Stretching for Haiti

So it seems there's some interesting speculation about a possible CF "peacekeeping" mission to Haiti:

The army has put 800 troops on standby for possible peacekeeping deployment to Haiti as the Canadian government continues to organize relief efforts for the earthquake-hit country, The Canadian Press reported Friday.

The Conservative government could green light the mission as early as Sunday, the news agency said, citing sources with the Department of National Defence.

The soldiers would reportedly be drawn from Canadian Forces Base Valcartier, near Quebec City.

The troops would reportedly bring along engineering units, as well as headquarters and support elements — something that signals a sustained operation.

Warning orders have reportedly been flashed to the units earmarked for the assignment.

Sixty vehicles have also reportedly been pre-positioned for the mission.

I put the term "peacekeeping" in quotation marks because it's not like they'll be standing between two warring parties and enforcing a treaty or truce. But I guess if they're not in a war and not delivering humanitarian relief, it's all "peacekeeping" to the Canadian media and public.

One interesting part of the report, if true, is that the troops would be drawn from Valcartier. Sending francophone troops is a canny move if designed specifically to enhance communication with the local populace. Personally, I suspect it has more to do with looking at who's available given the army's prior commitments. More on that in a moment.

I'd like to point out the one thing nobody's talking about: the Government of Canada is sending the CF. And by that, I mean they're sending specifically the CF. The DART is military because it needs to be robust, flexible, and self-supporting. The army is being sent, not to fight a war, but to create and maintain some semblance of security (of course, our peaceniks have never understood that the reason the army's so good at keeping the peace is because they're capable of fighting a war). The naval support is military because it can be moved quickly at short notice with a whole pile of sailors on board who can be tasked with just about anything under the sun once they get there - moving rubble, delivering food, providing medical support, whatever. Same thing with the air force personnel and equipment. That flexibility, that ability to throw a steady stream of dedicated professionals into difficult and complex situations and have them succeed is invaluable.

With unrest in the streets of Port au Prince, and a rapidly deteriorating security situation, the Canadian Forces represents the Swiss Army knife of the Government of Canada. We all need to remember who gets the call when nobody else can do the job: it's our men and women in uniform.

Having said that, my views on deploying whichever units aren't already committed somewhere else is supported by an e-mail I received from Ottawa:

At present, the Army cannot speculate on the force structure of any contribution to relief efforts in Haiti in advance of information and recommendations from CF reconnaissance teams and a Government decision on the particulars of the force package. In the interim, following are some interesting facts on what such a deployment might represent for the Army.

• The Army is quickly generating a robust and agile Land Force capability to help with the relief effort in Haïti.


• The Army is actively mobilizing and prepositioning hundreds of additional personnel and tons of equipment to provide follow-on humanitarian relief support in anticipation of future government tasks.


• Canadians should not forget that the Army also has a large contingent currently serving in Afghanistan, another contingent conducting pre-deployment training in Ft. Irwin, CA for the next rotation into Afghanistan (Exercise Maple Guardian 9 Jan - 21 Feb 2010), and a third group about to make a sizable contribution to security efforts at the Olympics. The Army's contribution to Haïti would represent the fourth significant and simultaneous deployment of troops that the Army is contributing to international and domestic security and humanitarian efforts.


• The Army is able to generate these capabilities across a large and diverse spectrum of operations because of increased funding in the past several years, excellent training, superb equipment, and above all else, the dedication and resolve of our soldiers.

That last point - the suck up to the politicians, staffers, and civil service mandarins about funding - drives me nuts. You won't find a bigger supporter of civilian oversight and control of the military than me; I have no desire to live in a third-rate banana republic. But for the petty little civilians running the show in Ottawa to make the CF beg like a dog for their funding really angers me. It's not about toys or what the people in uniform "want." It's about making sure our protectors have the tools they need to do what we ask of them. They shouldn't have to abase themselves for that, not when they're on those same politicians' speed dial when the shit hits the fan.

OK, rant over. Back to the potential Haitian deployment...

The highlighted bullet above really deserves your attention. The army's stretching here. They're stretching because we're asking a lot of them. We've been asking a lot of them for decades now. Too high an operational tempo with too few souls and too little funding.

Has the government been trying to do something about that? The Conservatives would argue they have. They'll be scaling back op tempo by drawing the Afghan mission to a close in a year or so. They've added money to the capital budget and purchased some much needed equipment and infrastructure. They've even tried to increase the number of trained personnel in uniform, although that's been less of a success than we all hoped.

Whether what they've done is enough to bridge the gap between the missions given to the CF and the resources allocated to them is open to debate. Personally, I don't think it's enough. So while I give the CPC credit where it's due, I refuse to gush about how they've taken the CF off life support, because it's the least they should have done.

And in the meantime, our soldiers, sailors and airmen are shouldering their ruck, weighing anchor, and pulling the chocks out to do a job for Canada that no other organization in the country could do. My thoughts and prayers are with them all.

Update: From the MND, with some of my comments...

• BGen Guy Laroche, recently Commander of JTF Afghanistan, will be Commander Joint Task Force Haiti.


• Four Griffons are flying to Haiti starting today. Seven in total are committed to the mission. The one on site now is conducting recognisance missions in the capital area.


• Other equipment is being sent, including G-Wagons - force protection is obviously increasingly an issue as the security situation deteriorates.


• DND has identified two dozen Creole speakers in the Armed forces who can be deployed to Haiti, as needed.


• The number of CF personnel in country is approximately 230. I suspect that if they've appointed an experienced and decorated BGen to command, that number's set to increase significantly.


• CF medical personnel are treating injured Canadians at the Embassy. The medical team has also deployed to a multi-national field hospital as part of an international effort to treat Haitians.


• CF engineers are conducting structural assessments of Haitian infrastructure and providing assistance to Haitians. Engineers are always the unsung workhorses of a deployment. CHIMO!


• The CF is using SAR Techs and CF firefighters to search for the missing. Nice to hear them mentioned.


• HMCS Halifax and HMCS Athabaskan continue to sail down the Atlantic seaboard with close to 500 personnel aboard. These ships are scheduled to arrive off the coast of Haiti Monday.

Upperdate: Egad. When Taylor and I agree twice in the same year, it's definitely a sign of the coming apocalypse. But again, he's completely on target.