MILNEWS.ca News Highlights – 19 Jan 11

• Corporal Jean-Michel Déziel, R.I.P. “A soldier died at approximately 10:00 hrs Monday morning after falling from the roof of a building at CFB Valcartier. Corporal Jean-Michel Déziel, a member of the Headquarters and Signals Squadron, was in the process of installing a telecommunications antenna when the incident occurred. The soldier was immediately evacuated to the Laval Hospital, where he was pronounced dead ….” More from CBC.ca here and QMI Media here.
• Taliban Propaganda Watch:  The bad guys allege blowing up a Canadian “tank” in Panjwai – no confirmation on that.
• “Secret talks are underway in the Afghan capital and in the country’s south to replace the governor of a tumultuous district of Kandahar that is under Canada’s watch, The Canadian Press has learned. The backroom dealing centres around finding a replacement for the illiterate and mercurial Haji Baran, the current governor of Panjwaii. A security shura, or meeting of Afghan elders, was cancelled on Monday because Baran was in Kabul for meetings. Reached by telephone, Baran confirmed he was in the capital this week. Speaking in Pashto, he told a local journalist working for The Canadian Press that he has heard the talk that he will soon be replaced as Panjwaii’s governor. But Baran insisted he’s not going anywhere ….”
• Canada’s military research arm has just published a military chronology of Canada’s involvement in Afghanistan – downloaable here (via Army.ca).
• Remember this guy who said an unarmed Afghan teenager had been killed by Canadian troops in 2007?  The investigation says not so. “The Canadian Forces National Investigation Service (CFNIS), the independent investigative arm of the Canadian Forces Military Police, has concluded its investigation into the allegations made by Mr. Ahmadshah Malgarai before the House of Commons’ Special Committee on Afghanistan on April 14, 2010 with respect to his time spent employed as a language and cultural advisor in Afghanistan from July 2007 to July 2008. The CFNIS investigation determined that no service or criminal offences were committed ….” More from MSM outlets here, here, here, here, here and here (note the CBC’s choice of headline – “No proof of Afghan adviser’s shooting claims” – compared to the wording of the CF statement above).
• CBC’s happy to be pretty declarative with this headline, though:  “JTF2 command ‘encouraged’ war crimes, soldier alleges“.   Note my highlights and what factoid is buried pretty far into the story:  “A member of Canada’s elite special forces unit says he felt his peers were being “encouraged” by the Canadian Forces chain of command to commit war crimes in Afghanistan, according to new documents obtained by CBC News.  The documents from the military ombudsman’s office show the member of the covert unit Joint Task Force 2, or JTF2, approached the watchdog in June 2008 to report the allegations of wrongdoing he had first made to his superior officers in 2006.  The soldier told the ombudsman’s office “that although he reported what he witnessed to his chain of command, he does not believe they are investigating, and are being ‘very nice to him,’ ” according to the documents, which CBC News obtained through access to information.  As such, the soldier alleged, the chain of command helped create an atmosphere that tolerated war crimes.  The ombudsman’s documents state the soldier was subsequently directed to the Canadian Forces National Investigation Service, CFNIS, which in turn launched its own investigation.  The CFNIS told the ombudsman the investigation was “now their No. 1 priority.”  The member alleged that a fellow JTF2 member was involved in the 2006 shooting death of an Afghan who had his hands up in the act of surrender. That CFNIS probe ended without any charges ….”
• More reaction to Jack Layton’s criticism of the Canadian mission in Afghanistan:  “…. By making exactly all the wrong comparisons to the Second World War and the great struggle against fascism’s European variants, Mr. Layton forgets that if we were fighting now the way we fought back then we would have turned Islamabad into Dresden by now and Tehran would be the name of a city we’d mention in the same breath with Hiroshima. We would have already forgotten the “war in Afghanistan” because it would have been over long ago ….”
