MILNEWS.ca News Highlights – 3 Oct 11

• Afghanistan (1)  Troops getting ready in Gagetown to head to Afghanistan.  “Efforts are continuing to prepare hundreds of soldiers from Canadian Forces Base Gagetown for duty early next year in Afghanistan. Approximately 450 personnel from The Second Battalion, The Royal Canadian Regiment (2RCR) will be joined by another 100 from the greater Land Force Atlantic Area in deploying to the war-torn region for an eight-month training mission. The first group of soldiers will depart Gagetown in mid-February with the process continuing until mid-March. It’s expected to take about a month to get everyone into the Kabul theatre of operations ….”
• Afghanistan (2a)  Nichola Goddard, 1980-2006, R.I.P.  Father of fallen returns to Afghanistan to help get more women teachers trained.
• Afghanistan (2b)  Speaking of such things….  “Canada is being urged to use whatever influence it has to ensure gains made over the last decade for women in Afghanistan are not lost in any peace deal that might materialize. Late Sunday, international aid agency Oxfam released a report saying there is a risk that many of the improvements made for women since the Taliban were toppled 10 years ago could be given away in bargaining as different factions in the war-torn country, including the Taliban, negotiate an end to a decade of war. “The women’s movement is quite worried about the potential that a peace deal with the Taliban could imply setbacks to the progress that women (in Afghanistan) have achieved and the potential for further progress,” Mark Fried, policy co-ordinator with Oxfam Canada, said in an interview ….” 
  
• Afghanistan (3)  New book says LOADS o’ central control over execution, communication about the Afghanistan mission.  “Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s office was so seized with controlling public opinion of Canada’s shooting war in southern Afghanistan that even Defence Minister Peter MacKay wasn’t always in the loop, says a new book about the conflict. “The Savage War,” by Canadian Press defence writer and Afghanistan correspondent Murray Brewster, paints a portrait of a PMO keen to preserve its tenuous grip on minority power and desperate to control the message amid dwindling public support for the war. MacKay, who took over Defence from Gordon O’Connor in August 2007, was blindsided by the Harper government’s decision later that year to set up a blue-ribbon panel to review the mission headed by former Liberal cabinet minister John Manley, Brewster writes. “It wasn’t discussed with the broader cabinet, no,” the minister says in the interview. “I didn’t know all of the specifics.” ….”‘
• Veterans Affairs Canada’s Virtual War Memorial web site, listing detailed information about Canada’s fallen, has moved from here to here.  Last month, the CF webmeisters moved the “Fallen Canadians” page from here to here.
• Trees to honour the fallen.  “When Elizabeth Pratt had her first brush with Canadian Forces soldiers four years ago, she couldn’t believe how young the men and women in uniform were. In Halifax, as part of the Royal Nova Scotia Military Tattoo in 2007, the then-Grade 11 student met hundreds of soldiers serving in Afghanistan, many of them only a few years older than she was. “I was so surprised at how close in age they were to me,” she said, “not to mention the fact that they were out there fighting and maybe even sacrificing their lives. That hit home.” Now, the 20-year-old University of B.C. student and her brother, 14-year-old Michael, are launching a project they hope will ensure a lasting memorial for those Canadians who have indeed sacrificed their lives in Afghanistan. The pair have created Langley Youth for the Fallen, a non-profit organization that is raising money to buy 157 trees that will be planted in a commemorative grove at the Derek Doubleday Aboretum in Langley ….”
• Libya Mission (1)  A columnist shares his perspective of “security”.  “How are we doing in the war on terror? Against the terrorists, tolerably well. Against our governments — that’s a different story. As travelers, we’re coping. We can put up with being treated like inmates at Alcatraz. We display our anatomies to the extent requested; take off our shoes like lambs, purge our carry-on bags of liquids and stuff them with photo IDs. We’re a little dismayed, though, that we may have Grandma strip for nothing. Our governments that protect us so brilliantly from our underwear, seem less effective when it comes to protecting us from portable ground-to-air missiles. That’s right. NATO lost sight of about 20,000 of the suckers, each one capable of shooting down a civilian airliner, while helping rebel forces overrun Colonel Muammar Gaddafy’s Libya. This week the White House’s Jay Carney confirmed an initial ABC news report that thousands of the shoulder-fired weapons, ideal for terrorist operations, are missing from the Colonel’s unguarded military warehouses ….”
