. That was in operation Lentus. I remember staying in the arena in Portage and then they take us out, and we spend all day sandbagging. It's just one of the main things that you see with the Canadian Armed Forces and what we do is provide that immediate disaster relief as necessary. And it's something else that we can be a part of."