MILNEWS.ca News Highlights – April 29, 2014

• Ukraine (1a)  Romania it is!  “The Honourable Rob Nicholson, P.C., Q.C., M.P., for Niagara Falls, Minister of National Defence was on hand this morning to mark the departure of Canadian personnel and six CF-18 fighter aircraft headed for Romania.  These fighter aircraft, along with support personnel, are travelling to Romania in order to conduct training activities in support of immediate reassurance measures. They will join Romania and other NATO Allies currently operating in the region as part of NATO Reassurance Measures to Central and Eastern Europe ….”
  
• Ukraine (1b)  More details about the deployment  “…. The Canadian Air Task Force is composed mainly of personnel from 2 Air Expeditionary Wing and 3 Wing, which are both located at Bagotville. 2 Air Expeditionary Wing, a relatively new organization, is capable of deploying rapidly as a self-contained unit – employing air power and providing associated support wherever needed, across Canada or around the world.  4 Wing Cold Lake, Alberta, 8 Wing Trenton, Ontario, and 19 Wing Comox, British Columbia, are also contributing to the Task Force, which will include the following:  Six CF-18 Hornet fighter jets from 425 Tactical Fighter Squadron, 3 Wing Bagotville, Quebec; A Command and Control Element, which provides tactical-level command support; A Mission Support Element, which provides logistical support including lodging; food services; supply; transportation; and construction, electrical and mechanical engineering; An Operational Support Element, which provides operational support to air assets, including force protection, intelligence, aerospace management and maintenance coordination; An Air Movements Detachment, which coordinates the movement of personnel and material in and out of the deployed location.  In all, about 228 personnel are deploying.  In addition to the Air Task Force, 15 Canadian Armed Forces planning personnel have already deployed to Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe (SHAPE) in Casteau, Belgium, and have begun reinforcing planning efforts ….”
  
• Ukraine (1c)  Good to hear …. “Six CF-18s and hundreds of Canadian Forces personnel left for Romania today to assist NATO forces in Eastern Europe amid uncertainty over the length and scope of the mission.  “There is a lot of uncertainty about what we’re going to be doing over there,” Lt.-Gen. Yvan Blondin said, as the jet fighters left Bagotville, Que., for Romania Tuesday morning ….”
  
• Ukraine (2)  NATO’s take  “Allies enhance NATO air-policing duties in Baltics States, Poland, Romania — Fighter jets from Poland, the United Kingdom and Denmark take over NATO air policing duties over the Baltic states of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania on Thursday (1 May 2014) as part of enhanced collective defence measures agreed to by Allies earlier this month ….”
  
• Ukraine (3)  Ooopsie …. “Ottawa is washing its hands of an “unfortunate” pay dispute that has sparked rebellion in the advance team for Canada’s ambitious mission to monitor the upcoming Ukrainian election.  The first wave of 15 Canadian observers already on the ground is the pointy tip of a civilian deployment that will eventually number 500 Canadians for Ukraine’s crucial presidential vote on May 25.  But on Monday, the advance team went public with a story of broken promises, accusing bureaucrats of tearing up their financial agreement after the fact and imposing a frugal new compensation package that some say will leave them subsidizing the mission out of their own pockets ….”
• Afghanistan (1)  “Today, the Honourable Rob Nicholson, P.C., Q.C., M.P. for Niagara Falls, Minister of National Defence, invites all Canadians to join in on National Day of Honour activities taking place across Canada on May 9 in recognition of Canada’s military mission in Afghanistan. Additional details were unveiled on the National Day of Honour website which offers Canadians information on the many parades taking place at Canadian Forces Bases and in communities across the country, as well as an afternoon program of events being held in conjunction with the national parade in Ottawa on Parliament Hill …. A full list of events happening across Canada is available at http://www.app.forces.gc.ca/ndoh-jndc/ndoh-activities.html ….”
• Afghanistan (2)  “In the warzone, the only thing Alison MacLean shoots is her camera. But in her hands, it is just as powerful as the weapons of the soldiers she’s working alongside.  Back in July 2010, the independent documentary filmmaker spent three weeks embedded with Canadian troops through Operation Athena in the Kandahar Province. From her footage, she created the documentary, Outside the Wire.  “Outside the wire” is a military term used to describe when those in a war zone go past the perimeters set up around operations and camps. They do so at great personal risk.  Blatant and with no-frills, the 55-year-old South Surrey resident brought in an unbiased angle, highlighting women in the Canadian and coalition troops working in Afghanistan.  “These people are the frontline soldiers of change on all levels and I know that women embrace that, and they embrace this new job and they go forward with it,” MacLean said.  Over the last five years, MacLean has made a point of featuring the stories of women in combat because she feels that they have been underrepresented ….”
  
