The Canadian Military Was Confused By And Complained About POKÉMON GO After Its Initial Launch

Pokéstops and Pokémon Gyms in Niantic's popular mobile game Pokémon Go almost always double as interesting locations in the neighborhood - leading trainers to discover pieces of interesting street art, historical and artistic museums, military locations, local parks, and so much more.

Long time franchise fans find this as a welcome addition to the Pokémon world, but for many people who were previously unfamiliar with the franchise - such as police and military officials, Niantic's popular game proved to cause a bit of confusion and annoyance. After the game launched more civilians began being seen entering military facilities which caused a lot of misunderstanding in the officials.

Although it took three and a half years after their initial request, CBC News has managed to receive documents which detail the Canadian Military's confusion from Pokémon Go's initial release. Below you can see examples of some of the e-mail exchanges between the military officials.

"Plse advise the Commissionaires that apparently Fort Frontenac is both a PokeGym and a PokeStop. I will be completely honest in that I have not idea what that is," - Maj. Jeff Monaghan at CFB Kingston.

"The game's premise seems to be going to the 'PokeStops/Gyms' to collect 'Pokemon's' (we should almost hire a 12-year-old to help us out with this) of which we were able to find 5 of these things on the range road itself," - Security Expert David Levenick at CFB Borden, Ont., 100 kilometres northwest of Toronto.

"There's a game out there taking off like gangbusters, and it requires people to move to digitally cached locations to get points, etc.," - Lieut. Col. Richard Raymond at CFB Petawawa, west of Ottawa.

A separate official mentioned the pocket monsters as  "mythical digital creatures" saying that five of them had been located on base, while someone else made a comment that kids were climbing on tanks. A complaint was filed in July of 2016 stating that the game would endanger the 22 Wing's mission. Elsewhere, at CFB Halifax officials instead recognized the potential the game offered and Rear Admiral John Newton made the following recommendations.

• Remove the PokeStop from the Dockyard Gym, because "it presents a security risk."
• Add a PokeStop at the Stadacona Gym, because "this addition, with the already existing PokeStops at the museum and the admiral's residence, would increase the museum's attendance."
• If possible, upgrade the museum PokeStop to a Pokemon gym to increase traffic.
• "Life and work are best accomplished if there is good fun, health and friendship. If Pokemon Go enables these values, while we protect our interests, then we all stand to marvel at this intersection of technology, gaming and health."

Now that these documents have been released alongside Niantic's Wayfarer ability (when it sees a re-release), we can only hope that more military figures will follow suit in the future, ultimately increasing the playing field of Pokémon Go.

By the way, have you taken the time to try the new buddy adventure feature yet? Your Pokémon companion can now join you on the map bringing along a bevy of features such as feeding your friend and having them join you when capturing. Check out the full trailer for the upcoming Pokémon Go Buddy Adventure feature in below!

Experience Pokémon in the real world with Pokémon Go! You never forget your first Pokémon partner. Share your journey with it again with the new Pokémon GO Buddy Adventure feature!