The CANAM Cup is a tank gunnery competition held annually between the Lord Strathcona’s Horse (Royal Canadians) and 2nd Tank Battalion of the Idaho Army National Guard.  The competition was originally envisaged as a replacement for the Canadian Army Trophy (CAT), a prestigious NATO tank gunnery competition that ran in Germany between 1977-1991, and in 1997, this spirit of friendly competition was revived with the CANAM Cup, though now the competition is only between tank troops from Canada and the U.S.  Each unit enters one troop, which is required to fight a tank troop battle on a tank gunnery range in both day and night conditions.  The troop, which destroys the most targets, wins.

This year’s CANAM Cup was the fifth year of competition, with Canada standing at a 3-1 win-loss record, having won in 1997, 2000, 2002, and lost in 1999.  This year, not only were the Americans hungry for a win, but the competition took place on their home range at the Orchard Training Area, outside of Boise, Idaho on 7 November 2003.

All members of B Squadron worked hard to prepare One Troop’s vehicles and personnel for the competition, devoting many long hours to tank maintenance, gun camp and practicing gunnery in the simulators.  In the end, B Sqn, in true Strathcona’s fashion, persevered and produced a top-notch team that was ready to compete.  Throughout the work-up training in Wainwright AB and for training in Boise, a documentary film crew from the Outdoor Life Network integrated with B Sqn to document training and preparation, as well as the competition.  However, the CANAM Cup is not all glory, as the team found out when they travelled 23 hours on a bus just to get to Boise.  Needless to say, the first day in Boise was spent catching up on sleep.

The 116th Cavalry Brigade proved, once again, to be gracious hosts, we were well supported. 

 The B Sqn team spent three days becoming acquainted with the tank range, in both day and night.  This made for extremely long days but the tank crews did not let it affect their morale.  The day prior to the competition the 116 Cavalry Brigade welcomed the Sqn to their mess, for the official meet and greet with friendly banter regarding each others ability to win the next days’ competition.

The competition itself was full of suspense. After the day battle run, the 116 Cavalry Brigade troop believed that they had hit every target on the range. On the other hand, One Troop thought that they had hit between 21 and 24 hard targets out of 30, and six out of eight coax targets.  Confidence amongst the two teams was high and only the holes in the targets were the true judge – after the day shoot, the count was 16 hard targets and five infantry targets for the Americans, and 24 hard targets and three coax targets for the Canadians.

Following the night shoot both teams thought they had surpassed each other’s abilities, but it was not until the following morning when both sides would learn who won.  Unfortunately for B Sqn and Canada the 116 Cavalry Brigade troop prevailed on the night shoot and won with a final tally of Canada 33 – U.S. 36.

Even though we did not bring the CANAM Cup home, we once again proved our ability and skill in tank gunnery.  The soldiers of B Squadron left Boise, ID with a solid sense of pride in ourselves, and in our tanks.