MILNEWS.ca News Highlights – September 19, 2012
- Afghanistan (1) “Amid increased violence from within the ranks of Afghan forces against NATO trainers, Defence Minister Peter MacKay warns there is no guarantee Canadian soldiers will stay safe. “We’re not naive,” MacKay said. “We can’t eliminate risk altogether. This is a highly volatile part of the world.” At least 51 alliance soldiers have been killed this year when Afghan police or soldiers turned their weapons on their NATO mentors. As a result, NATO has ordered a temporary cutback in joint operations with Afghan forces on the front lines of combat in Afghanistan. While commanders are always working to reduce the risks trainers face, MacKay says Canadian trainers have an advantage as they work in and around the capital, Kabul. “Canada does not participate in joint operations,” MacKay said. “Our training is done … on static bases behind the wire, so we are insulated from these changes as far as joint operations.” The minister also points to other factors that have kept Canadian troops safer. “It’s partly the intent of the Taliban in who they’re targeting,” MacKay said. He added that screening of Afghan trainees is becoming more effective, too ….”
- Afghanistan (2) Meanwhile, this from the Government of Canada Info-machine: “Canada’s Ambassador to Afghanistan attends Polio Campaign Inauguration and Inoculates Afghan Children“
- Afghanistan (3) Column: “…. Canada, having ended its combat mission, remains to assist in the training of the Afghan army, into whose hands much of the country’s security will be placed when NATO forces depart. It is hard to imagine a less enticing prospect for security success; it is even harder to imagine any other prospect. As former British prime minister Harold Macmillan used to say, rule number one in politics: Never invade Afghanistan.”
- The other side of the coin of the announcement that money’s going to be pumped into hiring more miltiary mental health professionals “…. Major Mark Campbell, a St. Albert resident, applauded the announcement, but said it will only benefit a small amount of military personnel with mental health concerns. “The announcement is a double-edged sword,” he said. “For people in the military, this is a good deal, but you know what, the only people who are going to be able to stay in the military with PTSD are those with relatively mild cases.” He said the remainder will likely be medically released and forced to seek help from civilian mental health professionals. Campbell, 47, lost both legs while on his second tour in Afghanistan more than four years ago. When he stepped on an improvised explosive device June 2, 2008, it took most of his hearing in his right ear, some of his short-term memory and one of his testicles. It also left him with post-traumatic stress disorder and major depressive disorder. Campbell currently sees a team of military mental health practitioners on a weekly basis, but expects to be medically released within the year. He said he fears he won’t be able to find qualified professionals in the civilian world who can treat his complex disorders ….”
- “Liberal Defence critic John McKay made the following statement today on the report issued by the Canadian Forces’ ombudsman on mental health services in the military: “While the Conservatives like to use our soldiers as backdrops for photos and events, they continue to ignore calls to address the glaring shortages in mental health services in the military. Canadian Forces’ ombudsman Pierre Daigle recently called attention to the lack of resources available to adequately care for Forces members suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder and other mental injuries. Mr. Daigle noted that personnel levels are almost 25% below what is needed. This is not new information to the government. They were informed of these challenges in the ombudsman’s 2008 report and have yet to institute all of the report’s recommendations. It is time that this government stop ignoring the severity of this problem, treat our wounded military men and women with the respect they deserve and take the necessary action to implement all of the ombudsman’s recommendations as soon as possible.” “
- “The Honourable Steven Blaney, Minister of Veterans Affairs, and Brigadier-General (Retired) Gregory Matte, Executive Director of Helmets to Hardhats Canada, (Tuesday) officially launched the Helmets to Hardhats Canada Web site. The Web site is dedicated to helping Veterans and men and women in uniform find jobs in the building and construction industry as they transition to civilian life ….” - more here.
- “Despite fighting in two recent wars and providing emergency assistance in Canada and abroad, a recent survey commissioned by the Defence Department suggests Canadians know less about their military than at any time since 2008. And for the first time in four years, a larger proportion of Canadians feel the military’s priority should be domestic operations, such as responding to natural disasters instead of deploying overseas. Analysts say the findings mark a return to the public’s traditional apathy toward the military after years of robust support — a development that will be a cause for concern within the Defence Department, especially as it faces pressure to rein in operations and spending. The survey was conducted by a private company contracted by National Defence and comprised two parts: a telephone questionnaire given to 1,520 Canadian between Feb. 16 and March 2; and 10 focus groups held across the country a few weeks earlier. The findings, which were published in a final report to the department in April and only recently made public, found Canadians hold almost overwhelmingly positive views of the military. Yet only 38 per cent of respondents said they had recently seen, read or heard something about the Canadian Forces — a “significant” decline from the 57 per cent who gave the same answer the year before ….”
- Way Up North (1) “While the marine search for Sir John Franklin’s lost ships has come up dry so far this summer, land-based sites have yielded a bonanza of artifacts that could help shed further light on what happened after the vessels were abandoned in the Arctic. Archeologists Doug Stenton and Bob Park discovered everything from human bones and a tooth to nails, buttons and tiny scraps of cloth as they carefully scoured several Franklin artifact sites on King William Island in Nunavut. “These sites have been identified before, but it’s fascinating and very exciting that there’s still quite a bit of material available to study,” says Park, a professor and archeological anthropologist at the University of Waterloo. “The bigger pieces have gone, but there’s a lot of small stuff ….”
- Way Up North (2) “Hyped-up fears of a coming Arctic war have, appropriately, cooled down recently. But Arctic ice is melting faster than ever, which could mean more activity — military and commercial — in an environment notoriously unforgiving to sensors and other location tools. Leave it to the Pentagon’s far-out researchers at Darpa to work on a solution: an all-seeing network of sensors to track what’s going on in the Arctic all year round — including, it seems, sensors placed on icebergs ….”
- Some “prominent Canadians” defend American woman who joined the U.S. military, then walked out on her contract. Some American are backing her, too, not to mention rabble.ca and some guy at ipolitics.ca. Question to these folks: would you as quickly defend a cop who says, “you know, I don’t like this neighbourhood, so I’m not going to answer calls there”? Same, same ….
- Question to Macleans columnist: what would the headlines have looked like if an alleged murderer-dismemberer was flown back to Canada in an executive jet instead of a military plane?
