Out of left field

The naming of Denis Rouleau as VCDS comes as a complete surprise to me. I hadn't heard his name mentioned for the job at all prior to this:

Today, the Chief of the Defence Staff (CDS), General Rick Hillier, announced that Rear-Admiral Denis Rouleau will be the new Vice Chief of Defence Staff (VCDS) and will be promoted to the rank of Vice-Admiral. He will replace Lieutenant-General Walt Natynczyk, who will become the new CDS in the coming weeks.

"Rear-Admiral Rouleau is a strong leader and an officer of great integrity and experience," stated Minister MacKay. "I support General Hillier's choice wholeheartedly and take this opportunity to wish RAdm Rouleau the best of luck in his new functions."

“Rear-Admiral Rouleau’s experience in operations and more recently as Chief of Programme at National Defence Headquarters, makes him the right person to assume the role of VCDS and to help shape the future and priorities of Canada’s military,” said General Rick Hillier.

You can read RAdm Rouleau's official bio here.

I find a couple of things about this appointment notable. First, the brass figured a way to get a naval officer into the mix. Given some of the griping I've heard from the navy about the dominance of the guys in green, followed by those in sky-blue, this is important, if only from a symbolic standpoint. Second, they're promoting the VCDS into the job - Rouleau was a Commodore (BGen equivalent) eighteen months ago, and is now going to be 2IC of the entire Canadian Forces. To me, that means that he's either a serious rising star, or that he has no real shot at the brass ring, so he's a non-threatening appointment to the serious heavy-hitters at the LGen/VAdm level like Leslie and Watt.

We live in interesting times...

Regardless of the reasons, best of luck from this corner to the soon-to-be-VAdm Rouleau in his new position.