Senior promotions and appointments...

...aka gossiping about the brass.

The latest list came out two weeks ago, but I've been busy with other stuff. The life of a part-timer, you get what you pay for, etc.

Anyhow, I thought I'd run through what I think are the highlights - if you want to add to the list of those you want noted for one reason or another, feel free to do it in comments:

• MGen Watt is being promoted LGen, and is the new CAS. Interesting to me is that he's just come off a tour as Deputy Commander (Air) for ISAF RotoIX. Makes you wonder how heavily Afghanistan experience is weighted in the promotion and appointment calculations.


• MGen Lessard is spooling up for an appointment as Commander Regional Command (South) Afghanistan. This is the ISAF job BGen Fraser held this past fall. Note that they're replacing a BGen with a MGen - which tells you something about the way the mission is being treated by the brass. Note also that he's coming over from the ACLS slot, so he's used to working with LGen Leslie, not just the CEFCOM folks.


• RAdm Pile is moving from a thankless support slot (Chief of Military Personnel) to Commander Joint Task Force Pacific, a serious pointy-end command. That particular position is going to be an extremely public one in the months to come as the CF spools up for the 2010 Olympics on the west coast. On a related note, I've heard scuttlebut that Col Barr is going to be prominent within a JTF Games organization being stood up specifically to meet the CF's responsibilities for this event - but I could be wrong on that.


• BGen Grant is coming home from Afghanistan and being promoted MGen and appointed Deputy Commander CEFCOM HQ. The guy he's replacing is a BGen, so again you can gauge the inflating importance of the Afghan mission.


• BGen Fraser, who was Commander Regional Command (South) during Op Medusa, will be appointed Commandant Canadian Forces College in Toronto. In other words, his leadership is going to be shaping the next generation of senior officers.


• Col Laroche is being promoted BGen and appointed Commander JTF Afghanistan, replacing BGen Grant. Some numpty screwed up his initials somewhere along the line: he's G.J.R.M. Laroche in the promotion list, and J.R.M.G. Laroche on his bio - who knows which one is correct? I've heard he's a real mover: J-3 at CEFCOM is not a cushy slot, and if he's being promoted out of it, that says those senior to him in the chain of command really like his work.


• Col Matern will be appointed BGen (acting while so employed) and appointed Deputy Commanding General XVIII Airborne Corps in Fort Bragg, NC. This comes after spending less than a year as Deputy Commander of CANSOFCOM. The senior exchange slots with U.S. units seem to be more and more important these days. Gen Hillier was the first Canadian Deputy Commander of III Corps in Fort Hood, TX, an appointment that the current VCDS, LGen Natynczyk, also subsequently held. With a history like that, I figure it's worth watching those who are given such coveted exchanges.


• Col Whitecross will be appointed BGen (acting while so employed) in the same slot she's currently holding as Commander JTF North in Yellowknife. This reflects the fact that the arctic is becoming increasingly important to the Canadian government, and to the CF in turn.

Like I said, feel free to add your own two cents in the comments.