• Libya Mission (2)  Another columnist on when we know it’s done.  “Last week, the Canadian Parliament briefly debated and then voted to extend our military commitment to the NATO mission in Libya. In announcing the extension, Defence Minister Peter MacKay explained that “Canada was in at the very beginning [and] we should be there until the job is done.” Of course, no one in the Harper government has yet to explain exactly what our “job” is in Libya. Therefore, it remains impossible to determine when or if that task will ever be completed ….”
• Pile On the Defence Minister About The Planes/Choppers!  OK, in this case, piling on the Parliamentary Secretary (not the “Defence Secretary” as the headline writer claims).  “Commenting on an investigation that found the minister of national defence racked up nearly $3 million worth of flights aboard federal jets, the minister’s parliamentary secretary reiterated on Sunday that Peter MacKay did not break travel rules. When asked on CTV’s Question Period whether MacKay “at no point” contravened the government’s guidelines for ministerial travel, Chris Alexander said “the short answer is yes,” before adding that members of the Conservative government have “used challenger aircraft three-quarters less” than their predecessors. “This government has been extremely exacting of its ministers and everyone in government by putting in place the toughest measures for accountability, transparency, making sure we know what assets ministers have and making sure we watch like hawks what their means of travel are,” Alexander said. Every ounce of evidence shows MacKay and others members of government have followed the rules.” ….”
• “A senior federal cabinet minister breathed a sigh of relief upon word of the assassination of Anwar al-Awlaki, a nod to the late radical cleric’s ability to inspire young westerners — including Canadians — to embrace Islamic extremism. “This is good news not only for the United States and North America, this is making the world a safer place,” said Defence Minister Peter MacKay. The death of the U.S.-born al-Awlaki in Yemen — possibly in an American missile strike — appeared to be the latest in a series of targeted killings of al-Qaida kingpins. The charismatic lecturer spent his early childhood in the United States, moving with his family to Yemen before returning to Colorado to pursue university studies. He become an imam whose pronouncements and dealings drew the attention of the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation. Members of a Toronto-area group implicated five years ago in terrorist plotting had watched one of al-Awlaki’s videos at their makeshift training camp ….”
• On soldiers, tattoos and blood types.
• Cape Breton Highlanders get their new Camp Flag – shame there’s no link to a photo, no?
• Editorial:  history =/=. conspiracy. “…. There is no doubt that Mr. Harper is highly political, maybe too political at times, but the promotion of Canadian history and the symbols of national identity are not evidence of a dastardly plot. The prime minister is reportedly equally interested in the 200th anniversary of the arrival of the Selkirk settlers in Manitoba and is considering a visit to Winnipeg next year to help mark the occasion. The fact is that Canadians have demonstrated a greater interest in their history over the years, an evolution that seemed to begin in the 1980s with celebrations of significant military dates from the first and second world wars. In 1994, the city of Winnipeg staged a downtown parade, complete with military vehicles and even a Sherman tank, to mark the 50th anniversary of D-Day, the first such parade since the war ended. Sometimes they are controversial, such as the 250th anniversary of the Battle of the Plains of Abraham, and the upcoming celebration of the War of 1812 (Canada won, didn’t it?), but they have never been seen as part of a political agenda. Unfortunately, significant political events from the past have received less attention, but if Mr. Harper (and the CBC) want to ignite a passion in the broader Canadian story, let’s at least not call it a conspiracy.”
• “Divers will search for unexploded munitions this month on the wreck of HMCS Thiepval, a former warship that hit an uncharted rock and sank in Barkley Sound more than 80 years ago. The Department of National Defence organized the search after recreational divers reported spotting artillery and shells on the anemone-covered 1917 Battle-class naval trawler. The vessel boasts a colourful history, including a secret spying assignment and a gin-drinking Japanese bear adopted by the crew. The wreck is resting in about 12 metres of water ….”

MILNEWS.ca News Highlights – 30 Jun 11

• Francis Roy, R.I.P.  He’s home – more here, here and here.
• On Francis Roy, and the Toronto Star, a letter from Canada’s Joint Task Force Kandahar Commander:  “…. I am disappointed that an article in a reputable paper such as the Toronto Star would suggest that some military deaths are treated differently. To lose a comrade in arms, whether at home or on active service, is difficult for all of us. One thing Canadians can be certain of is the respect we, the Canadian Forces, bestow on our fallen ….”
