CBC’s “The Border” in Afghanistan: The Quick & Dirty Review
At long last, a quick review of the 5 Nov 09 episode of “The Border”.
FULL DISCLOSURE: White Pine Pictures emailed me asking to mention the fact that the episode was going to portray storyline in Afghanistan, and asking for feedback on the military stuff. I shared this info here, at The Torch, and on Milnet.ca. I watched a preview DVD sent to me by White Pine, but received NO other compensation or remuneration.
As part of a storyline involving a Canadian and American official being kidnapped during a liaison visit to Afghanistan (with a certain amount of stereotype-casting – the Canadian is calm, cool and polite, while the American is more forward, aggressive and, at times, rude), we see a bit of Canadian military presence in the episode, mostly a red-haired colonel speaking to Canadians and Americans trying to get the nabbed folks rescued.
In one scene, where said red-haired colonel is surveying the scene of a shoot-out, he’s wearing a beret with a Royal Canadian Regiment cap badge. Other troops in the area are wearing helmets, so I think the officer would have been wearing a helmet, too.
Another scene that caught my eye was at the end during the rescue of the Can-Am hostage duo. The hostages try to deal with their captors on their own, and end up with an Afghan of some sort disarmed on the floor. During the rescue sequence, with gunfire and explosions in the background, we see an allied soldier of some nationality open the door, look in and tell the hostages to stay down before he moves on elsewhere outside the room.
I’ve never been part of a hostage rescue team, or even close, but I’m thinking such teams wouldn’t just go by and leave the hostages unattended, especially with some kind of bad guy in the room with some kind of weapon near him. I’m thinking they would be eager to secure the hostages, take care of any wounds they may have, and get them out safely ASAP.
All this said, it’s ENTERTAINMENT, and I did find the episode entertaining, so if you like the series, you’ll enjoy this episode as well.
TALIBAN PROPAGANDA WATCH (RC South) – 080015UTC Nov 09
NOTE: This material is from web pages and forums carrying statements attributed to the Taliban, Taliban spokespersons or supporters of the Taliban, or analysis thereof. Posting of this material neither confirms nor endorses any of its content – it is shared for information only. When material translated into English is not available, Google Translate is used to translate the original – this is only a machine translation, NOT an official one.
Mujahideen killed the director of a jail in Kandahar (Original in Arabic) – Google English translation
Continental / Yousuf Ahmadi
Mujahideen of Islamic Emirate was killed in a surprise attack Kandahar prison director named / Abdul Rahim Khan in the Gate area within the city of Lashkar Port Kandahar. According to news Linker said the officer was killed when he was four o’clock on the afternoon of yesterday (2009-11-06) on his way towards his home, Fbaghth Two of the occupants of the colloquial firearms, killing him. Majahdan and returned safely to their positions. At the news of another independent targeted another officer, in a similar attack in the Eid prayer in the city itself, and was killed instantly. In another development, the killing of two Manliyn yesterday afternoon when a bomb exploded in the Department Sncasar buttons mandate itself, were killed and two others were by severe.
Deaths and casualties in the client in Gereshk (Original in Arabic) – Google English translation
Continental / Yousuf Ahmadi
According to the details contained in about ten o’clock in the morning attacked the Mujahideen of Islamic Emirate of the puppet army soldiers in the Directorate of Gereshk in Helmand, who were passengers in the car kind of hip. Say the mujahideen in their report the sender: the armed attack carried out in the Minister Mande os River, killing at least (9) soldiers on the spot, and sheep Mujahideen weapons of dead soldiers and vehicles. Among the dead officers as well. And thankfully there have been no casualties among the militants in the attack, and still till filing of this report at noon the bodies of dead soldiers remain on the road between Kandahar and Hkurjah <Laskhar Gah>. In the news of another independent exploded at eight o’clock this morning a car to the puppet army improvised explosive device in the Ikjal Directorate itself, in which, (6) soldiers as occupiers were killed. Add news have been killed (5), while others were meeting for the dead they exploded another device. In a report just arrived at about two o’clock this afternoon a car from the hip type of puppet army in the same area is also an explosive device, resulting in the destruction of the car completely, and killed (4) soldiers who were on their way to Herat on the spot.
