Afstan: Canadian operations near Pakistan border

Trying to do something to deal with a major problem:

Canadians have begun what may be one of their riskiest missions yet in Afghanistan: opening a new front on the border with Pakistan, in order to stem the tide of insurgents and suicide bombers feeding the ranks of the Taliban.

The lawless region right across the border is also where the Taliban leadership, including al Qaeda's Osama Bin Laden, is believed to be hiding...

To stem this deadly tide of attackers, Canadian commanders have sent troops to patrol the volatile border regions.

CTV's Steve Chao visited the border region on Sunday shortly after two suicide bombers were captured. The border town where they crossed, Spin Boldak, is a major gateway from Pakistan into southern Afghanistan, long known as a favoured entry point for Taliban fighters and weapons.

Chao described it as "a chaotic jungle of people and vehicles."

As an Afghan intelligence officer interrogated the two captured men, one of them admitted they were sent in as bombers.

"We are from Pakistan," the man said. "We were trained to be suicide bombers."

Canadians are also teaching the border guards how to search for explosives and spot potential bombers...

Afstan: Change of military focus in Regional Command (South)/ROEs

The UK general commanding NATO ISAF says things will be somewhat different. And US troops will be under a foreign commander for the first time in a long time. Canadian angle at end; we'll still be doing combat.

A British general will command American troops for the first time since the Second World War when Nato takes charge of the mission to pacify southern Afghanistan today.

Lt Gen David Richards, Britain's most experienced officer in developing world arenas, assumes control of a merged Nato and US force that will grow from 9,000 to 18,000.

It is one of the largest and toughest missions the alliance has faced, covering six southern provinces and extending its authority to almost all of the country. At a press conference in Kabul on Saturday, Gen Richards promised that Nato will bring a new strategy to the fight.

Instead of chasing down the Taliban, Nato forces will garrison key towns and villages. It wants to bolster the weak government of President Hamid Karzai and win the support of local people by promoting much-needed development.

The general said he hoped there will be "secure zones" in the volatile south in three to six months.

The direct approach pursued under American command, particularly by British troops, has claimed the lives of some 700 Afghan fighters - more than a third of them Taliban - and 19 western troops including six British soldiers...

Nato will control security in 75 per cent of the country - in the west, north and south - while the US-led coalition still leads the fight in the eastern provinces along the border with Pakistan.

In the south, the force will comprise mainly British - there are already 4,300 UK soldiers - Dutch and Canadians.

Nato will also command 13 Provincial Reconstruction Teams and take on more responsibility from the Americans for training the Afghan National Army and police.

More on changed emphasis:

...General Richards has made it clear that although he wants to maintain a high operational tempo, he intends to refocus the campaign in southern Afghanistan. The sources said that in consultation with the Government in Kabul, he planned to start creating “Afghan development zones” in selected areas, deploying troops to regions where reconstruction work could make a real impact on the local communities.

The Canadian angle:

Canadian combat soldiers had worried that under NATO they would operate under stricter rules of engagement preventing them from defending themselves properly, and that they might be prosecuted under international law if they responded to a threat in a way permitted by Canada, but forbidden by NATO.

Richards said the NATO Rules of Engagement (ROE), agreed to by the troop-contributing nations, are adequate.

"Originally, I think many people worried about ROE, and constraining our freedom of action and our ability to mount and conduct a sound military operation," Richards said.

"The ROE given me and the whole force are more than sufficient to enable Canadian troops and any other ISAF troops to not only defend themselves robustly, but to take pre-emptive military action should intelligence or other indications suggest that is what's required."..

I suggest you read the whole article which has lots of detail on Canadian military and civilian activities.

More in a Canadian Press story:

The way Canadian soldiers operate in southern Afghanistan under NATO won't differ from how they're working under Operation Enduring Freedom, Canadian military officials said...

Under Operation Enduring Freedom, however, they have been heavily involved in dangerous combat missions.

That role will continue, with troops engaging in combat and NATO commanders able to order pre-emptive strikes against suspected Taliban fighters, Lt.-Col. Brian Irwin said.

“I don't expect to see significant change under NATO,” said Lt.-Col. Irwin, who is responsible for getting the next rotation of Canadians into Kandahar.

The rules of engagement for the Canadian and other international forces under NATO, which cannot be made public, won't change much from those used by the U.S.-led troops, he added...

Afstan rations

At least the French are the worst(?!?):

When the going gets tough, the tough trade rations. After weeks in the field, Canadian combat and support troops become sick to death of their packaged rations.

The "rats," as they are known, come in brown paper sacks packed with tear-open boxes and pouches.

Soldiers eat rations for breakfast, lunch and dinner.

And while the Canadians appreciate their coalition counterparts for their roles in the multi-national force, they are deeply grateful for what comes out of their ration boxes: something other than the same old chow.

"Whoever made that enchilada is a god," says Cpl. Brian Gibson, who prefers the U.S. "meals ready to eat," or MREs, to the Canadian "individual meal packages," or IMPs.

"You don't get as much, but you eat everything in it."..

While the American rations may provide alternative eating for hungry Canadians, the variety only goes so far: the MREs are not differentiated for breakfast, lunch and dinner. That Country Captain Chicken may taste fine for supper, but it's a different story when it's tossed into your lap for breakfast.

The MREs do, however, contain a high-tech heating bag, into which a sealed entree is placed, along with some water, which comes to a near-immediate boil when a chemical packet is dropped in.

Canadian troops carry a water-heating unit, but seldom have time to use it.

Their freeze-dried rice, if it's not consigned to the trash fire, is eaten al dente.

"A lot of times we'll just dump water in the rice to soften it up, then we just end up pouring it in the meal," says Private Jody Salway. "It's like eating sand, crunch, crunch, crunch."..

At a British patrol base in Helmand province, Canadian troops set up their encampment on the fringes of the British and other coalition forces for two nights, after the Brits had run short on rations while under fire virtually every day and night for two weeks.

Each evening the Canadians spent at the base, the same British soldier came by with some none-too-hearty U.K. ration packs, hoping to make a trade.

Cpl. Shawn Hofman has little love for the measly British meals, but he felt sorry for the food-deprived paratrooper. "They don't get re-supplied that often. They were freakin' eating scraps," Hofman says.

Hofman traded three Canadian meal packages for one three-meal British package that's supposed to supply all the days' meals but is about the size of one Canadian ration pack.

"Their rations suck," Hofman says.

But it's a country renowned for its cuisine that sends its troops to war with the least-appetizing meals, according to Cpl. Wes Spencer.

"The worst rations are the French rations," Spencer says. "I wouldn't give it to the Taliban — I'm sure there's a law somewhere in the Geneva Convention against slowly poisoning the enemy."..

Navy in North

A voyage last year and an exercise this year:

Casual observers might be excused for thinking the navy’s planned voyage to the Northwest Passage in August will be the first in a long time.

But while all eyes focused on hurricane Katrina late last summer in the Gulf of Mexico, HMCS Fredericton was patrolling on the southeast coast of Devon Island just below the 75th parallel. It was the farthest north a Canadian warship had sailed in nearly two decades...

Fredericton’s voyage last year, to Devon Island, Lancaster Sound and Pond Inlet, marked the first time a Canadian naval vessel had ventured that far north since a combined scientific and military mission in 1987...

The warship spent two weeks above the Arctic Circle last August.

"I took three officers of the Department of Fisheries and Oceans north to inspect the Canadian fishing fleets and just to demonstrate presence amongst the international fishing fleets outside Canadian waters," Cmdr. Newton said.

The navy has been turning its eye toward the Arctic since 2000. And Defence Minister Gordon O’Connor has said he hopes to know by the end of the year where to build an Arctic deepwater port with the aim of increasing military presence in an area known to be rich in oil, gas and mineral resources.

"The whole idea of our thrust into the North is to regain the experience in our officers and men," Cmdr. Newton said. "The ships are capable of summertime navigation in most of the waters of the Canadian North."..

The frigate HMCS Montreal and coastal defence vessels HMCS Moncton and HMCS Goose Bay will be part of Operation Lancaster from Aug. 12 to 24. It will take the army, navy and air force into Lancaster Sound, the channel off the north coast of Baffin Island.

Six aircraft will fly overhead while a platoon of soldiers work with Ranger patrols from Nunavut communities. The ships will also patrol Lancaster Sound and conduct fishing surveillance...

Canada and "traditional peackeeping": Who knows this?

Many are howling that Canada should concentrate on "traditional peacekeeping". This is Canada's most recent mission of that sort; has one Canadian in a thousand ever heard of it and can one MP in ten even remember it? Or that our remaining observers were kicked out by Eritrea?

NORAD war room bunker to close

The romance is gone.

