Leopards in the sun

This past week, Paul Workman decided to get himself acquainted with Canada's main battle tank, which has found new and unexpected usefulness in Afghanistan. The CTV journo raises one particularly interesting issue, which, while it isn't new, is becoming increasingly pressing as the weather in Kandahar warms (ht:JD):

Leopards with no air conditioning, in a country where summertime temperatures hit fifty degrees, which means 65 degrees inside a tank. Think dripping sweat and hot stuffy air; think of that heavy flak jacket and helmet you're wearing cramped into a space that's meant for mice not men.

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The defence ministry has promised a solution to the heat problem by May, just when it's beginning to boil here. There's talk of installing air conditioning units, but that would be hugely expensive-the soldiers have heard rumors of a million dollars a tank. The other suggestion is to give each crew member a coolant vest, the same kind of thing used by professional race car drivers, but that would mean putting on yet another layer.

Yet clearly, something will have to be done.

"The solution won't be pushed on us, unless they can perform their job effectively," says Captain Volstad. "I'm confident the people working on it in Ottawa are aware of our restrictions."

Now there's a man who has faith the in the brass back home.

Workman is dead right, something will have to be done.

Not only do we have short-term issues with the cooling problem in Afghanistan, but we have a longer-term challenge as well: our Leos are old, and the original plan to replace them has been scrapped.

Given the fact that both our CDS and our MND came up through Armour, I suspect this situation has not gone unnoticed.