PDF version of this page also available
at non-terrorist site here.
CF Getting Better Load Carrying Equipment
Here’s what Canadian soldiers have been using to carry ammunition, personal equipment and the like in Afghanistan (photo courtesy of CF) – a tactical vest, or TV:
They’re far from perfect, so the CF tested some other rigs to do the job:
Almost from its inception the currently issued Tactical Vest (TV) was outdated while most of the other components of CTS were state of the art. It featured fixed pockets and limited space for ammunition. In order to improve the ability of the individual soldier to reconfigure his vest based on role as well as increase carrying capacity 12 commercial Modular Fighting Rigs were evaluated at the Regimental Armory in Gatineau Quebec.
Now, under the title “Modular Fighting Rigs,” we see they’re down to three different combinations of gear, via MERX:
The department of National Defence has a requirement for three (3) different systems of modular fighting rigs with components and specialized pouches. The systems have to be military off the shelf or commercial off the shelf….
The bid document (highlights here) goes into more detail about what the TV’s problems were:
Recent operational experience has generated many observations concerning the inadequacy of the TV. The complaints have centered on the inability of the infantry soldier to configure pouches and pockets, and to personalize for ease of use for assigned tasks/roles (e.g. C7 M-203 gunner; C-9 gunner, etc) and on the capacity of the pouches.
Specifically, the TV has the following deficiencies:
- It does not provide soldiers the ability to carry the required amount of mission specific ammunition, in order to conduct mission specific tasks.
- It does not provide the modularity that soldiers require in order to prepare their equipment for mission specific tasks.
- It does not provide a platform that facilitates easy access to ammunition.
Plain English: It couldn’t carry enough, it wasn’t flexible enough to switch/swap pouches according to the job to be done, and it made ammo hard to reach.
The bid document lays out what pouches and straps and things each rig should have, depending on the job the soldier in question is doing (commander, marksman, rifleman, grenadier, etc.) – if you’re interested in exactly who gets what bits, you can download that section (~60 page PDF) here or check Milnet.ca here.
If all goes according to plan, the new systems (between about 1,600 and 1,800 of each of the three combinations requested) should be available soon – from the online MERX post:
Delivery requested: To commence as soon as possible and be completed by 31 (M)arch 2010.
Mission Messaging Mambo: The Latest Guess
We’re hearing that Canadian military bosses have ordered the start of packing of bags in Afghanistan.
And what are we hearing about what’ll be left? Still not so much.
Today’s Globe & Mail has a few guesses in a piece on how the packing will be done, though:
Although the Conservatives have yet to make it clear, it’s expected hundreds of soldiers may need to remain behind to protect reconstruction and development. Retired major-general Lewis Mackenzie guesses up to 500 or 600 soldiers would stay in Afghanistan to keep watch over Canadian development projects or even to train local army and police.
The Harper government has so far been reluctant to spell out how many soldiers are staying behind after the 2011 pullout. During the 2008 election campaign, the Prime Minister acknowledged that not every single soldier will return with the combat pullout, and it’s expected lingering pressure from the Obama administration to help out may lead to a contingent remaining.
Military analysts speculated that Gen. Natynczyk’s decision to draw attention to withdrawal planning this week – his orders to make plans were actually given last summer – may have been an effort to force Ottawa to make clear its post-2011 intentions in Afghanistan.
CanWest News Service quotes the Chief of Defence Staff saying, though, that even though no plan is in place for post-2011, he can deal with that when the time comes:
“It’s still a year-and-a-half away; we’ve launched operations on less than that, but I can’t assume that”
Reinforcing this is messaging coming from the head of Canada’s Provincial Reconstruction Team in Kandahar, via the Canadian Press:
A high – ranking Canadian soldier who is assuming a key role in Afghanistan says Canadians need to temper their expectations ahead of a planned pullout for 2011. Brig.-Gen. Steve Bowes has begun a one-year deployment as the International Security Assistance Force’s deputy chief of plans and projects. He says Canadians shouldn’t have delusions about quick success in Afghanistan.