• Canadians and Americans are working together in search ways to help wounded warriors heal, especially the wounds we don’t see.  “…. Lt. Col. Stephane Grenier, who returned from duty in Rwanda in 1994 isolated, depressed and eventually suicidal, said today’s language of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) puts too much emphasis on “combat.” Warfare has become the “culturally acceptable excuse,” but troops in any role can get an operational stress injury from fatigue, grief and moral stressors, he said. “What happens to the clerk who never steps outside Kandahar Airfield but whose job is to write those letters, write the inventory of the equipment being shipped back to mom and dad?” said Grenier, who now works on the Mental Health Commission of Canada’s peer project team. Grenier is among a group of Canadian and U.S. military experts who gathered Tuesday to collaborate on ways to help wounded soldiers. Canadian Forces physicians, psychiatrists, chaplains and injured soldiers met with their American counterparts to discuss innovative programs and treatments in a symposium at the University of Southern California called “Wounded Warriors – Healing the Mind, Body and Soul.” ….” More on the conference here.
• “Cormorant search-and-rescue helicopters won’t be available to cover central and parts of Western Canada and the North until at least 2014 because of ongoing problems that have plagued the aircraft fleet, according to newly released Defence Department documents. The use of the helicopters for such missions was temporarily suspended in 2005. But last year the Defence Department quietly extended that until 2014, according to the documents. The area in question, equal to a million square kilometres, extends from the Prairies to Quebec and includes the Northwest Territories and much of Nunavut. Instead, search-and-rescue crews flying out of Canadian Forces Base Trenton, Ont., will continue to use Griffon helicopters for those operations, despite critics’ warning that the smaller helicopter doesn’t have the capabilities for a large rescue operation …. “
• Testing high-tech at Gagetown.  “The future face of Canada’s army is being defined this week at Canadian Forces Base Gagetown. The scenario is being played out at the Combat Training Centre via computer war games based on a scenario in the Horn of Africa. Known as Capability Development Experiment 2010, it’s part of an effort to determine what shape this country’s ground forces will take by 2021. Lt.-Col. William Cummings, the experiment director, said the military is trying to validate what it describes as an “adapted dispersed operations scenario.” That involves four major events going on at the same time …. “
• Anonymous source, but interesting information nonetheless – highlights mine.  “…. Security intelligence authorities are warning that exiled Tamil rebel leaders are re-establishing their violent Sri Lankan separatist movement in Canada. “We don’t know how far advanced it is, but their intent is pretty clear — to set up a base-in-exile here for the leadership. Some leadership is already here,” a well-placed federal government official told the Ottawa Citizen. The warning accompanied a report late last week to senior government officials revealing that two southeast Asian smuggling syndicates are arranging the launch of two more shiploads of Tamil migrants to British Columbia in the coming weeks. The boats are expected to carry as many as 50 former Tamil Tiger rebel leaders and fighters, according to intelligence estimates. “Why here? It doesn’t make any sense because it is much easier to go to Australia,” said the official. “This is the reason.” Two previous cargo ships, Sun Sea and Ocean Lady, arrived off the West Coast last year and in 2009 carrying a total of 568 migrants, including several men the government suspects are former rebels. “How many have made it through, how advanced they are is not clear, (but) we’re concerned,” said the official. “Canadians expect us to avoid becoming a haven for terrorists.” ….”

