Rocky Mountain Rangers return to Kamloops from six-month deployment overseas

Two corporals returning to Kamloops from a six-month international deployment received a warm welcome from a group of fellow Rocky Mountain Rangers at Kamloops Airport.

Cpl. Brent Waby and Cpl. Raven Bingham had been serving in Latvia with the First Battalion of Princess Patricia’s Canadian Light Infantry as part of NATO’s Enhanced Forward Presence Battle Group.

The two touched down at Fulton Field just after 10 a.m. on Wednesday.

Waby told Castanet Kamloops it felt great to arrive back at home to familiar faces he hasn’t seen “in a very long time.”

“I did three months of workup training before even going overseas, so I haven’t been home in nine months,” he said.

Waby, who has been with the Rocky Mountain Rangers for seven years, said he has several domestic operations under his belt including fighting fires and flood work, but this was his first international deployment.

“It was definitely a learning experience for me,” Waby said.

“We were part of NATO’s forward battle group in Latvia. So we go there, we train, and it’s just an active, basically a deterrent force in Latvia.”

He said he worked closely with Latvians, as well as soldiers from Estonia, Denmark, Spain and Italy.

“We worked together to do combined armed exercises and just fulfill NATO’s mission over there,” he said.

As for what’s next, Waby said he was planning to take some well-earned time off.

“Go vacation for like a month and just relax,” he said.