A little reminder from the the Communications Policy of the Government of Canada:
Ministers are the principal spokespersons of the Government of Canada …. Ministers present and explain government policies, priorities and decisions to the public.
TALIBAN PROPAGANDA WATCH (RC South) – 070130UTC Nov 09
NOTE: This material is from web pages and forums carrying statements attributed to the Taliban, Taliban spokespersons or supporters of the Taliban, or analysis thereof. Posting of this material neither confirms nor endorses any of its content – it is shared for information only. When material translated into English is not available, Google Translate is used to translate the original – this is only a machine translation, NOT an official one.
Inflicted heavy casualties on the enemy attacks in Helmand (Original in Arabic) – Google English translation
Continental / Yousuf Ahmadi
Incurring the enemy foreign and domestic losses in the attacks and explosions in the Nad Ali and Mderte Gereshk in Helmand. According to news Linker: battle took place directly between the Mujahideen of Islamic Emirate and the common enemy forces at about the sixth Morocco yesterday (2009-11-06). In the areas of Jah Mirza Janger, lasted about an hour, killing and wounding (7) and Afghan soldiers as occupiers. In another separate report, the first bombing of armored forces, territory and then followed by a type of car hip to the Afghan soldiers by improvised explosive devices in the OS Smitty River Gereshk in the Directorate of the mandate itself, which resulted in two blasts that killed and wounded soldiers and Afghan invaders. Contained in another report that the Mujahideen attacked yesterday in the region and the Minister of Mande in the way of Kandahar Hkurjah <Lashkar Gah> point security to the military customer direct attack, which led to the liberation point security fully and one soldier was captured alive and the others fled at the beginning of the attack scene. And thankfully there was no damage to the ranks of the Mujahideen in the attack.
Mujahideen Inflicted heavy casualties on the enemy in Helmand (7th headline)
Thursday morning 05-11-2009 at around 6 am local time, fight took place between the Mujahideen of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan and puppet army terrorists in Cha mirza and Chanjir areas in Nad ali district of Helmand province, in the fighting which continued for an hour, seven terrorists were killed or wounded. According to another report, Thursday 05-11-2009, the Mujahideen using improvised explosive devices, first blew up a patrol of the enemy and then an enemy car in Nehr-e-siraj samiti area in Garishk district of Helmand province, as a result of the two blasts many enemy terrorists were killed and wounded also the vehicle was destroyed. According to another report, Thursday 05-11-2009, the Mujahideen attacked puppet army check post in Wazir manda area in Garishk district, which led to the destruction of the post, one terrorists was captured while others managed to flee. Reported by Qari Muhammad Yousuf
Puppet police check post attacked in Nimroze (18th headline)
Thursday morning 05-11-2009, Mujahideen of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan attacked a puppet police check post in Nimroze province, in the attack the post building was damaged, four terrorists were killed and two were wounded, the attack last for about an hour. Reported by Qari Muhammad Yousuf
PDF version of this page also available
at non-terrorist site here.
Canadian Military Research Just Out
I wanted to share some new papers released by Defence Research and Development Canada with you. While interesting, you have to wade through the scientific-ese a bit.
1) Plain English Summary for “Counter-IED Initiative PPE Horizon 0 – Phase 1 Protection versus Performance: Preliminary Tradeoff Analysis: Behavioural Task Analysis” (159 pg. PDF):
Research shows folks in tanks, other armoured vehicles and trucks need to be able to move from the waist up to do their jobs, so we’ll have to consider that when designing body armour and other personal protection against IEDs. Still, there were some worries about protecting the troops’ sides, necks, throats and pelvises.
