MILNEWS.ca News Highlights – August 17, 2012
- “Military workers will soon see their living expenses go up when the federal government cuts a program that pays for meals and other costs when they are working away from their families. The Department of National Defence is cutting part of the Separation Expense Benefits Program on Sept. 1, which will save an estimated $30 million. When the military puts members on “imposed restriction” — when they are forced to move away for a short period of time, such as a year, from their family for work — it pays for their room and board. But military members will now be forced to pay for meals and other incidental living costs starting next month when they are on imposed restriction. Some people fear the change is going to be a hardship for many families ….” - more on the rules about such things here.
- Only the most unrepentant of cynics would think these announcements from the RCAF Info-machine are to show how busy the rescue fleet really is …. “The crew of a Royal Canadian Air Force CH-149 Cormorant helicopter successfully evacuated two men along the shoreline of Pitt River, B.C., near Pitt Lake, Aug. 9. The two men on board the small private airplane were forced to make an emergency landing on a trip from Pitt Meadows to Squamish, B.C., after they smelled fuel and noticed a leak. Losing fuel rapidly, they were able to land along the rocky shore, although the impact of the landing sheared off the landing gear. They were able to get out of the plane uninjured and activated their emergency beacons. Aircraft in the local area picked up the signals and relayed the information to Joint Rescue Coordination Centre Victoria (JRCC Victoria) ….”
- Next CDS: Whoozit gonna be? Soon, kids, soon! “Defence Minister Peter MacKay has confirmed we’re tantalizingly close to hearing the name of Canada’s next top general. “Stay tuned,” MacKay said in Toronto on Wednesday. “We’ll be making an announcement in the very near future.” He wouldn’t speculate about possible names of successors to the current chief of defence staff Gen. Walt Natynczyk. “The Canadian Forces has a lot of leaders and a lot of folks who have the potential to fill that role,” he said ….”
- AGAIN with the animals used in military medical training in Canada “The Canadian military is “actively” looking for ways to end its use of animals in training battlefield doctors, Postmedia News has learned. The disclosure by the Department of National Defence follows the publication of a study last week in the journal Military Medicine that showed only six out of 28 NATO countries — including Canada — continue to use animals such as pigs and goats to help military medical personnel train on treating amputation injuries and other major trauma, as well as exposure to chemical attacks. “DND currently does use live tissue training to provide advanced military medical training for specific operational requirements,” said Marie-Hélène Brisson, a public relations officer with the Defence Research and Development Canada, the research arm of the Canadian Forces. “However, the department is actively investigating alternate approaches to training healthcare professionals, while at the same time, ensuring we continue to save lives on the battlefield.” Canada’s military “strictly adheres to the guidelines of the Canadian Council on Animal Care which establishes the ethical use and care of animals,” Brisson added. “We actively work with leading international experts to assess and validate the effectiveness of simulation technologies in an effort to minimize and eliminate, wherever possible, the use of animals in training.” ….”
- Oh joy – ANOTHER announcement about MORE officer cadets entering the CF “One of the first officers in the new Canadian Forces Air Environmental Affiliated Degree (AEAD) program was enrolled …. in a ceremony in Barrie, Ontario. Officer Cadet (OCdt) Aaron Jeffrey was sworn-in by his father, Major Frank Jeffrey, in the AEAD program, which is a partnership between the Canadian Forces (CF) and the Seneca College. The AEAD program blends the academic requirements for the Seneca College’s Baccalaureate in Aviation Technology with the training mandate for a Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) pilot …. Successful applicants are enrolled in the CF and undergo their Basic Military Officer Qualification training in Saint-Jean, Quebec, followed by the RCAF Phase I pilot training at the Canadian Forces Base Portage La Prairie, Manitoba. If successful in this initial phase of training, they transfer to the Seneca College and begin academic studies towards their bachelor’s degree. The students then spend the next four years completing requirements to earn their bachelor’s degree and their CF wings ….”
- Former Canadian navy commodore now part of the military-industrial complex “General Dynamics Canada has announced that Kelly Williams, a former commodore in the Royal Canadian Navy, will join the company September 4 as senior director of strategy and government relations. Williams brings to this role extensive operational experience gained from over 36 years of service, including two extended Persian Gulf deployments. Additionally, Williams served with the U.S. Navy and as the Canadian Defence Advisor to the Canadian High Commissioner in the United Kingdom ….”
- Usual caveats: no documents shared, so no word what else is there “The decision to rebrand the Canadian Forces touched off a royal ruckus of sorts last year as National Defence went about extending the name change to the military’s smaller branches, documents suggest. Restoring the prefix “Royal” to the navy and air force has since become a huge point of pride for the Harper government, which billed the move as one that would help today’s soldiers, sailors and aircrew connect with their storied history. One year later, a series of briefing notes prepared for the country’s top military commanders show that subordinate commands — the smaller subsets of the Royal Canadian Navy, the Royal Canadian Air Force and the Canadian Army — are next ….”
- Way Up North “Arctic sea ice is melting at a pace so much faster than once thought that the latest projections say it might disappear by as soon as 2022, according to measurements from the European Space Agency. An analysis from the CryoSat-2 probe, launched two years ago as a purpose-built satellite for studying the thickness of Arctic ice, suggests that 900 cubic kilometres of ice have disappeared every year since 2004. At such a dramatic rate, scientists say it’s possible in 10 years that the Arctic could be ice-free for at least a day. “Very soon we may experience the iconic moment when, one day in the summer, we look at satellite images and see no sea ice coverage in the Arctic, just open water,” Dr. Seymour Laxon, with London’s Centre for Polar Observation and Modelling, told The Guardian newspaper ….”
- G-G/Commander in Chief headed to Dieppe to remember the 70th anniversary “At the request of the Right Honourable Stephen Harper, Prime Minister of Canada, His Excellency the Right Honourable David Johnston, Governor General and Commander-in-Chief of Canada, will go to France, on August 19 and 20, 2012, to take part in special events commemorating the 70th anniversary of the Dieppe Raid. Notably, the Governor General will deliver a speech during the official Canadian ceremony in the Square du Canada, on Sunday, August 19, at 10:30 a.m. ….” It appears the Veterans Affairs Minister will be joining the Gov-Gen on the trip as the trip leader.
- Speaking of Dieppe, “Why the Allied forces allowed the poorly planned Dieppe Raid to move forward has been a mystery for decades. Until now. Montrealer David O’Keefe has solved the mystery, and in the process has rewritten a defining moment in military history. O’Keefe, a military historian by profession, is featured in the History Television documentary Dieppe Uncovered, which airs Sunday — the 70th anniversary of the disastrous raid. The documentary is produced, directed, written, edited and shot by History Television veteran Wayne Abbott. It took O’Keefe 15 years to piece together what actually was intended to happen in the wee hours of Aug. 19, 1942. And it is the stuff of spy novels …. “