• Joshua Caleb Baker, 1985-2010, R.I.P.  “The Canadian Forces National Investigation Service (CFNIS), the investigative arm of the Canadian Forces Military Police, today charged two Canadian Forces members for an incident that occurred on a training range in Afghanistan on February 12, 2010. The Officer in Charge, Major Darryl Watts, and the Range Safety Officer, Warrant Officer Paul Ravensdale, face six charges and five alternate charges each in relation to the death of Corporal Joshua Caleb Baker and the injury of four other soldiers …. It is alleged that the proper safety procedures were not followed during the training exercise. The case will now proceed through the military justice system.”  More here (Canadian Press), here (Globe & Mail), here, here (Postmedia News), here (Toronto Star), here and here (QMI/Sun Media) – discussion at Army.ca here.
• Afghanistan (1)  “Luck is a subject most combat troops don’t like to talk about in the field — and certainly not on the night they go home. The palpable sense of relief they feel upon leaving the bomb-laced fields of Afghanistan, a country where life and death can often seem maddeningly random, is not something they share very easily. Many troops at barren outposts will quickly hush anyone who tries to describe their survival in terms of luck, as though its invocation is somehow a curse or a jinx. To bring it up as they board the plane is to remind them that some of their buddies are not coming home. The 1st Battalion, Royal 22e Regiment battle group has had fewer fatalities than any Canadian unit of the Afghan war, which for Canada is rapidly drawing to a close ahead of the July deadline established by Parliament for the end of combat operations. Hundreds of troops belonging to Alpha Company, which spent seven months in one of the toughest districts of Kandahar, went home for good in the overnight hours early Thursday. Feeling lucky wasn’t in their vocabulary ….” More on the troops coming home here.
• Afghanistan (2)  Just a reminder: Kabul is one of the places Canadian troops will be stationed once the “combat mission” ends. “The brazen attack by insurgents on a Kabul hotel Tuesday is a clear sign the Taliban remain “a force to be reckoned with” in all regions of Afghanistan as the combat mission for Canada and other NATO troops draws to a close, says one security expert. The attack, which left 19 people dead — including nine insurgents — is an indication well-planned attacks in more secure locations are still possible in the conflict-stricken country, said Jez Littlewood, director of the Canadian Centre of Intelligence and Security Studies at Ottawa’s Carleton University. “To do an armed assault on one of the premier hotels in Kabul and conduct that attack for (hours) . . . before it was brought to an end sends quite a strong message in terms of this being a sophisticated attack” ….”
• Afghanistan (3)  “Canada is to assume the lead role for NATO in training Afghanistan’s most senior police officers. Canadians are to be 24 of the 34 mentors advising generals from Afghanistan’s four police forces as well as top officials in the Interior Ministry, according to the Canadian general who runs police training across Afghanistan. “An increased presence of police professionals at the centre of the police development agenda is what Canada has chosen to do in a big way,” said Maj.-Gen. Stu Beare, the Canadian army general who runs police training for NATO across Afghanistan. “There is a shift out of the South to Kabul, out of the basic training system and junior level training right into the heart of the Interior Ministry and the police.” The police advisers from Canada are to be based in Kabul. They are to replace a group of junior Canadian police officers who have spent the past few years working at a grassroots level with police in Kandahar. The move to the Afghan capital comes after Ottawa directed that Canada’s military and civilian presence in Kandahar be reduced to zero by the end of the year ….”
• Afghanistan (4)  “Convincing Taliban fighters to lay down their arms and surrender represents Afghanistan’s best chance for peace in a generation, says the governor of Kandahar. But Tooryalai Wesa is warning insurgents who want to sign up for the Afghan government’s reintegration plan that it is not a welfare program, and they should not expect perpetual handouts. “From my perspective, reconcilation is not a blank cheque by the end of the month,” Wesa said in a recent interview with The Canadian Press. “Peace in Kandahar is impossible without talk, without sitting with people, without sitting with the insurgency.” ….”
• Libya Mission  “Her Majesty’s Canadian Ship (HMCS) Vancouver will depart in the coming days to the Mediterranean Sea to join NATO forces in support of United Nations Security Council Resolution 1973 to protect civilian populations in Libya. HMCS Vancouver will replace HMCS Charlottetown, which has been on patrol with NATO forces in the region since the early spring with Operation Unified Protector, on a regular rotation of ship and crew …. The ship’s company of Vancouver will continue the exceptional work started by Charlottetown in protecting Libyan civilians. Along with NATO allies, Canadian sailors have helped open air and sea access for humanitarian assistance and have closed it to arms and mercenaries ….”  More on this here and here.
