Three women Griffon pilots at Kandahar/Ops

Though the CTV story has a rather grudging tone about the Air Force (via GAP):

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Two female pilots prepare to board a Griffon helicopter in Afghanistan.

It may come as a surprise to know that only three Canadian women are flying Griffon helicopters in combat missions over Afghan skies.

Even more surprising is that these soldiers are among the first female helicopter pilots to ever serve in combat roles for the Canadian forces. [Why? The Air Force's only other combat missions in the last twenty years were CF-18s in the 1991 Gulf War and the 1999 bombardment of Kosovo and Serbia.]

Pilot Tressa Olson is one of these three Canadian soldiers. But she doesn't like being identified by her gender.

"I don't like to be singled out as a female," Olson told CTV News.

"And I don't think it's necessarily a big deal to be a female here."

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Canadian Forces Pilot Tressa Olson discusses her role in Afghanistan.

But it took a long time for the women of the Canadian Forces to get the respect that they deserve.

For generations, women were not allowed to serve in combat roles when they joined the Royal Canadian Air Force. They were told it was too dangerous to get near the front lines.

It wasn't until 1981 that the Canadian Forces allowed women to pilot military choppers.

Today, only three women are flying combat missions over Afghanistan, providing aerial cover for their fellow soldiers and ferrying their colleagues to and from the battlefield.

And they are among the best in the Canadian Forces.

One of the women says that even over her career, she has seen significant changes.

Capt. Andie Gallagher said she remembers when the air force used to be much more close-minded towards women in their ranks.

"The number of those dinosaurs, if you will, that are around now are few and far between from what they were only seven years ago when I got my wings," Gallagher told CTV News.

"And seven years from now, it's going to be even more different."

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Canadian Forces Capt. Andie Gallagher prepares for a flight.

Col. Christopher Coates, the commander of Canada's air wing, said the women serve as examples for the people of Afghanistan.

"We stand up for the right things and I think that's what we're doing here in theatre is we're trying to bring those same values to the people of Afghanistan," he said.

More (via Spotlight on Military News and International Affairs):

Canuck helicopter team adds vital eye in the sky

Cpl. Christopher Lucas grows quiet, momentarily choked with emotion.

"I'd rather not talk about it," the 33-year-old Edmontonian replies when asked about his relative, who is among the 108 Canadian soldiers killed in Afghanistan.

"It's personal and kinda tough."

He refuses to say any more, declining to name the soldier or talk about the circumstances of his death. But it's clear that the loss of a relative is a major reason why he takes his job so seriously.

Lucas, a 12-year veteran of the Canadian military, is a mechanic with the 408 Tactical Helicopter Squadron. It's his job to keep the eight CH-146 Griffons ready to fly on a moment's notice.

Speaking from the Canadian base at the Kandahar airfield yesterday, Lucas says the choppers, which have only been in Afghanistan since mid-December, are preventing more Canadian casualties on a daily basis...

Canadian soldiers have been particularly vulnerable in convoys of trucks delivering equipment, supplies and troops to forward operating bases throughout Kandahar province.

It is precisely that kind of tragedy that the helicopters are helping to avoid.

The Griffons, equipped with Gatling guns [Update: not--see Babbling's comment], armour plating and special sensors, are escort vehicles whose primary purpose is to protect large Chinook transport helicopters, greatly reducing the number of vehicles on the roads.

The Griffons can also escort ground convoys and spot roadside bombs from the air.

Retired Maj.-Gen. Lewis MacKenzie said movies like Black Hawk Down (about an ill-fated U.S. military operation in Somalia in the 1990s) can give the impression that helicopters are flying death traps, easy targets for anyone with a shoulder-mounted grenade launcher.

In fact, MacKenzie said, rocket-propelled grenades (RPGs) are not designed for airborne targets and only have a range of a hundred metres or so. Helicopters can easily fly above that.

Real surface-to-air missiles are harder to come by, and so far the Taliban don't appear to have any weapons that sophisticated.

HANDS UP

MacKenzie said during one visit to Kandahar, he asked a group of about 30 infantrymen how many of them had been attacked by a so-called improvised explosive device (IED).

"Every hand went up," he said.

It's demonstrations like this that gives Lucas his sense of purpose.

"I'm really proud to be here," says Lucas.

