Canadians Special Operations Regiment (CSOR) to Afstan/Re-roling for infantry

This unit has been stood up really fast. I wonder what the reaction will be to putting people in the infantry for Afstan who signed up for something else.

Members of the newly formed special forces regiment based in Petawawa are heading to Afghanistan as Canada continues to bolster its commitment to the war in that southwest Asian country.

The regiment, formed in August, will send an undisclosed number of troops to join members of the Ottawa-based Joint Task Force 2 special forces unit already operating in the Kandahar area.

It is the first mission for the Canadian Special Operations Regiment, which at this point has about 300 members, including headquarters and supply staff, as well as a training cadre. The unit is expected to expand to around 700 by 2010...

Canadian Forces spokesman Maj. Doug Allison said the military will not discuss how many members of the special operations regiment are being sent to Afghanistan or when they will leave.

"We anticipate in the near term that the regiment will make a contribution to the Canadian SOF (special operations force) efforts within Afghanistan," said Maj. Allison. "They will take part in the full spectrum of special operations contributing to the overall efforts in Afghanistan."

The regiment can be used for a variety of roles, including training foreign soldiers, special reconnaissance operations or direct-action missions, military parlance for attacking enemy targets or individuals.

The Canadian Special Operations Regiment began recruiting earlier this year from other units. After months of training and candidate selection, it reached its "interim operational" capability on Sept. 1 and is now ready for missions...

The Canadian Forces is also looking for more infantry to send to Afghanistan, so soldiers who have already served there don't continually get sent back to the war zone. On Wednesday Gen. Rick Hillier, the chief of the defence staff, told a Commons committee that some soldiers who signed up for specific jobs in the military will now be "re-roled" as infantry.

"We'll re-role people that are in the training system right now, but who are designed to be something else," the general explained. "We'll say, 'For the next two or three years, you'll be infantry, and then go back to your primary role.'"..

The Canadian Special Operations Regiment is part of a significant expansion in the military of such capabilities. Earlier this year, the military created the country's first special operations command to oversee such units. That command is responsible for JTF2, the special operations regiment, a special operations aviation squadron and an expanded nuclear, biological, chemical and radiological response unit. Eventually, the command will have around 2,300 personnel under its control...

Update: Re-roling, e.g., sailors too?