• What’s Canada Buying (1)  “The Honourable Peter MacKay, Minister of National Defence, today announced that the Government of Canada has awarded a $7 million contract to Ultra Electronics Canada Defence Inc. of Dartmouth, N.S. The contract is in support of a larger Department of National Defence (DND) initiative to renew the Halifax-Class frigates, called the Halifax-Class Modernization / Frigate Life Extension Project (HCM-FELEX). Canada’s 12 Halifax-Class frigates serve as the backbone of the navy fleet …. The modernization of the frigates includes a new command and control system, new radar capability, a new electronic warfare system, and upgraded communications technologies and missiles. The frigates will also undergo a mid-life refit to ensure that they continue to operate at their most effective. The full program is expected to take approximately six-and-a-half years, as currently planned.”
• What’s Canada Buying? (2)  Someone to poke a shipwreck for things that go bang, a new office for Dwyer Hill and a Zamboni (?) for CFB Suffield.
• Remembering (1)  Some folks are upset at the prospect of an east coast university library building dedicated to the memory of fallen Mount Allison University alumni facing the prospect of being torn down - more discussion at Army.ca here.
• Remembering (2)  While it’s actually free verse rather than classic haiku, it’s still an interesting memorial piece of literature.  “Ron Stewart of Kilworth wrote this haiku for the Home County Great Canadian Haiku contest. It will be read at the Home County Folk Festival on July 16. Thanks to Ron for the permission to publish it. Ron gave me information about why he wrote the poem: “The return of a fallen soldier always stirs a strong emotional response in me. The ramp ceremony in Trenton and the drive down the Highway of Heroes is likewise very moving. I have written several poems on the subject. One titled “The Arch for Nicola” has been published. A brief explanation. Nicola Goddard was a graduate of the Royal Military College as am I. The Memorial Arch at RMC is a proud symbol of that little bit of our shared heritage.” ….”
• Remembering (3)  “On the eve of the visit by Prince William and Kate — the future faces of a long-cherished royal institution — a delegation of Canadians young and old is half a world away, preparing for a more sobering connection with their country’s past. A group of military veterans and high school students spanning four generations embarks Thursday on a four-day memorial tour of First World War sites throughout France, paying tribute at monuments to some of Canada’s greatest battles, including Vimy Ridge, Courcelette and Beaumont-Hamel. The tour, sponsored by Veterans Affairs Canada, is timed to coincide with the 95th anniversary of the Battle of the Somme, a four and a half month-long military campaign that killed more than a million soldiers ….”
• Royal Visit (1)  “When the hottest couple on the planet touches down on Canadian soil today, they’ll be landing aboard a Canadian air force jet from 437 Squadron at 8 Wing Trenton, Ont. and continuing a 60-year tradition that began with Prince William’s grandmother, Queen Elizabeth II, in 1951. It was then that a young Princess Elizabeth and her dashing husband, Prince Phillip, visited Canada for the first time via a Royal Canadian Air Force C-5 aircraft, “arguably the most luxurious of any aircraft in Canada, if not the world,” says Canadian Forces historian Maj. Mathias Joost. “For 16 years, she ferried dignitaries [not just the royal family] to all continents except Antarctica, logging more than 2.5 million miles in 9,500 hours in the air.” ….”  More on who’s flying the Royal Couple around Canada here and here.
• Royal Visit (2)  The Prince is good to go on co-piloting a Sea King helicopter during his visit.
• Canadian Forces search and rescue teams don’t JUST do their work in the middle of the night during crappy weather (via the CF Info-Machine).
• But you already saw this elsewhere (third item from bottom) about a week ago, right?  “Members of a Canadian air force squadron are in central Kansas through mid-July for a training mission. The 425th Tactical Fighter Squadron, flying U.S.-made F-18 Hornet fighter jets, will train with forward air controllers at the Smoky Hill Weapons Range, maintained by the Kansas National Guard. Smoky Hill is the nation’s largest National Guard bombing range, covering 51 square miles with more than 100 tactical and electronic targets ….”