• From the Navy Info-machine  “Who says you can’t eat healthy and get fit at sea?  The ship’s company of HMCS Regina is helping to lead the way to promote health and fitness for the rest of the fleet during the ship’s overseas deployment for Operation ARTEMIS. They have implemented a number of initiatives over the course of the last four months including diet and weight counseling, anti-smoking assistance, a Biggest Loser weight loss contest and regular meetings of the ship’s fitness club.  “We are reaching the mid-point of our deployment and we need to sustain our energy levels and stay healthy for the remainder of Operation ARTEMIS,” said Cdr Dan Charlebois, Commanding Officer of HMCS Regina ….”
• “The Chief of the Defence Staff (CDS), General Tom Lawson, ordered today that an external independent review is to be conducted of workplace policies and procedures within the Canadian Armed Forces.  This review will be focused on examining the workplace of the Canadian Armed Forces, the policies and programs which are in place to combat occurrences of sexual misconduct, the measures which are in place to protect victims, and measurement of the effectiveness of the policies ….”
• “A soldier who stalked and attacked two women on his Ontario military base four years ago was sentenced to jail for another 18 months.  Cpl. Christopher Chaulk has already served four years in jail while awaiting the end of his trial into the terrorizing attacks on two women on CFB Petawawa in 2010.  During his sentencing Monday, Chaulk apologized to his victims ….”
• “A former Canadian Forces medical technician who was sentenced to 30 months in jail after being convicted of sexual assault and breach of trust will remain free while he appeals the verdict in his case ….”
• “Sailor Derek de Jong charged with desertion was harassed, wife claims — Lieutenant is now facing court martial after leaving HMCS Preserver ….”
• “There’s no doubt that it takes “the right stuff” to succeed in the demanding field of military aviation. But exactly what is “the right stuff” in the 21st century? And how can the Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) ensure that it is selecting the men and women with the right stuff to carry out three of the most challenging jobs in the Air Force? ….”
• “Canada is being urged to lead a new international effort to ban so-called “killer robots” — the new generation of deadly high-tech equipment that can select and fire on targets without human help.  The Campaign to Stop Killer Robots is pushing for a new international treaty to ban such weapons from the battlefields of the future ….”
  
• Way Up North (1)  “Russia’s oil and gas monopoly Gazprom has disclosed the brand name by which crude oil, produced at the Prirazlomnaya rig inside the Arctic circle, will be known in the world markets. The announcement came shortly after the first tanker with ARCO (Arctic Oil) left the platform carrying an oil load purchased by one of Europe’s major energy companies ….”
  
• Way Up North (2)  “Greenpeace International is sending out a ship to protest a tanker bringing the first oil produced at a new Russian offshore platform in the Arctic Circle to Rotterdam.  The environmental group said Monday it has sent the “Rainbow Warrior III” to meet the Mikhail Ulyanov, a tanker chartered by Russia’s state-controlled oil company, Gazprom OAO.  Greenpeace spokesman Ben Ayliffe would not comment on what kind of protest is planned.  “The tanker is currently heading south into the North Sea as it makes for Rotterdam, so we expect the two ships to meet at some stage in the coming days,” he said ….”
• Khadr Boy  “Wednesday April 30, 2014 @ 9:30am Omar Khadr will be appearing in the Court of Queen’s Bench in Edmonton for an appeal hearing. Please try to make it out to show your support.  Dennis Edney, lawyer for Omar Khadr is set to appeal the decision that denied his request to be transferred out of Edmonton’s federal penitentiary into a provincial facility. The case will be heard by the Alberta Court of Appeal. Edney has argued that his detention in a Edmonton maximum security institution was illegal because he was 15 when the crimes were committed, and his eight-year sentence amounts to a youth sentence in provincial jail ….”
• “Royal Canadian Legion branches across the country have long marked Nov. 11 each year with parades and wreaths placed at local cenotaphs in memory of the country’s war dead. But few have continued to make note of an equally important date in Canada’s war history: June 6, 1944 ….”
• “Against All Odds: Canadian Veteran Recalls Battle of Kapyong — 63 years since Canada’s triumph in epic Korean War battle ….”