MILNEWS.ca News Highlights – 15 Jan 11

• Remember these guys Asian media sources say are training in Waziristan for attacks back in Canada? The Mounties say they’re looking into the report – more here and here.
• Tough love, CF style, in Afghanistan. “Months of sometimes tough and bloody fighting by Canadian, U.S. and Afghan forces over the summer and fall weren’t enough to pacify a village that remains a refuge for insurgents in southern Afghanistan.  That’s when the Canadians, with plenty of cash for “icebreaker” projects designed to get young men more interested in jobs than war, decided to just bypass Nakhonay and fund a flood of development projects for its closest neighbours.  Canada’s soldiers have taken on a newer, tough-love approach as two deadlines loom — their summer pullout from Kandahar, and, preceding that, the traditional spring start of another insurgent fighting season ….”
• We’re hearing some new messaging out of Jack Layton this week about his opposition to Canada’s coming mission in Afghanistan.  1)  Anyone Canada trains could end up on the bad guys side (more in same vein here).  2)  Why help a corrupt good guy? 3)  Even if we start training Afghan security forces, we’ll get incrementally sucked back into a combat role. Text to his Thursday speech here and his Friday speech here.
• How one recovering Canadian soldier uses music as therapy.
• “F-35 is Great – No It’s Not” Update (1): Canadian PM sells F-35 benefits at Montreal aerospace company visit – more here, here, here, here and here.
• “F-35 is Great – No It’s Not” Update (2):  Le Devior says Quebec won’t get its fair share of the contracts – original in French here, Google translation here.
• Speaking of aircraft, the PM calls a new deal with a company to maintain Canada’s Griffon helicopters “great news for Bell Helicopter Textron Canada Limited workers in Calgary, Mirabel”.
• “Previously secret documents released in the Mohamed Harkat terrorism case reveal that the judge wrestled in closed court with how to gauge the credibility of spy agency informants. Harkat, 42, has been declared a security threat and faces deportation to his native Algeria, where he says he will be tortured or killed. The Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) relied on at least two “human sources” in building its case against Harkat, a former Ottawa pizza delivery man. One of the sources failed a lie-detector test in 2002, a fact that was not disclosed in court until May 2009. Judge Simon Noel ultimately decided that the source’s information could only be relied upon if corroborated. Another CSIS source was deemed sincere and reliable after Noel reviewed his file. Noel relied on the source’s information in concluding last month that Harkat was a member of the Osama bin Laden terrorist network. He said Harkat remains a threat to national security ….” More from the Federal Court of Canada here, here and here (all PDFs).
• “The union representing thousands of national defence workers has launched an online campaign urging the government to reconsider outsourcing 91 national security jobs, a transfer current employees say would put the country’s safety at risk. As of Friday, each time anyone searches the names of certain government officials using Google — including that of Defence Minister Peter MacKay — a sponsored ad appears, pointing to Securityforsale.ca, said John MacLennan, national president of the Union of National Defence Employees. The ads and website are part of the “first phase” of a campaign aimed at grabbing the government’s attention and warning Canadians of a plan to outsource dozens of jobs at Communications Security Establishment Canada, the low-key federal agency responsible for monitoring foreign signals and military intelligence, MacLennan said ….”