Facing new enemies in a different kind of war, the Pentagon said Friday that it plans to move out of the famous war room that was built beneath a mountain here in the 1960s with enough concrete to survive a Soviet missile strike.

The North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) will transfer surveillance operations from Cheyenne Mountain Operations Center, an iconic Cold War venue depicted in such movies as "War Games" and "The Sum of All Fears," to an office building a dozen miles away at Peterson Air Force Base.

The Cheyenne Mountain war room, nesting more than 1,000 feet under the mountain and protected by iron blast doors weighing 30 tons apiece, is to be placed in a status the military calls "warm standby," which means it could be reopened in hours if a need arose.

Since 1966, U.S. and Canadian military personnel have staffed the complex's war room round the clock, roughly 200 at a time. Although the NORAD headquarters is secluded and reinforced, it has proved to be inconvenient.
Since 1966, U.S. and Canadian military personnel have staffed the complex's war room round the clock, roughly 200 at a time. Although the NORAD headquarters is secluded and reinforced, it has proved to be inconvenient...

Taliban casualties according to Brits

"Paras claim 700 Taliban lives":

...it is the first time a figure of insurgent dead has been confirmed. Many casualties were caused by airstrikes, with RAF Harriers and US A10 fighters dropping 500lb laser-guided bombs.

Men from 3Bn the Parachute Regiment, part of the 3,600-strong Helmand Task Force, had been putting "thousands of rounds down," regimental sources said.

With some Canadian help in Helmand.

Afstan: The Toronto Star gets the military facts wrong

In an editorial July 28 the Star writes that "Soon after the 9/11 attacks, former Liberal prime minister Jean Chrétien deployed a few commandos to help oust the Taliban." This mis-states the facts in three ways:

1) The Taliban were ousted from power, and most of Afghanistan, by December, 2001. Most Canadian troops did not arrive at Kandahar until February, 2002. Their mission ranged from helping US forces hunt down Taliban and al Qaeda remnants to providing airfield security.

2) There were not a "few" Canadian soldiers; there were some 750 of them.

3) They were not "commandos"; most were members of the 3rd Battalion of the regular infantry regiment, Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry.

There were, however, some 40 Canadian special forces soldiers from Joint Task Force Two also serving in the area; but they were only a small part of the overall mission, not all of it as the editorial suggests. They arrived, also at Kandahar, in December, 2001 after the Taliban had been driven from power--by the Afghan Northern Alliance with air and special forces support from the US and UK, but without any help from Western ground forces.

How typical of the Star--especially the minimizing of our first combat mission in Afstan under M. Chrétien (unless of course the Star simply does not know the facts, scary from Canada's largest circulation newspaper).

Update: The Star printed my letter about this.

Afstan: Army rotation begins as NATO ISAF takes command

The Royal Canadian regiment starts arriving to replace the Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry.

Relief for the 2,300 war-weary Canadians who have battled the Taliban in Afghanistan for the past six months begins today as another deployment of troops gets under way in earnest.

About 50 replacement soldiers have already arrived, but the main rotation begins today and will take about a month to complete, said Canadian military spokesman Maj. Marc Theriault.

"It's spread over a month so we can maintain our capacity," Maj. Theriault said.

As soldiers arrive at the main base at the Kandahar Airfield, they will be paired up with soldiers whose jobs they will be taking over, to learn by their sides.

"It's amazing the experience that these people have developed in the last six months, and that's what we don't want to lose," Maj. Theriault said...

Soldiers from the Royal Canadian Regiment will make up the bulk of the troops replacing the soldiers serving now, who come mostly from the Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry...

Overall command of the Canadian forces in southern Afghanistan will also change, moving from the U.S.-led Coalition Forces Command to the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force on Monday...

The new battle group commander will be Lt.-Col. Omer Lavoie.

The battle group under Lavoie's command will mainly be comprised of soldiers from C.F.B. Petawawa, but will also include troops from Shilo and Edmonton. They have spent the past ten months training at a specifically designed centre in Wainwright Alberta, that replicates the Afghan environment. Many of the soldiers in his battle group have already done one if not two tours of duty in Afghanistan says Lavoie and they are well prepared for the mission ahead.

"Battle of Panjawai and beyond"

There's the text of an e-mail in comments at small dead animals that seems to be from Nichola Goddard's replacement with "Contact C" in Afghanistan. Here's a taste:

We let off about 20 rounds of Frangible 25mm from our cannon at guys about a 100m away before we got a major jam in our link ejection chute. We went to our 7.62 coax machine gun, and fired one round before it too jammed!! Boy was I pissed off. I went to jump up on the pintol mounted machine gun, but as I stuck my head out of the LAV I realized the bad guys were still shooting at us and that the Canadian Engineers were firing High Explosive Incendiary 25mm rounds from their cannon right over our front deck. I quickly popped back down realizing that was probably one of the stupider ideas I have ever had in my life.

Read the entire thing here.

Israeli attack on UNTSO post in Lebanon

Audio of interview on CFRA, Ottawa, with Colonel (ret'd) Michel Drapeau.

Peacekeeping: The curse of Lester Pearson

An Ottawa Citizen editorial decries the after-effects of a Nobel Peace Prize.

Lester B. Pearson's legacy remains one of the great Canadian contributions of the 20th century, in particular his Nobel Peace Prize-winning idea of an "emergency" international force to stand between hostile nations.

The Nobel committee said that in inventing peacekeeping, Pearson had "saved the world."

Heady, seductive praise for Canada -- and dangerous too, because it created a national self-image of Canada-the-Peacekeeper that is simply wrong. Pearson's "peacekeeping" was situational. It suited Suez in 1956, and some other conflicts over the years, but it should not have become our principal foreign and defence policy posture...

It's sometimes said that members of our unelected Senate are not the most industrious group of people in Ottawa, but Mr. Kenny's work [as Chair of the Committee on National Security and Defence] has been exemplary and thorough. His hard-hitting reports don't just expose deficiencies in our defence and security apparatus, but they bravely detail how public ignorance and political expediency have left this nation dangerously vulnerable...

Though a Liberal, Mr. Kenny endorses the government's support of Israel in its effort to dismantle Hezbollah, and he is unimpressed by interim Liberal leader Bill Graham's now-infamous call for a more "nuanced" position on militant Islam. Mr. Graham is wearing blinkers, and sometimes when your vision is limited you don't see the bomb coming...

The Victoria Cross is not for sale

"The military honours bestowed upon me are the property of the men of my unit as well as myself and were obtained at considerable cost of the blood of this country. Under no circumstances could I consent to any material gain for myself for my services."

- Captain Charles Upham, Victoria Cross and Bar, one of only three recipients to have ever won the Victoria Cross twice. The other two being Lieutenant Colonel Arthur Martin-Leake (picture right) and Noel Godfrey Chavasse.

Those words and temperament of character from New Zealand's greatest war hero are ones that his three daughters are having just a tad difficulty living up to. We learn that they have received a million dollar offer from Australia and one worth almost three times that much from a British collector, and have given the New Zealand Government a chance to match it. I suggest the taxpayers of New Zealand cough up the cash because these three have obviously forfeited their right to hang such honour in their house, now that Charles Upham has died (he passed away in 1994). Besides, the price seems to be what the market can bear, since we also learn the other day that the VC of Australia’s most decorated Gallipoli veteran, Captain Alfred Shout, fetched the record price of $1 million (AUS). So I suppose it stands to reason that inheritors of a double VC should get at least double the cash.

Only it doesn’t stand to reason. The Victoria Cross is priceless. It is first in the order of precedence, ranking higher than any order of chivalry, be it the Order of Canada, the Bath, the Garter, be it the Supreme Order of Christ. I submit that if there is one thing worse than cash for peerages, it is cash for VCs. Granted the buyers and sellers of VCs are not, as such, trading in honours (they are not paying to be a VC holder, only to own the VC), but it’s still not keeping in the spirit of the medal’s true value. The Victoria Cross is no mere trinket. The British Commonwealth’s highest award for valour and gallantry “in the face of the enemy” represents the life and blood of nations. It is sacred. It should not be for sale.

King George V felt so strongly about this, he ordered that no matter the crime, no authority could ever strip a man of his VC, commenting that a recipient should still be permitted to wear the decoration even if he were on the gallows. (His Private Secretary stating in a letter the King's view that:"no matter the crime committed by anyone on whom the VC has been conferred, the decoration should not be forfeited. Even were a VC to be sentenced to be hanged for murder, he should be allowed to wear his VC on the scaffold.")