Abstract for same:
DRDC Valcartier has taken the lead on a Counter-IED (C-IED) Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) Horizon 0, which is a sub-project of a larger C-IED Technical Demonstration Project (TDP). DRDC Toronto is the providing Human Factors expertise to support this project. In order to develop PPE recommendations to overcome any change or increase in vulnerability a comprehensive understanding of physiological, biomechanical, task performance and operational impact of increasing coverage and/or level of protection of soldiers needs to be obtained. The objective of this study was to develop a number of operational scenarios that encompassed the majority of tasks performed by mounted crewmen. These scenarios were then used to conduct a behavioral task analysis (BTA) of vehicle crews with emphasis given to reach and viewing activities, physical motions and crew station operations, vehicle and equipment compatibility, and access/egress in normal and emergency situations. The operational scenarios were developed from a focus group held at CFB Edmonton from 1 – 2 February 2007. The four operational scenarios that were developed at the focus group were a quick reaction force in a close country, a broken down vehicle within a city, an engage targets scenario, and a vehicle-borne IED scenario. These scenarios were then used to lead the BTA that was conducted from 19 – 21 March 2007. A total of 28 soldiers participated in the BTA covering 8 vehicles (G-Wagon, MLVW, HLVW, TLAV, Bison, Leopard C2 Tank, Coyote, and the LAV III). Once the BTA was concluded each participant completed a questionnaire evaluating their current in-service personal protective equipment. The BTA found that in most vehicle crew positions a full range of motion from the waist up is required, a critical design criteria for any additional PPE developed for vehicle crews. In general, existing PPE was acceptable but concerns were raised about the level of coverage on the sides, neck, throat and pelvis. There were also concerns about the in-service shoulder cap.
2) Plain English Summary for “A State-of-the-art Review of Enhanced Personal Protection Equipment Options,” (93 pg. PDF), which appears to be a bit of a follow-up to (1):
After checking out what’s out there in body armour (both military and commercial rigs) and other protective gear (sports and industrial included), here’s some combinations of add-ons (7 pg. PDF) we should explore further to see if they can protect while letting the soldier get on with his or her job.
Abstract for same:
The purpose of this study was to conduct a state-of-the-art review of commercial and military off-the-shelf (COTS/MOTS) options for enhancing protection of the soldier’s torso, neck, nape and extremities, including any design options from industrial and sports applications. This review was then used to recommend which add-on torso and extremity components should be modeled in Digital Biomechanics software. Finally, detailed requirements for the commencement of a future biomechanical modeling analysis were provided.
3) Plain English Summary for “A review on pharmacokinetic modeling and the effects of environmental stressors on pharmacokinetics for operational medicine” (127 pg PDF):
What’s the scientific literature say about how stress, fatigue, confusion and other things a soldier goes through in battle affects how the body responds to drugs and medicine? There’s still gaps in the research, so we’re going to figure out a model to predict how drugs work in the body while it’s under military-linked physical and psychological stress.
Abstract from same:
In this report, we conducted a comprehensive literature review on the effects of a range of physiological and psychological stressors on drug absorption, distribution and elimination (pharmacokinetics), and current pharmacokinetic models (including computerized modeling tools and algorithms) used to predict pharmacokinetic changes. Although sophisticated computerized mathematical models have been widely used to quantitatively describe the pharmacokinetics of drugs in the human body, limited experimental data for both descriptive and predictive purposes were available. The effects of isolated physical activities on pharmacokinetics have been documented. However, some inconsistencies need to be addressed, such as the intensity and duration of each physical activity, and timing of drug administration. Other physiologicalstressors, such as temperature, hypoxic, hyperbaric and hyperoxic conditions have been studied to a lesser extent. There are only a few reports describing the psychological effects on drug pharmacokinetics. After carefully reviewing the literature, our goal is to develop a physiologically-based pharmacokinetic model to predict the absorption, distribution and elimination of drugs employed under various military physiological and psychological stressors.
Enjoy!
Mission Messaging Mambo: CF Preparing to Move Home
29 Oct 09: Canada’s Defence Minister quoted saying post-2011 mission depends on what U.S. does down the road.
6 Nov 09: The Globe and Mail and CBC.ca say Canada’s Chief of Defence Staff Walt Natynczyk has issued some kind of orders to start some sort of preparation for pulling Canada’s troops out of Afghanistan. The Toronto Star actually quotes the CDS saying:
“I’ve put out instructions back in August on our planning and preparation with regard to 2011,” he said. “Our allies are well aware, NATO is well aware of our intentions because … it takes a year or so to prepare all the troops … to replace us …. I don’t have additional knowledge of where the laydown is, but I would say the chances are that the U.S. will continue to replace what we’re doing in Kandahar province …. That would be at this point my assumption.”