MILNEWS.ca News Highlights – 15 Dec 10

• Huge storm in SW Ontario.  CF Hercules and Griffon helicopters help rescue stranded drivers.  Well done all who helped out. More from Reuters, the New York Times, the Detroit News,
• A reminder from an MP speaking in the House of Commons:  Canada Post is letting you mail parcels to a named, individual soldier overseas free of charge until 7 Jan 11 (letters you can send for free until 31 Dec 10). More details from Canada Post here.
• The process has begun to consider a new law, the Independent and Effective Office of the Veterans’ Ombudsman Act, to make the Veterans Ombudsman more arms length from the Department of National Defence. A caveat: As a private member’s bill, the chances of going all the way are slim, but let’s see how it goes.
• Interesting prediction for Afghanistan at the Flit blog by former OMLT’eer Bruce Ralston: “…. We should be assuming we will leave a civil war in our wake, or one will crop up shortly thereafter, and that we will have to manage that, and configure our forces now and in future to do so ….” (Hat tip to Mark at the Unambiguously Ambidextrous blog for that one).
• Another idea from Bruce:  think Rhodesia for answers to Afghanistan. “…. The sheer untapped potential of ANSF platoon houses with embedded enablers (not Western companies with a few doorkickers) in the cleared areas, combined with modern ISR- and CAS-enabled Rhodesian style pseudo-operators and fireforces replacing large-scale sweep ops in the uncleared Pashtun areas, with the highways patrolled by mine-resistant vehicles in the IED zones and Q-Cars (a land derivative of the Q-Ship) in the ambush zones simply boggles the mind ….”
• Taliban Propaganda Watch: Taliban suggests U.S. lack of success in Afghanistan killed envoy Robert Holbrooke.
• By the way, it’s not just Canada wrestling with the best way to deal with detainees in Afghanistan. “DIGGER morale has taken a hit in Afghanistan, the Australia Defence Association says. The cause, says the association, is a rule allowing only 96 hours to determine the status of suspected Taliban after which they must be released, says the Australia Defence Association. The problem would particularly affect special forces soldiers who risked their lives to capture insurgents, including some who had been previously caught and released, said ADA executive director Neil James. Mr James, a former officer who wrote the army’s interrogation manual, said the situation was untenable. “There is a growing morale problem in the force, both among the troops who capture the people, only to see them released four days later (and) among the interrogators who aren’t allowed to interrogate,” he said ….” More on the new approach from the Australian Defence Minister’s news release here.
• Nice to see communities thinking about Canadian troops deployed overseas that AREN’T just in Afghanistan. “The words “Thank you” can go a long way, especially this time of year. Just ask Lt. Dean Pask, a member of a small Canadian Forces contingent stationed in Africa, who says a batch of Christmas cards sent from Sarnia were a pleasant surprise. “I would say there were over 100 cards,” said Pask, joined by eight other Canadians in Sierra Leone as part of the International Military Advisory Training Team (IMATT). Each soldier received a stack of cards in their latest mail batch, and Pask contacted The Observer to deliver a thank you message to the Sarnia community. “We started opening them and sharing them with each other,” he said. “Then I noticed that all of mine were from Sarnia. I went around asking the others, and they all had cards from Sarnia too ….” More on IMATT here, and on what other Canadian troops are doing with the UN Mission in Sierra Leone right here.
• Where to put search and rescue Hercs on the East Coast? “CBC News has obtained a report that suggests the Canadian Forces may be making a mistake by basing its search and rescue Hercules aircraft in Nova Scotia and not central Newfoundland. The National Research Council report says rescue response times would be faster if the fixed-wing aircraft was based at 9 Wing Gander. The report notes that the military’s own study confirms that a Gander-based Hercules would result in significant improvements in response times to distress calls ….” CBC has not posted a copy of the report they say they have, so take it as you will.

CF IN HAITI: CF Flying Canadians Outta HTI, Ships are On Their Way

Some updates:

• A new page is now available via the CF containing background information on OP Hestia here.
• CanWest says, “The federal government has begun airlifting Canadians from Haiti, and may institute a humanitarian immigration program to allow hundreds or thousands of Haitians into Canada ….  The first 100 Canadians removed from Haiti by Canadian military are en route to Montreal via the Dominican Republic and are scheduled to arrive at 10:05 PM. ET Thursday at Pierre Trudeau International airport.” (More on that from CBC.ca here)
• The CF says HMCS Halifax and HMCS Athabaskan are now on their way south to Haiti.
• Last night, Liberal defence critic Ujjal Dosanjh expressed his opinion on the relief effort via Twitter: “Canada should be in Haiti faster and more than we are. Time to speed up, Mr Harper.”  Today, he’s refined his position:  “i understand Harper is responding well to the needs in Haiti.”  More discussion on that here at Milnet.ca.

For more news, check out these sites:

• European Commision News Brief aggregator (you can even pick the language of the feed)
• Google News search “Haiti+earthquake”
• Yahoo News search “Haiti+earthquake”
• NewsNow aggregator on Haiti earthquake
• Milnet.ca Discussion Forum (where military members and those interested share news/information about the work being done)

Any other good places to keep track of what’s happening?  Don’t be afraid to share.

HAITI: How’s Canada’s Military Helping?

You’ve heard about the earthquake in Haiti.  Before I go into how the CF is helping, here’s some links to good news resources to keep track of what’d happening in Haiti:

• European Commision News Brief aggregator (you can even pick the language of the feed)
• Google News search “Haiti+earthquake”
• Yahoo News search “Haiti+earthquake”
• NewsNow aggregator on Haiti earthquake
• Milnet.ca Discussion Forum (where military members and those interested share news/information about the work being done)

If you know any other resources, PLEASE let us know via comments below – always happy to share.