• “The first man ever convicted under Canada’s anti-terrorism law should not have his appeal heard before the country’s highest court because his arguments lack “an air of reality,” according to federal prosecutors. The arguments from federal lawyers paint Mohammad Momim Khawaja as a cold-hearted killer who lived the “archetypal life of a modern western Jihadist” with an innocuous job by day and building bombs by night. Khawaja argues that Canada’s anti-terrorism laws are unconstitutional and violate freedom of expression and religion. His appeal also argues his sentence is too stiff ….”

MILNEWS.ca News Highlights – 20 Mar 11

• No Fly Zone Libya (1) – They call it Operation Odyssey Dawn.  First in:  100+ Tomahawk missiles, French ground attack planes.  Who’s running the show?  U.S. Africa Command for now – here’s AFRICOM’s boss’ initial word on the job..
• No Fly Zone Libya (2) – Who’s who in the OP Odyssey Dawn zoo (including HMCS Charlottetown in the Med, and 6 x CF-18′s), courtesy of Reuters and the Associated Press.
• No Fly Zone Libya (3) – PM Harper’s latest statement: “…. Canadian aircraft and HMCS Charlottetown have joined an international force assembling in the region. Faced with the threat of military action, the regime proclaimed a ceasefire. But the ceasefire was a lie, an obvious lie from the beginning. The facts on the ground are changing in the opposite direction. Canada has said, and leaders have agreed, that we must act urgently. “We must help the Libyan people, help them now, or the threat to them and to the stability of the whole region will only increase. “We must also ensure humanitarian needs are met, and that the humanitarian appeal is fully subscribed. “Finally, we should all acknowledge that ultimately, only the Libyan people can or should decide their future. “But we all have a mutual interest in their peaceful transition to a better future.”
• More from the PM: “Canada needs to move quickly but tread carefully as it engages in “acts of war” against a defiant Col. Moammar Gadhafi and his brutal regime, says Prime Minister Stephen Harper. “We should not kid ourselves. Whenever you engage in military action, essentially acts of war, these are difficult situations,” Harper told reporters in Paris on Saturday following an emergency summit on the crisis in Libya, during which international partners, led by France, agreed to turn the screws on the dangerous despot. “We need to monitor this very closely and be very careful what we do every step of the way,” Harper said ….”
• Commentary on Canadian-built LAVs being used by Saudi Arabia to help, uh, sort things out in Bahrain:  “…. It does regrettably tend to put Canada’s support for “Responsibility to Protect” policies in the Middle East these days in something of a different light. And yes, at around 2:30 in the video you see the distinctive boat hulls of LAVs, most with the 90mm main gun armament that is unique to the Saudi variant. Made in Canada? Yes, most likely …. This is not, however, an issue that any party courting the Ontario auto union vote is likely ever to bring up to the public, so this shouldn’t be an issue, at least until one of the Saudi drivers runs over a news crew or something.”
• More parents of the fallen visit Afghanistan seeking some closure. “The families of 10 Canadians killed in Afghanistan paid tribute Sunday to their loved ones in what could be the last ceremony of its kind before combat operations end in the war-torn country. A next-of-kin memorial service was held at Kandahar Airfield’s Canadian compound. The parents, spouses and siblings of those killed placed wreaths at the foot of the monument dedicated to Canadians who have died as part of the Afghan mission. The father of Capt. Nichola Goddard, who was the first Canadian woman to be killed in action while serving in a combat role, said he felt compelled to visit Kandahar. “For me, it was quite peaceful, more than I anticipated,” Tim Goddard said ….”
• What the troops are up to in Afghanistan: “A glance at a map of the Panjwai District tells you where the river is, because that’s where the people are. Villages speckle the landscape around the Arghandab River and its dozens of tributaries, which provide the irrigation water that makes agriculture possible. In winter, when the area receives almost its entire annual rainfall, streams swell with run-off from the mountains and the soil becomes saturated. Unless drainage is provided, many houses are damaged. When the District Governor received a petition from residents of Bazaar-e-Panjwa’i for help with recurring flood damage, he asked ISAF Regional Command (South) for engineering support to execute a drainage control project. Panjwai District is in the Task Force Kandahar (TFK) area of responsibility, so the project came to the TFK Engineer Regiment — specifically, the Engineer Construction Squadron (ECS), the regiment’s project management team ….”
