Windsor army reservist returns to Canada’s extreme south after ‘arctic’ training

March Break is traditionally a time when people from Windsor travel south seeking an early shot of hot weather in Florida or the Caribbean.

But that was not the case for Chelsea Thistle.

She's a corporal in the Windsor Regiment — an army reserve unit.

The 27-year-old went in the opposite direction last week. She was part of a group of soldiers who went to the extreme north of Ontario — near Moosonee along the shore of James Bay — to train for something called "arctic operations."

Now back home after her 10-day adventure, she talked with CBC Radio's Windsor Morning host, Amy Dodge.

Here's part of their conversation.

Are you warm again? 

I don't know. They're saying I brought the cold back with me. 

How cold is it up there? Give us a perspective. 

Some days, you'd be breathing through your face mask there, and you'd have frost on your face. It was pretty chilly. A drop down at night, too. 

But you're no stranger to this cold. You've been on these expeditions before. How far north have you gone? 

I've gone up to Rankin Inlet, in Nunavut. It was pretty, and that was very cold. We were on the ice out there and not in shelters … just in our tents. 

Can you tell us about what you did [last week]? 

We were really working on sovereignty operations there, showing that we have a presence in the North and that we can operate and will operate in the North. 

We were just really focusing on, like our tent groups and our basic responsibilities there, like setting up the ten-man tents, using the stoves for heat at night, just making sure you can operate there. 

Operate physically, and as a group, I'd imagine? 

Yeah, that's the hardest part. 

Normally, for myself, I'm Windsor Regiment. Whenever I go on exercises, I go with the Windsor Regiment. So it's all armoured soldiers with me. But up there, in my tent group, I had artillery guys. 

Last year, we were working with the Brits. This year, we had a couple Americans with us. That was pretty cool. I didn't get to work with those, though, but in my tent I also had infantry guys, and then in my platoon, combat engineers too. 

What does that do for you in your development? 

It gave me a more broad experience of what they do behind the scenes, also because I know what I'm doing and training and I'm pushing forward. 

I have infantry with me. I never really thought about the artillery guys, so it's awesome to learn how they operate too and run there. 

But we were … doing the exact same thing up in the North, so it was pretty rewarding to work with those guys.

How many were there of you? 

I believe about 150 of us up there. 

And how many from Windsor? 

About seven. 

And what about women? What's the representation like?

It's small. I got the pleasure to work with my best friend. She's a corporal, too. She is in the military with me, and we were two of probably about five girls in the Windsor Regiment. 

Her and I were the only ones from Windsor. She was luckily in my tent group. Within my platoon, I had one other girl. She was a medic. She was pretty cool.

Do you notice the lack of women?

Yeah. It's different being a girl, but I get treated the same. 

Was that something you thought about before you signed up? 

No. I pretty much signed up on a whim. I wanted to see something new, experience something new, so I just hopped right in. 

You're still glowing, so something's working.

Yeah, I love it. The experiences are different. 

What has been the most surprising experience so far? I'm imagining these trips up north?

Yeah, it was definitely Nunavut. The Northern Lights itself was worth it. But the cold, it's a very hard and demanding job up north in the cold, but it's the most rewarding. 

What's the next training that you're gearing up for? 

I'm gearing up for this summer. We have a big exercise. It's like a week long. So another one almost kind of like the winter one we just did, in the States. 

You had mentioned going to the Arctic Circle.

That's going to be next year. 

How do you prepare now that you've been on two very cold trips? 

It's a lot of mental. A lot of mental resilience goes into those and the right equipment like parkas and bib pants. 

Here, it feels colder. I feel like up there, it's dry, dry, cold. So down here just chills you to the bone. 

You had mentioned about the mental. Do people quit? 

Some people try to drop out. A lot of times … like your teammate or your crew kind of losing morale. The elements do that for them.

You've really got to try bringing it up. You've got to keep looking at the good times. It's hard sometimes. Sometimes I was at my wits end, but I had my friends pull me out and you just have to keep going.