Had he the foresight, Emperor George would no doubt have widened this policy to forbid the auctioning off of VCs too, much as one cannot auction off one’s citizenship. We cannot sell our passport because we do not own it; we are merely passport holders. Ditto for the Victoria Cross. Recipients of the VC are often described as winners or holders of the award, not owners. The comparison is valid, I think, since heroism in the face of a nation’s enemies represents the highest act of citizenship. It seems to me that there is a special responsibility to protect the dignity of these gallant acts, and not cheapen them by selling them off to the highest bidder.

The grandson of Alfred Shout, Graham Thomas, who sold the medal last week, said keeping the VC in his family home had become too much of a responsibility. He also needed the funds to help his children and grandchildren, and to pay medical bills. "Anyway, I think Captain Shout would support my decision to sell it to support his descendants".

Too much of a responsibility. Well, Captain Shout certainly knew a lot about responsibility, not to mention the sacrifice responsibility sometimes requires. Not sure hanging a VC on your wall of honour constitutes a grave responsibility or an immense joy, but I’m thinking the latter more than the former. As for the brave soldier somehow agreeing from his grave with the decision of his grandson to get rich off his heroism by selling the family jewels to a private collector, I’d have to say don’t think so. It is more likely that Graham is expressing seller’s remorse and is conveniently trying to lessen the guilt he feels for his actions.

But all of this is important now not because of principle alone. It so happens that this year, the 150th year of the Victoria Cross, we continue to find ourselves in the thick of our still unfolding history. Last week, the Americans, Brits and Canadians were engaged in pre-dawn offensives against hundreds of Taliban. Obviously we are still carrying out operations “in the face of the enemy”. We are witnessing our soldiers being killed on a weekly basis, meaning that the winning of a VC is still very much within the realm of possibility. All this is to say that soldiers are required to wear their medals when in uniform. For them, selling them is not an option. So why should it be an option for their offspring? Why should those who buy it be able to sell it again for even more? Why should a man profit from another man's courage?

Afstan: It's official

"NATO approves expanding security force to southern Afghanistan"

BRUSSELS, Belgium (AP) - NATO countries have approved expansion of their 18,000-member security force to volatile southern Afghanistan, officials said Wednesday.

NATO spokesman James Appathurai said the alliance's top military commander, U.S. Gen. James Jones, would now start to initiate orders to take over the southern region from the current U.S.-led coalition troops around the end of July.

Canada, a NATO member, currently has about 2,200 soldiers on the ground in the south.

Update: Final decision actually expected on Friday, July 28; got to get non-NATO members of ISAF like the Aussies et al. formally on board.

Lewis Mackenzie: Levant crisis/dead Canadian UNTSO member

Radio interview: "July 26, 2006, Supporting Israel: Guest host Karen Horsman spoke with retired Major General Lewis Mackenzie".

Inadequate Canadian military equals no diplomatic clout

Liberal Senator Colin Kenny speaks the simple truth (full text only for subscribers).

The senator said the idea of Canada as an "honest broker" mediating international conflicts is a mirage, simply because no country or world body is ever asking the country to take on that role.

Mr. Kenny, chairman of the Senate's national security and defence committee, also said Canada needs military assets if it wants a voice in global conflicts. Decades of government neglect of the Canadian Forces meant Canada's forays into foreign affairs have rarely had any teeth, he said.

"For years, Canada has tried to have a foreign policy without having a defence policy, and (past governments) wondered why no one gives a damn about what we think," he said.

Good luck to foreign affairs minister Peter MacKay in Rome.

"Cowboys of the Sky"

Hercs in tactical action in Afstan.

Major Canadian Forces' exercise in the north

Operation Lancaster:

The Aug.12-24 operation will employ the frigate HMCS Montreal as well as two smaller coastal defence vessels. Six aircraft -- Twin Otters, Griffin helicopters and maritime patrol airplanes -- will fly overhead.

A platoon of 35 soldiers from the Quebec-based Royal 22nd Regiment, the Van Doos, will be deployed along with Ranger patrols from several Nunavut communities...

Afstan: Does the Canadian public have the guts?

Christie Blatchford of the Globe wonders how soft we have become (full text not officially online).

Warrant Officer Hans Kievith yesterday squinted into the blinding white light of the Afghanistan morning and offered a pragmatic assessment as another 45 of his countrymen boarded a Canadian C-130 Hercules en route to Tarin Kot, where the Dutch have their Provincial Reconstruction Office in volatile Uruzgan province.

Asked how public opinion was back home in the Netherlands, he replied serenely, "Oh, at this moment, it's fine. There's no injured and dead people. That's when it changes . . . it's the same in all the countries."

How right he was.

A recent Strategic Counsel poll taken for The Globe and Mail and CTV News after the death in combat of Corporal Tony Boneca reveals a dramatic weakening of support in Canada for the mission here.

As pollster Timothy Woolstencroft said of the results, "We think that we're peacekeepers, not peacemakers. Canadians haven't really come to understand that we have a combat role." According to Mr. Woolstencroft, Canadians' "sense of wellness" about the mission is being eroded.

What curious, sad and on-the-money truths about the modern world are those remarks from the Dutch warrant officer on the ground here and the Canadian pollster back home.

They amount to this: National will, in those countries where it can be said to exist at all, is a fragile and inflexible cord, sure to snap at the sight of a few flag-draped caskets; against all the information available, Canadians (and perhaps the Dutch too) choose to see their soldiers as peacekeepers, though the evidence is clear that the planet long ago pretty much ran out of places where there is a peace to be kept, and tender national psyches shudder at the notion that soldiers may from time to time be killed or, worse from this delicate perspective though few say it so directly, kill other human beings in combat...

Our excellent troops and equipment in Afstan

Another illuminating piece by the Globe's Christie Blatchford (pity we don't have any helicopters or close air support of our own though). Note especially what they are learning and its effect on the Army.

Brigadier-General David Fraser, who seems a shy and introverted man, said this a couple of days ago just after the microphones were turned off. But I think he will forgive me quoting it here anyway, because of the affection for his troops it reveals: “God bless those little buggers.”..

Laurels...the Canadian battle group here has earned in spades, so much so that two PPCLI companies, slated to return after a mission in Helmand province, were diverted to another dangerous part of the province. With their light armoured vehicles — the now-famous LAVs manufactured in London, Ont. — and honed fighting skills, they are in hot demand by their coalition partners.

Indeed, this Afghanistan mission and the collective Canadian performance is widely regarded by senior military leaders, and those who observe them, as a landmark, institution-altering one.

As Royal Canadian Military College professor and military historian Sean Maloney — a rare bird in that he is in Kandahar watching first-hand the very subject, contemporary warfare, that he teaches — said the other day, “What you saw here is a seminal event in Canadian military history.

“You saw a battalion-level combat operation that was executed very well. And this was a battalion, not just infantry, but logistics. ... It was a real combined effort, logistics, maintainers. It is a unique event...”

Colonel Tom Putt, the 47-year-old reservist who is the deputy commander of Task Force Afghanistan (Canada's overall operation here), said in a recent interview that the experience will have “a huge impact on how the army is going to operate for the next decade. There are so many positives.”

He quickly rhymed off some of them: Canada was the first nation to use in the field the newest big M-777 howitzer guns; in the LAVs, Canada has the best family of vehicles here; Canada was the first to put into theatre the Nyala, or RG-31s, with the new automatic weapons system that allows the crew to fight from inside; Canada leads the small but highly sophisticated base hospital.

“Canada's playing in the big leagues now,” he said. “We are the best-equipped ground force here. ... Everybody wants us.”..

“These kids adjust to the technology so fast,” Col. Putt said. “The whole chat-room concept is invaluable in command and control. In the old days, command was one guy in one place, sitting before a big screen directing things.

“Now it happens simultaneously on five different screens, with officers and NCOs chatting to each other ... sometimes not one word is said, but ‘Meet me in chat room X.' We of the caveman generation were wringing our hands at the thought, but it's all happening in chat rooms, and the captains and sergeants are the ones.”..

CF recruiting criticized

The military's ombudsman has issued a report.

Television ads attempt to lure young Canadian men and women to join the Forces with promises of action and exciting careers, but Canada's defence ombudsman says the welcome is not always so warm for those who actually try to enlist.

Yves Côté says he is concerned about the number of people who have told his office that they quit the recruitment process, or were about to quit, because of an unsatisfactory experience during recruiting.

"The Canadian Forces must improve the quality and timeliness of the service provided to applicants to ensure that it does not routinely lose the services of talented Canadians interested in a military career," Mr. Côté told a news conference yesterday as he released a report on recruitment problems...

Defence Minister Gordon O'Connor announced in April that he hoped to increase the number of regular military personnel in the Forces by 13,000 and the number of reserves by 10,000 over the next few years.