6 Nov 09: The Associated Press says:
(U.S. President Barak) Obama brushed off criticism that he is taking too long to decide whether to meet his war commander’s request to provide about 40,000 more troops at the end of this year
So, what more do we know about what Canada’s presence will look like in Afghanistan post-2011?
Not so much.
The mambo continues.
My Only Fort Hood Thoughts for Now
Sincerest condolences to the families, colleagues and friends of those killed in the tragedy.
Hopes for a speedy and full recovery to all the wounded (both physically and emotionally).
Posts like this or this do NOT help sort out what really happened.
Right now, I have to agree with this, from a terrorism analyst/blogger:
I find it disturbing that there are those in my field out there rushing to publish, throwing their judgment around in what is, to be perfectly frank, a self aggrandizing race to be the first to comment.
Their choice. But in complex situations like this, and before clear information has emerged making what can only then be characterised as ill-informed comment can cause great harm to already marginalised and vulnerable communities, and I think it would be extremely poor form for me to offer comment, before the facts are in, let alone go announcing this is some new jihad as I note some are already doing.
I await more on this once everyone has regained their breath a bit.
TALIBAN PROPAGANDA WATCH (RC South) – 060115UTC Nov 09
NOTE: This material is from web pages and forums carrying statements attributed to the Taliban, Taliban spokespersons or supporters of the Taliban, or analysis thereof. Posting of this material neither confirms nor endorses any of its content – it is shared for information only. When material translated into English is not available, Google Translate is used to translate the original – this is only a machine translation, NOT an official one.
Baba Ji explosion kills five, injures British soldiers (Original in Arabic) – Google English translation
Continental / Yousuf Ahmadi
There were reports of an explosion on the British soldiers in the infantry opened at ten in the morning ( 2009-11-05 ) in an area of Baba Ji Hkurjah near the center of the Helmand province, the explosion Mottagl (3) soldiers Englishmen on the spot and injuring two others Bjrhat severe. Linker said the report: with the blast took place in fierce conflicts with the enemy, and thankfully there was no damage to the ranks of the Mujahideen. The enemy suffered such losses in the time that the air force of the enemy’s heavy bombardment last night on the civilian population, killing ( 7 ) of unarmed civilians, as Jnaizhm relocate people in the parade of protest to the headquarters of the governor in that state, and demonstrated there, in the presence of a number large Asahvin Afghans and foreigners.
Mujahideen killed four occupiers in Sngen <Sangin> (Original in Arabic) – Google English translation
Continental / Yousuf Ahmadi
Death of four soldiers as occupiers Englishmen in two separate explosions in the Directorate of Sngen in Helmand. According to the Mujahideen in their report from the region: an explosion in the eleventh hour of the morning (2009-11-05) Angelez infantry soldiers while they were on their way in the Kamiti that CTED had their positions after a search of people’s homes. Killed in the blast, two foreign soldiers were killed and two others were by severe. After this incident an hour killed two others when Manliyn Fjwoa with the ambush of the Mujahideen in the area of the bridge Jardh Directorate itself. Killed in the attack, two soldiers, were killed and another soldier were by severe.
Dead and wounded among the enemy in the ناوه (Original in Arabic) – Google English translation
Continental / Yousuf Ahmadi
According to the news Linker, killing five soldiers as occupiers and nine others were injured in about the third hour of noon yesterday While the income of these soldiers to a house booby-trapped by the Mujahideen of Islamic Emirate in the Bagh region mooring Department ناوه in Helmand. Mujahideen said in their report: After entering the direct and explosions occurred inside the house, and the enemy suffered losses listed above it. Mujahideen after the blasts, an armed attack on the enemy, resulting in more casualties among the enemy. Said of the two officers were among the dead as well.
PDF version of this page also available
at non-terrorist site here.
