The human element

The charges levelled against Russell Williams, former commander of 8 Wing at CFB Trenton, read like something out of a late-night crime drama. And although those charges have yet to be proven in a court of law, I admit I felt physically repulsed seeing Williams saluting - in the same cut and colour of uniform as I wore years ago - from the front page of the newspaper a few days ago, juxtaposed against the sordid details of his alleged crimes.

Much ink and many electrons have been devoted to how a potential psychopath could rise to the rank of colonel in the CF. The answer, unsatisfying and unnerving as it may be, is that such people have the ability to compartmentalize their lives, wear "the mask of sanity" and deceive others convincingly.

While my heart goes out to the families of those killed and traumatized, this is a blog about the Canadian Forces, and so I'll have to respectfully disagree with Judith Timson in the Globe & Mail:

So, while I understood it was good for morale, I took exception to General Walter Natynczyk’s pep talk at the base that somehow made this case – even for a few seconds – about all our men and women in uniform. (Be proud! Stand tall!)

Simply writing that sentence shows that Timson has no effective grasp of the idea of morale, or the responsibilities of leadership in the CF. Morale is not just another word for mood, but rather a universally recognized factor in the effectiveness of military units: "the capacity of a group of people to pull together persistently and consistently in pursuit of a common purpose."

CFB Trenton is, without a doubt, Canada's most important air base. It is the Canadian end of the great logistics air bridge connecting our country with 2800 troops in Afghanistan (not to mention those at the Theatre Support Element at Camp Mirage), and over 2000 with Joint Task Force Haiti. The scope of that effort is not generally understood by the Canadian public: to date in Haiti, for example, air force transports have moved over a million pounds of humanitarian aid to the island, and over four million pounds of people and material to and from Haiti. Keeping a vast organization like that moving requires more than management, it requires leadership. So when the base commander is implicated in such an ethically repugnant series of crimes, that has the potential to affect the intangible but real moral glue that pulls our team in Trenton together. Natynczyk was right to go to Trenton for that reason alone.

Lew Mackenzie, on the other hand, does understand the importance of morale:

'MORALE' IS LOW

Journalists who write or say this don't know the difference between morale and attitude. When morale is low, airmen and airwomen are sullen and withdrawn. They avoid work and responsibility and won't put extra effort into their daily duties. I have never seen that attitude exist in more than 50 years of observing Canada's sailors, soldiers and aircrew. Attitude, however, is something else. You can have high morale and be pissed off at the same time. I dare say a large number of our people are angry at Col. Williams for, by his own accounts, shaming the uniform. But morale is not low – the men and women at CFB Trenton are still working their butts off to keep up with the 24/7 demands of supporting our troops in Afghanistan, Haiti, Vancouver, Nevada and a dozen other locations around the world, in addition to searching and rescuing civilians in trouble.

This lack of understanding on Timson's part, as well as breathless articles such as the speculative smear of Ibbitson's "unless..." are disappointing. But this is a big story. A higher standard is demanded of military officers than from most of the population. So none of these pieces made me angry until I saw Susan Ormiston's ambush of Gen Walt Natynczyk after his address to the troops in Trenton:

Natynczyk: "...this was a difficult case..."

Ormiston [interrupting]: "Difficult? But that's your job, is to screen these guys, especially when they're at that high position. Doesn't that concern you?"

...

O: "Did you see anything in Col Williams' file?"

N: "No, no..."

O: "Nothing...so either it wasn't there, or somebody didn't ask the right questions."

...

O: "You did put this man - if these charges bear out - in a position of authority on this base and other places. What do you say to the families of the dead and assaulted women?"

N: "Again I extend my condolences to the Comeau family, to Marie France Comeau, to Jessica's family, just a terrible, terrible situation - again Marie France Comeau is one of my own..."

O: "Do you take responsibility?"

N: "I'm responsible for everyone in the Canadian Forces."

Ormiston is a veteran reporter, and has no excuse for such an attack. Telling Natynczyk what his job is? Asking in the negative "Don't these charges concern you?" - as if he was in Trenton for any other reason?

The question about putting Williams in a position of authority was particularly incendiary and irresponsible on Ormiston's part. If the charges hold true, not a single one of the crimes will have depended upon his position of elevated authority or trust. If the colonel had used his rank and position to abuse and kill these women, the question would have had some scrap of validity. But in terms of his crime, he could have perfomed the same foul deeds as a local doctor or farmer or bookkeeper. His occupation was immaterial to the alleged crime.

And that's why those of us who care about the CF are so torn in this case: while we feel viscerally upset that he wears the same uniform we did or do, while we understand and accept that leaders of all ranks in the CF must be held to a higher standard than the rest of the population in terms of behaviour and moral fibre, we also know that this situation is an incredible statistical aberration and that Williams' purported crimes had nothing to do with his position in the CF.

One of the most potent reasons Canadians love and honour the men and women of the CF is their astounding humanity. When more than 4000 members of the Army Veterans Motorcycle Club from 42 units across Canada raise over $5 million for charity, that's evidence of their humanity. When a ship's company raises over $40,000 from their own pockets for charity on deployment and volunteer their own spare time to help rebuild an orphanage in South Africa, that's evidence of their humanity. When CF members risk their own lives to save ours, that's evidence of their humanity.

But it's also evidence of their humanity when a soldier is pulled over for drunk driving, or when one commits suicide, or when one is charged with murder. Robots have the capacity for neither heroism nor betrayal.

As the Williams affair stretches on before the courts, and as indefensibly agenda-driven hacks like Ormiston continue to spin the story to their own sensationalist ends, the rest of us would do well to remember that.