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www.oakvillebeaver.com The Oakville Beaver, Friday October 6, 2006 - 5 Change of command for Lorne Scots By Robert Smol SPECIAL TO THE BEAVER In a ceremony marked with tradition, the Lorne Scots Regiment, one of the largest Army reserve regiments in Ontario, welcomed its new Commanding Officer Lieutenant-Colonel Timothy Orange. Orange, a former airborne officer who had seen service in Bosnia and Cyprus took command of the regiment from Lieutenant-Colonel Ross Welsh who had held the position for the last three years. The Change of Command Ceremony took place on the grounds of Sheridan College's Trafalgar Campus and was attended by various local dignitaries including the Lieutenant-Governor of Ontario, James Bartleman. The ceremony also commemorated the 140th anniversary of the Lorne Scots, whose soldiers have served in every major world conflict since Confederation. Dressed in the traditional uniforms, the soldiers of the regiment highlighted the event with the Trooping of the Colours, an age-old ceremony where the regimental colours are paraded before the troops. The regimental colours are a specially designed flag emblazoned with the names of the battles that the regiment had fought in the past. "Trooping the colours is a long standing tradition that ers are enrolled at college and university. And, for those holding positions of responsibility in the Army Reserve, the time commitment could be espe- cially taxing. "This is probably the most time intensive part time job you would ever take on," said Welsh. "You are basically still on call 24-7." JOE O'CONNAL/ SPECIAL TO THE BEAVER INSPECTION: Lieutenant Governor of Ontario, James K. Bartleman, conducts an inspection of the Lorne Scots Peel Dufferin and Halton regiment at the Change of Command ceremony. army units practiced in order to reaffirm their position on the battlefield," said Orange. "In the morning in particular regiments that were on campaign and after battle would troop the colours to let the soldiers know that the regiment was still alive since the colours were the rally point of the regiment, the source of history and pride to soldiers in the field." Yet behind the tradition the Lorne Scots, which operates detachments in Oakville, Georgetown, and Brampton remains a modern, operationally-focused regiment committed to training its complement of more than 150 mostly part-time soldiers to be prepared fight in areas such as Afghanistan or anywhere else that the Canadian Forces may be called on to serve. "Our training now is a lot more operationally focused then it ever has been in the past," said outgoing Commanding Officer Lieutenant-Colonel Ross Welsh, who in civilian life works for the Toronto Fire Service. "More and more of our troops are getting the opportunity to deploy on operations overseas with the regular force and therefore our training is focused on jobs that we would actually be expected to perform overseas." "We are getting newer and better equipment," said Orange. "We have more relevant training and we are getting more relevant experience." Today the Lorne Scots have six members serving in Afghanistan and others serving in places such as Darfur. Many of the part-time soldiers of the regiment have served on United Nations peacekeeping as well as with NATO in areas such as Bosnia. For Lieutenant-Colonel Orange, keeping pace with the growing operational focus of Canada's Army Reserve is a challenge he looks forward to meeting in his term as Commanding Officer. "We are constantly adapting, we are constantly changing with what they are experiencing in places like Afghanistan and Darfur," he said. It is a commitment that will, among other things, involve training more troops. "We are going to grow the regiment," he said. "We have been given the latitude to recruit more, and we got a very strong recruiting machine going on in this regiment." Both Welsh and Orange, like the majority of their soldiers, serve on a part-time basis and are expected to balance their military commitments with their civilian careers. When not in uniform members of the regiment are employed in such professions as teachers, mechanics, police, and bankers. Many oth- LIQ U IDAT IO N S