• Taliban Propaganda Watch:  Attacks, logistics convoy ambushes and assassinations claimed in Kandahar, Uruzgan and Zabul.
• “The Honourable Peter MacKay, Minister of National Defence, today announced plans to construct a new Integrated Personnel Support Center at Canadian Forces Base (CFB) Halifax. Located at Windsor Park, the new facility will provide a 662 m2 facility that will equip the unit with the space they require to administer the full spectrum of services they can offer …. The new facility, valued at approximately $4.2 million, will accommodate the 27 members of the Integrated Personnel Support Centre at CFB Halifax. The new facility also addresses current accessibility issues and will meet the Universal Design and Barrier Free Access Guidelines, making it more conducive to providing the services required for ill or injured personnel ….” More from the Halifax Chronicle-Herald here.
• “(U.S.) Army officials are preparing to conduct what they say is a rare training event involving the U.S. military, the CIA, Canadian officers and other government agencies. The Joint Intermediate Staff Planning Exercise will be held March 21-25 at Fort Leavenworth’s Lewis and Clark Center, home of the Army Command and General Staff College. The weeklong event is designed to encourage participants to confront the challenges and uncertainties of joint, interagency and multinational operations ….”

MILNEWS.ca News Highlights – 10 Feb 11

• When the troops leave Kandahar, the civvies go, too.  “When Canada’s combat troops leave Kandahar this summer, all Canadian government workers in the South will depart, too. The thinning out of the combat mission — which still numbers well more than 3,000 soldiers — is expected to begin sometime late this spring. The wind-down of the civilian mission, which began several months before combat troops arrived in the spring of 2006, has already begun. Only 60 Canadian civilians are now based in Kandahar, down from 75 last summer. Starting next month, more civilians will be catching flights for home. “When I was preparing to come here it was clear — this was the last rotation of civilians in the context of completing what the government set out to do,” said Canada’s top diplomat in the South, Tim Martin, who transferred leadership of the Kandahar Provincial Reconstruction Team to an American diplomat last month ….”
• Remember these stats, from a few weeks ago, showing the number of Canadians killed and wounded in action in Afghanistan dropped for 2010 from the previous year?  Another story has popped up about the numbers:  “For many, any death involving members of our Armed Forces is a bitter pill to swallow. But when soldiers are involved in a combat mission, such as what’s currently ongoing in Afghanistan, casualties occur. It’s an unfortunate fact of life in a war zone. Although it’s small comfort to families and friends who have lost loved ones over the last year in central Asia, 2010 actually produced the least number of deaths since 2005. According to statistics released in January by the Department of National Defence, 2010 saw 16 of our soldiers die in Afghanistan – 14 were killed in action and two more lost their lives as a result of other circumstances. The drop in Canadian deaths can be attributed to three factors – the build-up of coalition troops in southern Afghanistan, a change in the Canadian area of operations, and an increased involvement by Afghan National Army personnel and police ….” If you’ve spotted a CBC.ca story on these stats, please share a link, because I haven’t seen one yet.
• Canadian General talks about his work as 2 i/c for police training, NATO Training Mission Afghanistan. (Government of Canada story & video)
• Taliban assassination via motorcycle. “Day and night, Taliban assassins on motorbikes hunt their victims, often taunting them over the telephone before gunning them down in the city’s streets. They are working their way through lists, meticulously killing off people fingered as collaborators with the Afghan government or its foreign backers. Unlike suicide bombers, who make headlines with periodic attacks that take themselves out along with their targets, most insurgent assassins escape as quickly, and anonymously, as they strike. They slip quietly back into Kandahar’s shadows, still in the hunt, sewing terror with murders that number in the hundreds each year. Each one sends a chilling message to anyone who doesn’t fall in line: You may be the next to go down. The execution could even come in broad daylight, close to home, in front of your children ….”
• Human rights groups (finally) spending more time hounding Taliban for human rights abuses.
• Nichola Goddard, 1960-2006, R.I.P.: Coast Guard to name ships after fallen in Afghanistan? Here’s the type of ship in question.
• More grousing back and forth in the House of Commons over Canadian helicopter buying processes.