"My only regret is that I miss my wife and young daughter, but I know it's important that we're here. I look at it this way: when I think about (the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attack on the World Trade Center in New York) I know I would rather take the fight to them here, rather than fight them back home in Canada."

He adds: "I think we're serving a purpose and the soldiers that passed away did not die in vain."

Plus:

Griffon helicopter crews make history over Kandahar

On January 6, 2009, the crews of two CH-146 Griffon helicopters made history: they flew a group of soldiers to a Forward Operating Base, thus completing the first sorties by Canadian helicopters in a theatre of war. Both helicopters belong to the Canadian Helicopter Force Afghanistan, part of the Joint Task Force Afghanistan (JTF-Afg) Air Wing.

"We've waited a long time to be here, and it feels really good to finally be adding to the overall mission," said mission commander and pilot Major Trevor Teller of 408 Tactical Helicopter Squadron in Edmonton. "Some of us have only been on the ground for a short time, and to already be flying missions with the Griffon is a huge success for the Wing. There was a heightened sense of anticipation for me, and to have actually flown the first mission in Afghanistan was incredible."

Comprising all the Canadian air assets deployed in the southwest Asia theatre of operations, the JTF-Afg Air Wing stood up at Kandahar Airfield on 6 December 2008. Along with eight Griffons, used for transport and escort tasks, the Canadian Helicopter Force Afghanistan includes six new [used, actually] CH-147 Chinook D medium- to heavy-lift transports, also flown by Canadian Forces crews, and six Mi-8 medium-lift transports, flown by civilian crews under charter. The Griffon and Chinook helicopters will continue training until they are ready to join the pool of aircraft available to International Security Assistance Force operations across southern Afghanistan.

Captain Curtis Wetyk, also of 408 Squadron, said, "Our senses were definitely tweaked when we were flying over the houses, sand dunes and farmland. I am very proud to be serving with the new Air Wing, and very proud of Canada's contribution to this mission." Capt Wetyk piloted the second Griffon.

"It was just like training; the process was the same - but I was way more vigilant and alert," said door-gunner Corporal Jesse Hall, a Reserve infantry soldier from the Governor General's Foot Guards in Ottawa. "It feels really good to be contributing to the mission here."..

From left: Capt Curtis Wetyk, aircraft commander; Maj Trevor Teller, mission commander; Capt Michael Allard, first officer; Cpl Eric Fast, door gunner (kneeling); MCpl Rainer Roedger, flight engineer (sitting); Cpl Jesse Hall, door gunner (sitting), MCpl David Williams, flight engineer; Capt Ray Connelly, first officer.

Photo: Capt Dean Menard

Update: From Stars and Stripes, Mideast edition:

...
The six Canadian Chinooks were purchased from the United States and delivered to Canadian forces in December by the U.S. Army’s 6th Battalion, 101st Aviation Regiment as that unit redeployed to the United States, Coates said.

Coates said the aircraft will be used not only to supply Canadian forces, but will also ferry equipment and soldiers to other NATO bases throughout southern Afghanistan [emphasis added].

"It’s the best helicopter for that in theater," he said.

But Canadian forces haven’t flown the Chinook since 1992 [it was the Mulroney government that sold them to the Dutch], so pilots and crews have spent much of the past month flying training missions, Coates said.

Some of the Canadian helicopters have already flown combat missions, but the aircraft will not be considered fully operational until a sufficient number of pilots and crews are trained, a process that could take another four to eight weeks, Coates said...

Drew Brown / S&S

A Canadian pilot prepares a Griffon escort helicopter for a mission at Kandahar Airfield, Afghanistan. Canadian forces started operating a contingent of helicopters and unmanned aerial vehicles in December to support their troops and other NATO forces in southern Afghanistan.

Drew Brown / S&S

Cpl. Igor Navarro mans a machine gun on a Canadian Griffon escort helicopter during a training mission over the red sands of the Dasht-e-Margow, or “Desert of Death,” south of Kandahar, Afghanistan, on Friday. Canadian forces have recently started operating a small wing of helicopters and unmanned aerial vehicles to support their troops and other NATO forces in southern Afghanistan.

The MG is definitely a C6, not a Gatling.

Plus an interesting comment at Milnet.ca:

...
back in the 90s during Gulf War 1 it was rumoured the first shots fired by the Canadian Detachment was a female crew chief on a Sea King, so I do not see females flying into danger news to me. Already been done.
still very interesting, happy to see the ladies give them hell.