In fact, Mr. Côté said, the Canadian Forces Recruiting Group is meeting -- or nearly meeting -- its targets, except in some specific occupations.

But the problems experienced by recruits could mean the loss to the military of some of the most skilled and talented Canadians, he said.

There were four majors areas of complaints fielded by his office:

-A lack of responsiveness on the part of some recruiters

-Excessive delays in the process, particularly in terms of medical and security checks

-Difficulties experienced in transferring between the reserves and regular forces and vice versa

-Some people skilled in trades, where there were large shortages, were promised big bonuses for enlisting, only to find that the bonuses evaporated after they had been processed because the shortages had disappeared...

Canadian soldiers

Two good pieces:

1) Brigitte Pellerin in the Ottawa Citizen: "You’d complain too, if you were a soldier";

2) Christie Blatchford in the Globe and Mail: "With a rifle or a wrench, these troops make it work" (full text not officially online).

Support our Reservists

This is an idea that is long overdue. Reservists who volunteer for active duty should have legislated protection to ensure their job is waiting for them when they return.

Through the excellent work of the Canadian Forces Liaison Council , a rate of approximately 90% is claimed when dealing with businesses reluctant to give a Reservist their job back.

As far as I'm concerned, 90% is simply not good enough.

Canadian reservists' job protection a moral obligation (.pdf file)

But, it's time for the government to do something concrete now for reservists risking their lives daily in combat in Afghanistan and on duty elsewhere in the world. The government should introduce job protection legislation that will guarantee that reservists get their former jobs back when they return from places like Afghanistan, Haiti, Croatia and Bosnia where there are not enough regular forces to do the job.

This is an issue that has been bandied about for far too long and which has been punctuated with halfhearted measures by previous governments that paid lip service to the well-established need.

Corporal Anthony Boneca - the latest Canadian fatality in Afghanistan and the third reservist to come home in a coffin - was typical of about half of Canada's 24,000 primary army, navy, air force, communications, health services and other reservists who are students.

Primary reservists are civilians who voluntarily take paid part-time military training around 30 to 45 days a year usually one night a week and on weekends, depending on their courses. There are about 300 reservists among the 2,300 Canadian troops currently taking part in Operation Archer, Canada's contribution to the war against terror in Afghanistan. Reservists like Cpl. Boneca are either finished school or are able to take time off from their studies for extended periods of military duty overseas and this was Boneca's second tour in Afghanistan.

Unlike Boneca, the rest of the reservists hold full-time or part-time jobs. The issue for them is getting time off for work-up training with the regular forces and then a six-month deployment and still having a job when they return.

Cross posted from Blue Blogging Soapbox

Afstan: Online with Christie Blatchford

An internet discussion with the Globe's reporter. Read it.

Afstan: Our "reckless" media--and public

Another great piece by the Globe's Christie Blatchford (full text not officially online):

It was a couple of my readers -- former reserve infantryman Tim Richter and serving reserve infantryman Sergeant Matt Kirkpatrick -- who really nailed it. Both were writing about the death of Corporal Tony Boneca, the 21-year-old reserve infanteer who was killed, on a lovely morning a week ago tomorrow, in a vicious battle against the Taliban.

Mr. Richter's note landed first. He was regretting the tawdry spectacle, at home, which arose out of the young soldier's death and centred upon comments he'd made to his girlfriend and which, as seems inevitable now in the instant information age, found their way into the media.

"Surely he wouldn't want to be remembered for his private confidences to his girlfriend?" Mr. Richter wrote, and then said sorrowfully, "We have been so reckless in writing his epitaph."

Yes, we have.

But then we in Canada -- press and public both -- have been so reckless for so long in our treatment of our military that our collective carelessness with this young soldier's memory is hardly surprising.

As Sgt. Kirkpatrick -- who has twice served overseas, including one stint in Afghanistan, and who is preparing for another tour here in about a year -- put it in an e-mail, "I feel for Cpl. Boneca's family, but the media reaction to his death is a loss for all Canadians. A soldier dying in service to Canada is only a tragedy if we waste his gift."

Sgt. Kirkpatrick is, as are so many soldiers, what my National Post colleague Matthew Fisher described the other day as "ferociously articulate."..

Norman Spector chose this piece as THE COLUMN I’M GLAD I DIDN’T WRITE on his website. Enough said.

"U.S., British and Canadian troops launched a pre-dawn offensive ..."

Makes me think of other days. Proudly.

Here is a very useful thread at Army.ca listing and excerpting media coverage of Afstan.

They march to the sound of the guns

"Troops in a firefight," he said, "and I wanted to be there so much. TV news, as much as it has become a comfort, acts sort of like salt to my wounds."

The Trouble with Salutin

Rick Salutin tells us (“At the ready, but where’s the war?” July 7) that the CIA has declared that the leadership of Al Qaeda, formerly headquartered in Afghanistan, no longer constitutes a threat to Western security. If this is true, and if the CIA is right, I am relieved. However, I have a little trouble with where Salutin goes from there.

He tells us that the flourishing of Al Qaeda in Afghanistan during the late 1990s and the Taliban rule of that country during the same period were fundamentally unrelated circumstances (“they’d probably have dealt Osama to the U.S. for some aid and security”). He goes on to imply that the Taliban actually were, and presumably remain, a force for good (“they… had established a modicum of stability and had no international terror pretensions.”)

Interesting. It is, of course, possible that the geographical and temporal coincidence of the rise of the Taliban and that of Al Qaeda could have been simple accident. In considering the credibility of such a possibility, however, a few facts – unmentioned by Salutin – deserve citation. The rules and laws brought into general application in Afghanistan by the Taliban bear an astonishing resemblance to those advocated for worldwide application by Al Qaeda. To recall, those laws made refusal of fidelity to Islam a capital offence, and required women to abstain from education, employment, independent mobility, and appearance in public - except swaddled head-to-toe in cloth - on pain of corporal or worse punishment. Such a close similarity of ideology more than suggests a likelihood of mutual sympathy and aid. More practically: we know that the leadership of Al Qaeda and that of the Taliban did in fact share each others’ hospitality and resources, extending to intermarriage, and to fleeing, hiding and fighting together when the U.S. moved against Al Qaeda post-9/11. Further: quite contrary to Salutin’s claim, the Taliban in 2001 openly and defiantly affirmed their allegiance to Al Qaeda at precisely the moment when an opposite declaration and action would have secured to them boundless reward, rather than utter ruin, at American hands. As for the Taliban bringing “stability” to Afghanistan: if I not mistaken, many people around the world said the same of the Nazis and Germany during the 1930s.

Less important than Salutin’s interpretation of the past is his recipe for the future. His implied recommendation is that Canada and other nations should refuse the Afghan government’s request for continuing security assistance. Presumably Salutin understands that such a course would lead directly and promptly to the re-conquest of Afghanistan by the Taliban. What, I wonder, are the mechanisms Salutin imagines would guarantee a Taliban reversal of their past attitude toward civil society and civil rights (assuming he sees anything wrong with that attitude), and that international terrorism would not again be incubated under their noses? Ah, that’s right: no guarantees necessary. The Taliban are a force for good, and their apparent tolerance of Al Qaeda leaders and training camps was just coincidence - kind of like the Liberals and corruption. Perhaps Salutin’s interpretation of the past is relevant after all?

POSTED BY WALSINGHAM at THE MONARCHIST

CF members to trek commemorating liberation of the Netherlands

Some people know what the Canadian military has achieved.

Two teams of military marchers from Nova Scotia will head to Europe Friday to take part in a four-day, 176-kilometre trek next week marking the 61st anniversary of the liberation of the Netherlands.

Teams from Maritime Forces Atlantic and 14 Wing Greenwood will be part of a 220-person Canadian military contingent, joining more than 40,000 people from over 50 nations slated to participate in the 90th annual Nijmegen Marches...

A soldier's diary from Afstan

Some good stuff from the CBC. Latest: "Up close and personal with the enemy".

H/t to Army.ca.

"Automatically the training mission turned into a search and rescue mission"

Knowing people who fly SAR on the east coast, I was holding my breath this morning.

Three crew members were killed and four were injured early Thursday morning when a Canadian Forces helicopter crashed during a training exercise off Canso, N.S.

The search-and-rescue helicopter "suddenly ditched" at about 12:30 a.m. AT during a hoist exercise with a Canadian Coast Guard vessel, Capt. John Pulchny told CBC News.

The CH-149 Cormorant helicopter from 413 Transport and Rescue Squadron was based in Greenwood, N.S.

Condolences to the families, friends, and buddies of Sgt Dwayne Brazill, MCpl Kirk Noel and Cpl Trevor McDavid, all killed in this training mission. Per ardua ad astra.

You don't have to be overseas for the job to be a dangerous one.