• “Convicted Canadian war criminal Omar Khadr will be seeking clemency in hopes of an early release from his prison cell in Guantanamo Bay and a quicker return to Canada, The Canadian Press has learned. An application which could seek remedies ranging from an outright acquittal to a commuting of his eight-year sentence is set to go before the head of the military commissions within a few weeks. Speaking from Memphis, Tenn., Khadr’s Pentagon-appointed lawyer Lt. Col. Jon Jackson confirmed that Khadr’s defence team was finalizing the application to the convening authority. “We haven’t made any final decision on what we’re going to request,” Jackson said Wednesday. “We’re (also) currently in the process of determining what specific areas of law we’re going to address.” The clemency application is expected to be submitted in about two weeks, and a decision could come shortly after ….” A bit more from QMI/Sun Media here.
• Taliban Propaganda Watch:  Permanent U.S. bases in Afghanistan = continued occupation

MILNEWS.ca News Highlights – 20 Dec 10

• Corporal Steve Martin, R22eR, R.I.P. Statements from the Commander-in-Chief (who will be attending the return of Martin at CFB Trenton), Prime Minister and Defence Minister.  Condolence thread at Army.ca here.  More from Postmedia News, CBC.ca, CTV.ca, and Agence France-Presse.  He’s reportedly on his way home.
• One last Christmas downrange for Canadian troops? “The weather outside is always frightful, and when you’re under fire, it’s never delightful. And, what Canadian soldiers wouldn’t give to let it snow, even just a little to brighten the drab, winter-scorched farmland of western Panjwaii. Peace on earth and good will to all men seems very far away this season, almost as distant as it was when troops celebrated their first Christmas amid the ruins of this stark land almost seven years ago. Much the same as other days, Dec. 25 is expected to come and go with the grind of army orders and routine of patrols along bomb-sewn laneways in mud-moulded villages that have remained stubbornly unchanged since the Nativity ….”
• Another of Canada’s fallen is remembered though a scholarship. “Women in Defence and Security (WiDS) has named its 2011 Memorial Scholarship in honour of Captain Nichola Goddard. Capt Goddard, a forward observation officer, was killed May 17, 2006, during a clearance operation with Afghan security personnel west of Kandahar City. Having arrived in Afghanistan in January 2006, she served with Task Force Afghanistan as part of 1st Battalion, Princess Patricia’s Canadian Light Infantry Battle Group. She was stationed with 1st Regiment, Royal Canadian Horse Artillery, in Shilo, Man. “We thought it was fitting to pay tribute to Capt Goddard,” says WiDS President Anne Healey. “She embodied a phenomenal spirit and the recipient of this scholarship will no doubt carry on her legacy of excellence and leadership in defence and security.”  WiDS established the Memorial Scholarship to encourage women to pursue careers related to the national defence and security interests of Canada. The scholarship is currently renamed annually on behalf of women who have distinguished themselves in the field of defence and security ….”
• Taliban Propaganda Watch: More attacks alleged in Kandahar, Uruzgan, and some screed about Palestine on the Taliban web page.
• In Kingston, it seems CF members are using food banks. “…. Staff are also seeing a developing trend-military personnel low on the pay scale who need a little extra help because they just don’t make enough to meet their needs. According to information on the National Defence website, a Regular Force Private makes $2,663-$3,911 (over a three increment pay grade) a month, not much if they are supporting a family. “We are seeing that quite a bit, and unfortunately that will be the new norm for us,” Singers points out. “The need is getting greater everywhere and the economy is a big factor in that. We find a lot of the new users had either lost a job or their hours had been reduced in the retail sector. There is no change in that status in our community so we can assume that it will continue.” ….” More on the the Partners in Mission Food Bank here.
• CF search and rescue assets take part in Chilean SAR exercise. “Twenty-one members of Canada’s Air Force and a CC-130 Hercules aircraft from 435 Transport and Rescue Squadron at 17 Wing Winnipeg, Man. participated in the first multi-national disaster response exercise organized by the Sistema de Cooperación entre las Fuerzas Aéreas Americanas (System of Cooperation among the Air Forces of the Americas – SICOFAA) hosted by the Republic of Chile …. Canada participated with one CC-130 from 435 (T&R) Sqn with two crews, the SICOFAA liaison officer in Santiago, and an air operations subject matter expert in the international CAOC in Puerto Montt. 435 Sqn’s participation in the exercise included a search and rescue demonstration for participating air forces and local media in Puerto Montt, as well as flying an additional 33 hours, transporting 16 per cent of all exercise cargo and flying 6 per cent of all exercise passengers ….”

