New Canadian Special Operations Regiment
"Interim operational capability" on Sept. 1; two stories in the Ottawa Citizen, second lengthy.
1) "Creating Canada's new Commandos": Elite fighting regiment will soon be ready for 'all sorts of scenarios'
2) "Riding with Canada's Commandos": At an undisclosed location in southern British Columbia, members of the Canadian Special Operations Regiment are about to take flight -- literally. In less than a month, the unit, based in Petawawa, will be ready for its initial operations as part of Canada's plan to boost the size of its special forces. But not everyone is convinced we can do it.
1) "Creating Canada's new Commandos": Elite fighting regiment will soon be ready for 'all sorts of scenarios'
2) "Riding with Canada's Commandos": At an undisclosed location in southern British Columbia, members of the Canadian Special Operations Regiment are about to take flight -- literally. In less than a month, the unit, based in Petawawa, will be ready for its initial operations as part of Canada's plan to boost the size of its special forces. But not everyone is convinced we can do it.
posted by Mark, Ottawa at 12:02 p.m.
10 Comments:
Interesting how they have made a link between the new regiment and using them for operations like the evacuation of Lebanon but fail to realize how the purchase of the C-17's would greatly enhance that sort of operation. No one in the media seems to realize that without a strategic lift capability the rapid deployment of such a force is virtually impossible.
They'll cut their teeth in Afghanistan. It's the perfect training ground to have them work in coordination with JTF and other special forces. The British paras and the US Rangers work closely with special ops all the time. Without real missions, forces like this are paper tigers so the Afghan conflict is the place CSOR needs to be.
Question is though; what helicopters are going to move them about once in-theater? We won't have that kind of capability for a while. Won't it be ironic if our old Chinooks do the transporting via our NATO allies. Imagine, a special force that can't airlift to hotspots, and once there, can't move about via rotary wing aircraft because we don't have any... and once in combat, has no close air support. (I can think of a make-over for our C-130's into gunships... wonder if its being considered)
I'd like to take every prime minister since and including Trudeau and bitch slap them (including Mulroney).
Is this in addition to that airborne mark II dealy that I read about a few years ago that sounded like they would play Rangers to JTF2's Delta? Or is this the same soldiers but with a refined, beefed up roll?
Cameron: The creation of this unit was announced quite a while ago under the Liberals. During the election campaign the Conservatives made a silly and superfluous promise to create a new and separate airborne regiment, based at Trenton--where there is no place for it to train in infantry work.
Mark
Ottawa
Mark, ok so the thing the CPC promised was the Ranger like thing then?
Cameron: The new special operations regiment is the "Ranger" equivalent, not the airborne battalion (sorry, not regiment) that the Conservatives promised.
http://www.cbc.ca/story/canadavotes2006/national/2005/12/13/elxn-harper-military.html
As far as I can see the airborne battalion would be just that, regular troops--but I don't think the Conservatives had thought seriously about the matter. And they obviously had not done any homework since a new "airborne" unit was hardly needed with the special operations unit already being formed.
Just silly politics playing to those mad about the Liberals disbanding the old airborne regiment and for votes around Trenton.
The platform was in many ways both opportunistically vote-seeking and militarily incoherent:
A battalion in Goose Bay? Other regular troops scattered in cities across the country? An airborne battalion based in Trenton where there is no room for it to train (and when as noted above the Army was already creating a very similar unit special operations unit at Petawawa)?
Regular army battalions at Comox and Bagotville too?
The extra cost of the new bases (and logistic problems--supplying Goose Bay in winter?), and of penny packet scattering of troops, would be completely inefficient and unjustified. Even the US military is closing bases.
Three Navy "armed icebreakers" when the civilian Canadian Coast Guard operates our icebreakers? Building new Navy ships (JSS) in Canada regardless of the cost and time delays?
Mark
Ottawa
Mark, the thing I like about you is that, regardless of your personal political views, on military stuff you're totally non-partisan.
I appreciate that quite a lot.
Cameron: Thanks. The problem is that in Canada no political party, other than for partisan purposes, has any interest in defence matters. None of them, as parties, has any serious knowledge of the subject.
Compare our politicians--and our media and public--with those in the US or UK on defence; then we might realize that perhaps indeed we are not a serious country.
Mark
Ottawa
Undisclosed location in southern British Columbia???
Try Kamloops.
http://thegallopingbeaver.blogspot.com/2006/07/centre-of-universe-is-moving.html
Well, I think this new Regiment is going to be a higher caliber than any US Ranger. When I was in the army in the 80's, our regular Infantry could do better than a ranger. Our CAR was a few notches above Rangers as well. When the 7th SF came to Pet to train, they where always VERY impressed with our troops, I had one SF member even say he loves the Canadian CAR more than any unit from home he works with.
I think the CSOR will out perform 99 % of any US unit, and if they stay true to true Canadian training and doctrine, it will be a force to be watched for sure.
The US is a "hollywood" fed nation, they believe they are the best trained in the world, equipment is top notch, but training and disipline are far under what Canadian soldiers are.
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