Afstan: The Pakistan problem

The Taliban sanctuary in Pakistan makes things in Afghanistan a lot more difficult.

For all the heated debate taking place about Britain’s deepening military commitment to Afghanistan, the government is proving remarkably reluctant to discuss the most important factor of all — the role of Pakistan. The official line is that General Pervaiz Musharraf, the Pakistani leader, is our key ally in the war against terror. That is what Islamabad has led us to believe ever since since Musharraf decided to ally himself with the US-led coalition that was formed in the immediate aftermath of the September 11 attacks...

The fundamental reason the Taleban has been able to re-establish itself as an effective fighting force in Helmand is that the Pakistani authorities have been unable or, more likely, unwilling to tackle its organisational infrastructure which lies in the Pakistan-controlled tribal territories along the 1,500-mile border with Afghanistan. And so long as the Musharraf government is prepared to tolerate the Taleban’s activities in its own backyard, it will be virtually impossible for the British mission — and its Nato allies — to maintain some semblance of security in southern Afghanistan.

There are an estimated 2.5 million Afghan refugees in the Pakistani-controlled tribal areas such as Waziristan — most of them originate from the 1979 Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. The Taleban has no difficulty recruiting eager young men to fight their cause from the thousands of mainly Saudi-funded madrasas that provide the only form of schooling among this impoverished community. From there it is relatively easy to transport them across the porous, mountainous border into Helmand where they are then sent in to do battle with British Paras...

But as one officer recently explained to me in Helmand, ‘As soon as we get one lot of the buggers, another lot come streaming across the border to take their place. Until we can get the Pakistanis to do their bit, there is no prospect of overall victory.’

The officer did not want to be quoted by name for fear of upsetting his political masters in London, who insist on perpetrating the myth that the Pakistanis are actively supporting the British mission, when in reality they are doing no such thing. Certainly that was the view of the Afghan defence minister, General Abdul Wardak, when I raised the issue directly with him in Kabul. ‘The Pakistanis say they are doing everything they can, but in practice they are doing very little.’..

But if too much pressure is put on President Musharraf to deal with Islamists (domestic, Taliban, Kashmiri) he may be overthrown and replaced by a very distasteful regime indeed.

In any case, the fight will only be won when the Afghans are able to look after their own defence: that is the "exit strategy". But the US and NATO are doing nowhere near enough to help build that capability according to General Wardak.

Update: Some thoughts from the British general now commanding NATO ISAF:

The West is to blame for the resurgence of the Taliban because it sent too few troops to Afghanistan, but an expanding NATO peace force will now turn the tide, the force's commander said on Thursday.

British Lieutenant General David Richards, commander of the multinational force that is due to take control in the dangerous south within weeks, acknowledged fighting has been tougher than hoped, but predicted success as his troops win hearts and minds...

A Canadian soldier in Afghanistan speaks

This infanteer from the reserves writes about Tony Boneca and about soldiering--and gives his views on our media. The whole piece is excellent and very well-composed indeed.

I knew Tony. I’ve kept my comments to myself until I could calm down my outrage over the media coverage of his death. We weren’t great friends, but buddies. Other soldiers know what I mean. I spoke to Tony a couple weeks ago out at one of the FOB’s. Not much said, just that there was a job to do, some bitching about the heat and the food, reminders that it would soon all be over, discussions of plans upon returning to Canada, the promise to drink some beers together on our way home. Normal soldier stuff. There is nothing in his first and last letters as published in the newspapers to suggest he was any more miserable than any other soldier, in any army, in any theatre in the world. It is our right to ***** and complain. A soldier who is not doing either, is upset or distressed and needs attention. A soldier who is not scared out there is a liar or crazy. As a soldier you do not ignore fear, you manage it. Welcome to war.

I have been in Kandahar for 6 months, and I'm sure I don't like it here anymore than Tony did. I don't know many, if any who do like it here. The infantry and those supporting them out the wire have it especially tough. Little rest, little in the way of comforts and the most exposure to the dangerous stuff. Generally we like our jobs, and being operational, that’s why we do this. We play for keeps in the big game. No one here comes wanting to die, or to do stupid things that will get you killed. Each and every one of us know the random nature of war. Everyone here knows someone who has died or been wounded or knows someone who does. It touches us all in some way. crap happens. I don’t think anyone truly enjoys being away from their families or comforts. But this is why we join. To serve Canada and her foreign policy in whatever capacity is determined by the politicians. We have a mission, a mission carried out by soldiers, doing the legally sanctioned business of our elected government. Sometimes we like it, sometimes we don’t. Nature of the business. That’s the flag waving part of it, but there are other reasons we do this that people who have never served cannot possibly understand. I will not endeavour to explain it to you if you have not...

Tony was trained as a Canadian Infantry Soldier and was doing the job for which he had been trained. The role of the Infantry is to close with and destroy the enemy. Our reason to be is not to kiss babies and hand out candies and blankets. We do that anyway, because we’re decent, generally caring Canadian boys and girls, but that’s not our primary function. To quote General Hillier “We are not the public service of Canada. We are the Canadian Forces and our job is to be able kill people.”..

As for Tony being a reservist. So what? We receive excellent training and to suggest otherwise is irresponsible reporting, but that’s nothing new. Could training be better for both Reserve and Regular? Sure. Could the Reserve and the Regular force get more money and equipment for training? Sure. The Federal government and NDHQ seem to be doing their best to address our needs as a military. It is now a vast improvement over tours in the past, and over the last dozen or more years. The recent announcements seem to reflect the seriousness of the commitment of our leaders to the military and through us the security of the Canadian people. As a Reservist myself, I take offence to the suggestion that reservists should not be deployed...

I am sure there is a long line up of Reservists and their Regular force counterparts in Afghanistan and elsewhere who would argue openly with anyone who would suggest differently. Mr / Ms reporter ; Please, suggest to my face or that of my military family that we do not possess the mindset or the skills needed to engage in combat. I don’t think you have the parts or the qualifications to make such a statement. You do however have the parts and the audacity to drag the family, friends and colleagues of Tony Boneca through the mud so you can sell papers and airtime and generate controversy. You do your country and your military a disservice but also have undoubtedly cause Tony’s parents a great deal of unneeded and unwanted stress. . You also do the general public a great disservice because you corrupt the truth and cloud the heroic activities of our soldiers, and you fuel the rhetoric spewed forth by the anti everything wackos out there.

As has so often happened in the media with respect to our military, I have lumped all media into one category. I will however offer the caveat, a courtesy if you will that isn’t generally afforded to the military or it’s members, as has been demonstrated by the ‘media machine’ these past few days. The caveat is this. You’re not all bad, or the way I describe. Some of you even seem to love us, some of those that are embedded and grow to care deeply for and respect the soldiers on whom they are depending for their very lives and safety. There are a few bad apples and armchair warriors that put pen to paper or make ludicrous unsubstantiated statements and cause the mistrust I feel for your profession right now.

The media as a profession should be ashamed of themselves. Why not self police? If the reporters responsible for this latest reporting can look in the mirror in the morning after the disgusting and shameful coverage your have made of Tony's death, then I would go so far as to suggest that they are of questionable integrity and moral fibre...

Allow Tony's family to grieve in private. Not only honour, but for a change respect the wishes and dignity of his grieving parents and honour the memory of a soldier who died the way a soldier should. Not in an unfortunate accident, not in a roadside bomb, but in combat. These are my opinions/observations and mine alone. I don’t often say a lot in here, but I am compelled to now.

Well done Tony. I'm glad to have known you. You were a nice kid with a bright future. I am certain you are in that fabled place that all warriors go, where our fallen soldiers by whatever mechanism they perished, watch over us all. I would like to have seen what you may have accomplished later in life as a result of your soldiering experiences. I was looking forward to the beers we talked about during the trip home. To your family other friends, and your Regiment, I offer you my most sincere condolences and I wish you peace and quiet to reflect on the life of your son and friend.

I am moved.

Afstan: Morale vs attitude

Maj.-Gen. (ret'd) Lewis MacKenzie explains what troops are about (full text not officially online):

The phone calls began at 5:30 Monday morning. Reporters were seeking comment not on the killing of Corporal Tony Boneca, 21, shot through the throat during a firefight with Taliban insurgents in Afghanistan, but rather on the fact that he had expressed displeasure with the mission in e-mails and letters home to his family and fiancée. His frustrations, expressed a mere two weeks before his planned repatriation to Canada, had mobilized the "wobblies," to borrow Margaret Thatcher's vocabulary. They immediately questioned the Canadian mission in Afghanistan and deduced that the morale of our soldiers must have hit rock bottom.