As for the CF presence, it’s already got a name:  Operation HESTIA (reportedly named for the Greek godess of the hearth fire or fireplace).  They even have a web page to follow the military support.

Media and other open sources indicate the following:

• “A C-130 (Hercules)  military transport plane arrived in Haiti on Wednesday with a reconnaissance team that will assess what military personnel and equipment is needed.” This would likely involve people with engineering (building/rebuilding as well as purifying water), medical and logistical expertise to decide how best to deploy Canada’s Disaster Assistance Response Team (DART).
• Another larger plane – a CC-177 Globemaster - is to have left tonight (Wednesday) “with humanitarian assistance that will be provided to the people of Haiti on behalf of the Canadian Government (including) components of the Canadian Forces Disaster Assistance Response Team (DART).”
• There are also reports that “a (Globemaster) transport plane and two Griffon search-and-rescue helicopters have been assigned to help with the relief efforts in Haiti.”  Canada has four Globemasters, so this suggests that if one has already left, one more may be getting ready to go.
• Two CF ships – HMCS Halifax and HMCS Athabaskan – are headed to Halifax to load up on “medical supplies, food, water purification tablets, construction materials and other equipment” to bring to Haiti.  “The two ships are expected to leave Thursday morning and will take about five days to reach Haiti, arriving Jan. 18 or 19.”

Safe travels to all the folks headed to Haiti to help out.

More, as I have time to plug it in.

What’s So Bad About This?

This story’s been running since Friday (CBC.ca, CanWest), with all sorts of associated comments.

The main elements:  CF helicopter crew flying west to home base in Quebec lands in baseball diamond in Kenora, Ontario, picks up some burger combos from A&W for the crew and another crew refuelling at Kenora airport, and heads off back to work.

Good exposure of the Canadian Forces, good face-to-face outreach, leaving a few bucks in a local economy, all good, right?

Well, let no good deed go unpunished, as they say – this, from Canada.com:

“A spokesman for Defence Minister Peter MacKay said Saturday an investigation has been launched after a Canadian Forces helicopter pilot landed in Kenora recently – apparently to pick up some cheeseburgers.

“The matter is under investigation to determine what happened. As such, I can’t say much more until all the facts are gathered,” wrote Dan Dugas, the minister’s director of communications in an e-mail …. “First of all, at no time during the landing or takeoff was there a danger to the public,” he said in the e-mail. “The Forces thank the local police for securing the sports field for the helicopter’s landing.” “

Given the bit in red, as a taxpayer, I would be pissed off royally if more than one or two phone calls worth of CF staff time is spent explaining this to the political bosses.  Yes, political masters are where the buck stops.  That said, given the fact that safety was not an issue, and voices in online forums like Milnet.ca saying such things are not unheard of, and can even save time and effort:

“One of the problems with cross-country flights is that a lot of the smaller airports that actually have jet fuel do not have a restaurant or other food source nearby. One can cab it into town or walk a couple of k, but that takes time. Two such meals can therefore kill a couple of hours, or the equivalent of one fuel hop.”

I don’t see any down side to this lunch stop – ya gotta eat, right?

Pat Audet, Martin Joannette, R.I.P.

This, from a Canadian Forces statement:

“Two Canadian air crew members and one ISAF soldier were killed when a Canadian CH-146 Griffon helicopter crashed during take-off.  The incident occurred at a Forward Operating Base in Tarnak Va Jaldak, Zabul Province, northeast of Kandahar City at around 1:50 p.m., Kandahar time, on 6 July 2009.

Killed in action were MCpl Pat Audet from 430e Escadron tactique d’hélicoptères based at Canadian Forces Base Valcartier and Cpl Martin Joannette from the 3e Bataillon, Royal 22e Régiment based at Canadian Forces Base Valcartier, near Quebec City.

Three other Canadian Forces members were injured in the crash, but were able to walk away from the crash site….”

Condolences to the families, colleagues and friends of the fallen,  and here’s hoping for a speedy recovery for the wounded.