For those readers who have not worn the uniform of a combat soldier, permit me to try to explain the very real difference between morale and attitude...

...While visiting a Canadian infantry battalion (800-plus soldiers) [in Bosnia], I asked the unit's regimental sergeant-major (RSM) -- the senior non-commissioned officer in the unit and one place to the left of God (the unit's commanding officer) -- a simple question: "RSM, how's the soldiers' morale?" The response was direct and illuminating: "Sir, morale couldn't be better, it's sky-high, but the soldiers are really pissed off!"..

It would increase the tragedy of Cpl. Boneca's sacrifice if he's portrayed as a disgruntled and disloyal soldier. He was not. He volunteered to serve in Afghanistan. He saw what was happening around him when he got there and didn't like some of what he saw. That certainly didn't make him unique. When soldiers stop questioning and commenting to those close to them, we are in trouble.

Cpl. Boneca did his job and supported his buddies under the pressure of combat that would intimidate most of us. He deserves our respect, not the titillation associated with eavesdropping on his private comments to his loved ones.

While the Globe's Christie Blatchford takes on her fellow journalists (full text not officially online):

As is common now in the modern world, the debate about Corporal Tony Boneca's death and what it might or might not say about the Canadian mission to Afghanistan began before the young man's body arrived home.

Before the Hercules aircraft carrying his casket ever touched Canadian soil, the man who one day might have become Cpl. Boneca's father-in-law was confessing some of the 21-year-old's most intimate fears to the Toronto Star; some of his e-mails home were published in the Ottawa Citizen; and stay-at-home columnists and others who deign to notice the Canadian Forces only when the death of a fine soldier can be used to further one political cause or another were doing so, while simultaneously protesting that of course they support the troops, it's this damn business of sending them off to kill other folks that offends.

Emerging with dignity out of the whole messy business was the memory of Cpl. Boneca -- because whatever his reservations, fears and resentments may have been, he nonetheless had managed to summon the necessary grit to continue doing what he had volunteered to do -- and the military itself...

Look at what he accomplished: Barely 21, he conquered his fear, he put on his boots and his kit and he was heading up those stairs, clearing that mud-walled compound in that lush grape field on another cloudless, dangerous Afghanistan day, when he was shot. That's bloody answering the bell, by any measure.

And Scott Taylor, in an interview with CFRA, Ottawa, also disagrees with the doom-sayers (audio at this link) about morale, and makes points similar to Lewis MacKenzie's.

Wipe the drool from your chin

Note the Canadian flag on the engine intake of the new F-35 JSF Lightning II. Although only a Tier 3 supporter of the program, we've bought ourselves a spot in line if we decide to order some to replace the aging CF-188's.

Some of the kids at the reformed 409 Sqn and the reformed 425 Sqn have finally found true LOVE. Don't lick the monitors, gents.

"It is disgusting in the extreme and preposterous

for anyone to suggest morale here is low." Matthew Fisher, CanWest reporter with the Canadian Forces in Afghanistan, says in an interview this morning (audio at link) on CFRA, Ottawa. He is talking about media coverage of Cpl. Anthony Joseph Boneca's death.

You must listen to the whole thing. Two more samples:

This is real war...and then to be bogged down by the typical small-minded Canadian wishy-washy issues, I had hoped Canada was emerging from this period of self-doubt but apparently it isn't.

...he received exactly the same infantry training as everyone else who came here.

And just at this moment the Globe's Margaret Wente gives up (full text not officially online). Not what one would expect of her. Pitiful.

Repairing Afghanistan is a noble cause. It's also mission impossible. I suspect that, before too long, more and more Canadians will decide that it's not our fight.

Update: Cpl. Boneca's father has a different view from the negative one the media has been splashing around. How much prominence will his statements get?

The father of the Canadian soldier slain in a firefight in Afghanistan has denied media reports that his son felt ill-equipped and "hated" his military mission.

Antonio Boneca, father of Corporal Anthony Boneca, said his son "knew what he was getting into" and "loved being in the Army."

"In all my conversations with my son, there was never any mention of him not being well enough or fit enough to carry out his military duties," Boneca said in a statement released Tuesday...

The full text of Mr Boneca's statement is here. (via Army.ca)

Death in Afghanistan: The media scent blood

The killing of Cpl. Anthony Joseph Boneca gives some in the media a chance to pile on. I wonder why.

1) "Slain soldier 'disillusioned' by Afghanistan duty"

Cpl. Anthony Boneca had recently become "disillusioned" with Canada's role in the conflict, his girlfriend's father Larry DeCorte said Monday.

Boneca, a reservist, didn't have the proper training to serve on the front lines where he died Sunday, DeCorte told The Canadian Press.

The same story reports what National Defence Minister O'Connor said today at 17 Wing, Winnipeg:

O'Connor said reservists who travel to Afghanistan get the same training as other military personnel but that once they are in the region, they cannot choose to opt out.

I watched the minister on TV. The CF members present cheered him several times, especially when recalled what a sergeant had told him when he was a young lieutenant in the army: "You only volunteer once". Actually this was the first time I have been impressed by Mr O'Connor; he handled himself well (except for saying our troops are in Helmand province vice Kandahar).

2) "Reservist was disillusioned with military: family"

Only one family member is quoted, an uncle. A girlfriend's father is not family.

3) "Slain soldier felt `misled': Patrols ran long, rations fell short, friend's dad says; Man considered talking of suicide to get discharged"

At least the Star does not call him "family".

Video of Minister O'Connor speaking in Winnipeg.

And a generally outraged thread at Army.ca; followed by this editorial. Please read it. In particular this comment.

Cpl. Anthony Joseph Boneca

Our thoughts and prayers go out to the family and friends of Cpl. Anthony Joseph Boneca of the Lake Superior Scottish Regiment who was killed in action this morning in Afghanistan.

Canadian soldier killed

John Cotter, Canadian Press
Published: Sunday, July 09, 2006

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan -- A Canadian soldier has been killed in a fire fight west of Kandahar City.

Cpl. Anthony Joseph Boneca of the Lake Superior Scottish Regiment based in Thunder Bay, Ont., died Sunday morning, military officials say.

Boneca, a reservist with the 1 Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry battle group, was killed as troops were pushing through an area near the village of Pashmol that has been a hotbed of Taliban activity over the past few months.

"There has been lots of contact. But unfortunately we have suffered the tragic loss of Cpl. Boneca," said Brig.-Gen. David Frazer, the Canadian commander on the multinational brigade in Kandahar.

"We really do have to admire his professionalism and his heroic efforts to help out people less fortunate than ours. Our hearts and prayers go out to his family and friends."

Word of Boneca's death spread quickly among the troops back at the international coalition base.

A Canadian flag was lowered to half staff at a small memorial that commemorates soldiers who have died in Afghanistan.

Two Canadian soldiers were wounded Saturday in the same area, one seriously.

Boneca, an infantry soldier, came to Afghanistan with the battle group early last winter. The unit is to rotate back to Canada next month.

The Pashmol area, which includes vineyards, lush fields of marijuana and the withered stubble of old opium crops, has been a major gathering point for Taliban, who have been ambushing convoys and attacking Afghan National Police outposts.

Canadian troops have defeated the insurgents in every major engagement in the region since May. But when coalition activity subsides, the Taliban regroup and become more active again.

Frazer said Boneca's death will not have any impact on a joint Canadian-Afghan operation to sweep the region of Taliban.

"We are going to carry on operations as they are," the general said.

"We are not pulling back at all, we are leaning into this. We are going to push right through for as long as it takes."

Boneca is the 17th Canadian soldier to die in Afghanistan.

Army wants to keep Leopards, ditch MGS and MMEV

I really do not know how to assess this. But if we do get C-17s at least we could move a few Leopards to a theatre rapidly.

On Oct. 29, 2003, Liberal Defence Minister John McCallum and Lt.-Gen. Rick Hillier assembled the Ottawa news media to announce the demise of the country's tank force. Canada was taking its fleet of Leopard tanks out of service and was going high-tech.

Mr. McCallum said the army had requested the government purchase the U.S. Stryker Mobile Gun System, better known as the MGS. That wheeled vehicle, also being bought by the American army, had less armour than a tank but could move faster and was more manoeuverable on the battlefield...

The army's plan would instead see the MGS working in conjunction with another high-tech weapon, the Multi-Mission Effects Vehicle or MMEV. Based on the army's existing air defence missile system called ADATS, the MMEV would be designed and built by the Quebec-based aerospace firm Oerlikon and be capable of shooting down aircraft or destroying ground targets.

But less than three years later, and in a major reversal of its plans, the army is now asking the Conservative government to cancel both the MGS and MMEV programs.

The MGS is no longer the right vehicle for the army and the Leopard is no longer seen as a millstone. A study is under way to determine how to keep the tank in service until at least 2015.

Army officials refuse to say why they want to cut the two programs which just a few years ago were heralded as evidence that Canada would be fielding a high-tech military.

The decision to buy the MGS and MMEV was at the heart of the army's decision to transform itself into a force that could be quickly sent overseas and, once there, rapidly move around the battlefield. Tanks took too long to get to a war zone, Canada's military leadership maintained, and the tracked behemoths were difficult to manoeuvre, particularly in places like Kabul. In fact, Canada wasn't sending its Leopards overseas all that much; the last time they had been used on an international mission was in Kosovo in 1999...

But the ongoing wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have led to new questions about how future conflicts will be fought. Insurgents armed with rocket-propelled grenades and using roadside bombs have proven to be a formidable enemy, knocking out lightly armoured vehicles and even tanks. Fielding vehicles with better protection, argue some commanders, is now the way of the future...

The MGS, in particular, has faced widespread criticism, particularly from soldiers in the U.S. Some American officers have argued that the move towards such lighter forces is dangerous. Wheeled vehicles, such as the Stryker, while good on roadways, lack the mobility for cross-country warfare, they maintain.

The other main argument against the MGS centres on the vehicle's light armour and its vulnerability to rocket-propelled grenades. "The Stryker was not ordered with the RPG in mind," noted a report written by U.S.-based analyst Victor O'Reilly, who described the vehicle as suited for light peacekeeping duties, but not combat...

More from a front-page story in same edition of the Ottawa Citizen (full text for subscribers only):

...
General Dynamics Land Systems Canada in London, Ont., was to have built the 66 mobile gun systems originally wanted. Company spokesman Ken Yamashita said the firm has not been informed about a change in status in the MGS program. Engineering work has been done on that program, but the government has yet to enter into a contract to purchase the vehicles.

The MGS program was launched in 2003 and the MMEV project was announced last year, both with much fanfare about how they would help form the basis of the country's new high-tech army. The MGS is a wheeled light armoured vehicle equipped with a 105-millimetre gun. The MMEV would carry several types of missiles and is based on the army's existing Air Defence Anti-Tank System, or ADATS. That system was originally bought in the late 1980s to defend Canadian installations in Germany from air attack.

The two, along with a third anti-tank missile system mounted on a wheeled light armoured vehicle, were to be used as a "direct fire" capability to replace the Leopard tank, according to army officers...

The headline of the latter story is "Army backtracks on plan to ditch armoured tanks". Is there any other kind? The ignorance of our jouralists (a few excepted) about things military demonstrated again.

I await the headline that reads: "Air Force plans to buy flying airplanes".

Also to note: the first story has a picture that is captioned "Mobile Gun System", of a vehicle with no gun. It it actually a picture of the Multi-Mission Effects Vehicle. Dear me.

Update: Much more at this thread at Army.ca.

CF procurements and requirements

An excellent survey at the Canadian Institute for Strategic Studies; I urge you to read the whole piece (h/t to Army.ca).

On the surface there seems little to criticize in last week’s spending package. The total price will be spread over 15-20 years, so it won’t break the bank. The military is not asking for anything particularly exotic, merely the basics. Buying what is essentially a diverse set of transport equipments is unlikely to offend anyone with tender sensibilities since they are not configured to shoot at anyone. And each will handily serve what looks to be the primary purposes of the CF of the 21^st century: the security of the home front and stabilization of failed states.

But the five projects will not in and of themselves resolve all the operations shortcomings facing the CF. The navy must deal with the impending loss of its destroyers, which act as command vessels for multi-ship task groups. The patrol frigate fleet is overdue for a mid-life upgrade. The airframes of the Aurora patrol aircraft fleet are wearing out, with implications for the surveillance of Canadian territory. The (arguably good) decision to cancel of the Mobile Gun System (MGS) and Multi-mission Effects Vehicle (MMEV) will leave the army with fewer options to counter ground and air threats (although irregular forces do not normally posses tanks or atttack aircraft). And equipment lost to either enemy action or to the tough environmental conditions in Afghanistan will need replacement if Canada is to remain in theatre until 2008.

Laying out funds for procurement is arguably the easy part. Awarding contracts and having a successor government honour them will be harder. Recall how Jean Chrétien cancelled the Mulroney Conservatives’ EH-101 helicopter contract, even if it meant paying stiff financial penalties. Desperate to discredit the Harper government, the Grits could turn the C-17 buy into an election issue.

And ensuring that there are trained personnel to operate and maintain the new equipment will present this and future governments with an even greater challenge. New gear might serve as a useful recruiting tool, but it will take more to convince a newly-minted C-17 pilot that he should not simply finish up his tour and sell what he has learned to Air Canada.

David Rudd is the President and Executive Director of the CISS.

And there there are the fixed-wing SAR replacement and the amphibious ship(s).

Soldiering and its results

Christie Blatchford of the Globe looks at the effect combat in Afstan is having on our troops--and is impressed with how they are doing (a great pity the full text is not free online):

The Canadians here -- chiefly the three companies of 1st PPCLI but including some from 2nd PPCLI, a squadron of combat engineers, a reconnaissance troop of the 12th Régiment Blindé Canadien and 1st regiment, Royal Canadian Horse Artillery -- have been shot at and shot; they have been ambushed and bombed in a variety of ways; they have killed and been killed.

It is an experience that makes them almost unique in modern Canada, a country where over the course of recent decades, by federal-government decree and arguably by national inclination, soldiering was effectively rendered a dirty word, with children in schools carefully encouraged to send Christmas letters addressed to "Dear Peacekeeper."..

The Canadian role here is genuinely equal parts governance, reconstruction and security, but it is the latter that has received the lion's share of attention, not only because 15 soldiers and one diplomat have been killed in Afghanistan since 2002, and many more than that gravely injured, but also because to many Canadians, soldiering is new and, perhaps, even a little alarming...

When I was last here, in early April, many of the soldiers I met were still keenly anticipating their first enemy contact, not unlike hockey players who after months of scrimmaging grow hungry for a proper game. A great many of them have since had their wish fulfilled, and know too well now what combat is like.

And they have learned hard truths about themselves and the nature of war, in an environment that is almost absurdly challenging...

Here are some of the results of their soldiering:

While the Taliban threat persists, Canadian soldiers have made enough progress in Kandahar province for the international community to plan new health clinics, roads and other aid projects, a top military commander says.

Hard fighting and patrolling by Canadian and Afghan troops have the Taliban on the run, allowing for a switch in priorities to reconstruction, says Lt.-Col. Ian Hope, commander of the Canadian battle group.

"In Kandahar province, the Taliban are on the defensive," Hope says. "We have been able to organize and attract large donors back ... and we are going to see in the next few months considerable sums of money being dedicated to improving economics and social infrastructure."..

This approach would seem to fit with what Afghan President Karzai thinks.

"While there is currently a mighty struggle against terrorism going on in Afghanistan, this menace cannot be defeated by military means alone," Karzai said in a speech. His comments were released by his office in Kabul on Thursday [July 6].

"We must redouble our efforts on all dimensions of the war against terrorism, go after terrorists and their sources of training [Pakistan - MC], inspiration and financing."..

Things certainly are not rosy. The Brits are doubling their number of combat troops.

SIX HUNDRED more infantry troops are to be sent to southern Afghanistan as urgent reinforcements after a month of Taleban attacks in which six British soldiers were killed...

The 600 soldiers of the Royal Irish Regiment will double the number of combat troops in Afghanistan. At present the 3rd Battalion The Parachute Regiment, part of 16 Air Assault Brigade, based in Helmand province, is the only full combat unit available to take on the Taleban...

With Bill Roggio and the CF in Afstan

Stories, photos and multi-media from the embed with the Canadian Forces, May-June 2006.

Canadian Coast Guard crumbling

Let's hope the Conservative goverment does something serious here too, in addition to what it plans for the military. While the CCG is a civilian service it plays a vital role in asserting Canadian maritime sovereignty (including in the Arctic) and in conducting maritime seach and rescue in partnership with the Canadian Air Force (disclosure: I worked as a bureaucrat in the CCG from 1997 to 2002 - MC).

The federal government has approved an additional $45 million for the Canadian Coast Guard this year after it was told a cash injection was needed to keep many of its existing vessels ship shape.

But the government has yet to make a decision on the next phase of a possible replacement program for aging vessels experiencing ``rust-out.”

The $45 million covers just the annual shortfall in coast guard funding for core operations.

The coast guard became a special operating agency in 2005, giving it more autonomy within the Department of Fisheries and Oceans.

But briefing notes prepared for Fisheries Minister Loyola Hearn earlier this year suggested the coast guard’s future as an independent agency was threatened by the funding gap...

n 2005, the coast guard received $26 million in one-year interim funding to help bridge the annual gap. But the Department of Fisheries and Oceans had to cover any remaining deficit, the documents note.

Hearn confirmed that the additional $45 million in funding for 2006 has been approved.

The briefing papers advised that $12 million in capital spending was required per year by 2009-10 for fleet vessels and equipment restoration. The other $33 million was necessary to “stabilize” coast guard operations.

The funding infusion will enable the coast guard to carry out a series of refits to vessels, such as deck replacement and upgrading on the Cygnus and a major engine overhaul on the Pearkes.

The Conservatives are also following through with plans previously announced by the Liberals to spend $276 million on six new coast guard vessels.

There are also another four ships under construction for a joint coast guard-RCMP security enforcement program on the Great Lakes-St. Lawrence Seaway system...

That next phase would include the replacement of ships such as lifeboats, marine service vessels, mid-shore and offshore patrol vessels, hydrographic survey and science and research vessels.

Replacement of the icebreaking fleet won’t be considered until later — something that could change according to government priorities, according to the briefing notes...

Hearn said northern issues could play a role in any future coast guard initiatives.

“We might hopefully be able to enhance that to some degree, because one of the things we’re becoming much more conscious of is the need for a presence in the North,” Hearn noted.

Military equipment: Further Canadian Forces's needs

After the big ticket list of procurements there is still a considerable amount of stuff the CF require. Assuming of course the first procurements are actually made. Meanwhile, Jack Granatstein likes the list, is keeping his fingers crossed, and points out that CF numbers will have to increase significantly (as the Conservatives promised).

Canada's air force hopes to buy a fleet of sophisticated aerial drones — unmanned "eyes in the sky" — to patrol Canadian territory and waters as well as spy on enemy troops in hot spots like Afghanistan, a top general says.

Lt.-Gen. Steve Lucas, the head of the air force, said he hopes the purchasing process for 18 drones, valued at $500 million, will begin this fall.

As well, the air force hopes to finally move on the long-delayed purchase of 19 new search-and-rescue aircraft [that's a story in itself] for an estimated $2 billion to replace the old Hercules planes now doing the task, he said...

Lt.-Gen. Andrew Leslie, the new head of the army, said he wants to tweak capabilities to cope with evolving conflicts that demand a mix of guerrilla fighting and development work.

"I think what we're doing in places like Afghanistan will be our stock-in-trade for a good many years," Leslie told the Star, describing the mission as "dangerous and complicated."

With that in mind, he and his colleagues are now talking with the government about the next investments to enable troops to fight more effectively. His wish list includes the next generation of night vision goggles, new communications gear, improved protection for the troops and new technology to combat rocket propelled grenades, which have killed and wounded soldiers in Afghanistan...

Leslie's also looking at a few shake-ups with the current army — and that could include reversing a decision to mothball Canada's fleet of Leopard tanks.

It's said that Leslie is no fan of the mobile gun system [my emphasis - MC] — an armoured vehicle equipped with a 105-mm gun that critics say would leave troops vulnerable to attack.

Leslie also envisages a "smarter" battle force, using battlefield sensors and spy planes to detect enemies...

Update: Senator Colin Kenny also thinks it's a good start but he too points out that much more is needed, especially many more people.

...these are blatant needs that simply had to be filled if Canada was to continue to play any kind of serious role in protecting Canadians at home and abroad. The lack of capacity of the Canadian Forces even to help out in domestic emergencies has been dwindling to the danger point...

My greatest fear is that this government will use these purchases to tell the electorate that it has done the "right thing" in terms of reinvigorating the Canadian Forces - that by spending billions of dollars in one flurry after decades of neglect it will pretend that Canadians can now put a check mark beside the category "Canada's military needs" and say "job well done."..

Canada's military is certainly in need of new equipment, but it is in even greater need of qualified personnel to use that equipment. The Senate committee believes both the last and the current government have under- estimated the number of personnel that will be needed to fulfill the missions the overstretched Canadian Forces are going to be called upon to perform. We need 90,000 people in uniform - not 75,000 - or the pattern of burnout and attrition is going to continue...

Predate: William Watson wishes we would just buy the needest stuff cheapest, abroad if that's where it is, instead of all the focus on creating jobs in Canada. The way it should be, but that will always be a dream given Canadian political realities and soft popular support for military spending.

New CF equipment: Procurement criteria

Here they are (I hate the "Canada First" slogan):

"Canada First" Defence Procurement - Joint Support Ship

"Canada First" Defence Procurement - Medium-Sized Logistics Trucks

"Canada First" Defence Procurement - Medium-to Heavy-Lift Helicopters

"Canada First" Defence Procurement - Strategic Airlift

"Canada First" Defence Procurement - Tactical Airlift

Canadian Forces' Videos

Most recent, including Canada Day in Afstan, are here.

Afstan updates: Brits considering reinforcements/Analysis of the problems

The UK is finding things perhaps a bit tougher than anticipated.

The commander of British forces in Afghanistan today revealed that he had asked for extra equipment and hinted that he may ask for more soldiers to tackle the intensifying battle with the Taleban in the south of the country...

Around 3,300 British soldiers are presently deployed in Afghanistan, mostly in the rugged, hot province of Helmand, with the official task of taking over a Nato mission of peacekeeping and reconstruction. But they have found themselves in a full-time combat situation, with daily ambushes and gunbattles clashes with Taleban militants...

The Prime Minister's official spokesman said: "If extra resources are needed, extra resources will be found, but that’s first and foremost a matter for military assessment and for military commanders to decide, not for politicians to decide."..

This morning, Brigadier Ed Butler, who commands the UK force, said he had put in a request for more equipment and that troops levels were under constant review. Press reports this morning said that as many as 1,000 extra soldiers could be sent to bolster the mission in Helmand, a province without paved roads four times the size of Wales...

Brigadier Butler was more explicit about the need for more weapons and air support. On Saturday, Lieutenant-General David Richards, commander of the overall Nato force, told The Times that he needed more fixed-wing aircraft and [attack] helicopters...

The Times manages, in true Brit fashion, to forget about the Canadians.

British, American and Afghan soldiers have been involved in almost daily skirmishes with Taleban rebels in Operation Mountain Thrust, which began on June 15. The operation involves 11,000 troops, who are seeking out and hunting down Taleban rebels across the Helmand, Kandahar, Uruzgan and Zabul provinces.

Meanwhile, an analysis of how to deal with the growing problems:

The current political and military meltdown [way too strong - MC] in Afghanistan was entirely predictable and avoidable. For the past three years Afghans, their president, Hamid Karzai, and foreign experts have been warning that the failure of the United States and the international community to provide sufficient economic, military and reconstruction resources to the fledgling Afghan government would lead to a Taliban resurgence and disillusionment among the Afghan people. That is exactly what has happened...

...Most Afghans are angry with the United States and the West for ignoring the alleged sanctuary provided to the Taliban by Pakistan, and with Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf for apparently supporting Karzai and the Taliban at the same time...

Karzai is right when he says that Afghanistan has received less aid than has been dispensed in any recent conflict including nation building, whether in the former Yugoslavia or East Timor. Building a new security apparatus run by Afghans is going too slowly. According to American officials, the U.S.-sponsored police training program is three years behind schedule, although Washington will provide $1.2 billion this year to equip 60,000 police officers nationwide.

A U.S. commitment to build a new Afghan army has been stymied by the irresponsible decision of Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld mandating an Afghan army that will be smaller than originally planned, with fewer weapons and with the cash-strapped Afghan government, rather than the Americans, having to pay the troops' salaries...

But saving Afghanistan from itself is the world's responsibility, not just that of the United States. The Europeans and the Americans differ on military and economic priorities and on the advice being given to Karzai. As NATO, with its large European [and Canadian] troop contingents, replaces U.S. troops in the south and the east, the United States has to learn to share decision-making responsibilities in Afghanistan with NATO, the European Union and the United Nations, rather than cut its own secret deals in Kabul...

Despite all the dire predictions made in 2001, the Afghans have given the international community, its aid workers and soldiers a large window of opportunity to repair the damage done by 25 years of war. That window, which has stayed open for nearly five years, with amazing good will from the Afghans, is threatening to close unless the world wakes up and deals with the crisis.

Bobbie Rae naturally wants Canada to reconstruct Afstan without doing the fighting to provide the security necessary for that reconstruction. Even the Toronto Star has savaged that line of "reasoning".

Update: Christie Blatchford's Globe article July 4, "Envoy points at Pakistan for deteriorating state of Afghanistan security" (full text not officially online), makes many points similar to the analysis above.