MILNEWS.ca News Highlights – 18 Nov 10

• Here’s hoping for a speedy recovery from any injuries the pilot may have sustained:  “The Rescue Co-Ordination Centre at CFB Trenton, Ont., says a Canadian fighter jet has crashed overnight. The CF-18 went down in Cold Lake, Alta., around 1:30 this morning.  The pilot safely ejected and was located by searchers. The jet was returning from a mission when it crashed.  It was not immediately clear why it went down ….”
• “Approximately 37 members of A Squadron, Lord Stracona’s Horse (Royal Canadians) and 6 members of the 35 Armoured Engineer Troop, 1 Combat Engineer Regiment will return from Afghanistan back home to Edmonton Thursday morning at 12:30 a.m. ….” Welcome home!
• Who’s Happy About the New Afghanistan Mission (Continued)? Some retired Canadian Generals seem pleased, with one reminding Canadians in general, and a Liberal senator in particular, that training behind the wire =/= mentoring Afghan troops in battle.
• Who’s Unhappy About the New Afghanistan Mission (Continued)? The N.D.P. (troops staying + aid being cut) and some members of the Liberal caucus (according to the Canadian Press, “about a half dozen MPs spoke out (during a caucus meeting) against the decision and the top-down manner in which it was reached”).
• NATO, meanwhile, raises the spectre that it ain’t necessarily all going to be over in Afghanistan by 2014 – more from Reuters, Agence France-Press and the Associated Press.
• Tune into CPAC this weekend for a documentary on the Afghanistan media don’t see while they’re embedded with Canadian military forces - more on that here.
• The Government tabled a bill in the House of Commons yesterday to “complement the series of measures that the Government of Canada is putting in place putting in place to increase the financial support for our Veterans under the New Veterans Charter” (Hansard transcript here). Comments so far:  nice to see, but way more continues to be needed.  More from Postmedia News here, the Toronto Star here and the Globe & Mail here.
• Who’s answering questions on Afghanistan in the House of Commons these days? As of yesterday, according to Hansard, the PM and Development Minister Bev Oda for the first question, and the Defence Minister and Oda on the second.
• Talkin’ to the Taliban:  A Canadian disarmament campaigner says if you can’t beat ‘em, you might as well reconile with ‘em: “…. Afghanistan is now in the kind of “hurting stalemate” that should be conducive to negotiations. The Afghan government and its partners in the International Security Assistance Force can’t defeat the Taliban, and the Taliban can’t defeat the government and its security backers. It’s a stalemate that hurts both sides politically and economically, and that calls out for a political solution ….”
• How Canada’s  fallen help save lives. This, from the Kingston Whig-Standard‘s coverage of a military medical conference under way in Kingston:  “When Capt. Nichola Goddard was killed by a rocket-propelled grenade in Afghanistan in 2006, battlefield medical care couldn’t save her due to her massive injuries and blood loss.  But within minutes of the attack, the fallen soldier was saving future lives.  Goddard, a forward observation officer who graduated from Royal Military College, was standing in the turret of her LAV when the rockets hit and a huge piece of shrapnel sliced through her neck.  When she was rushed to the Role 3 hospital at Kandahar Air Field, military investigators grabbed her body armour, protective glasses, helmet and other equipment and charted her injuries, a drill at which they have become well versed with the sheer number of wounded that are medevaced there from the battlefields.  Goddard was pronounced dead and flown home with honours. An autopsy in Toronto confirmed the cause of death as massive injuries due to the slicing shrapnel.  Within weeks, troops were being issued body armour with high protective collars to prevent such future deaths, collars they still wear today in the never-ending adaptation armies go through in war ….” More on this, and what researchers can learned from wrecked vehicles, here.
• Remember this little road trip Nicaraguan troops took into Costa Rica earlier this month because Google Maps placed the border in the wrong spot?  A Costa Rican media outlet says Canada denies offering to send troops to help sort things out in the Central American jungle. The original allegation came out last week in another Costa Rican newspaper (Spanish article here, Google English translation here, and both versions at Scribd.com here), where Costa Rica’s Foreign Affairs Minister René Castro Salazar was quoted saying Canada’s Minister of State of Foreign Affairs Peter Kent offered “personal y recursos” (Google translates that into “staff and resources”) ranging from “geógrafos hasta personal militar” (“geographers to military personnel”) during a meeting before an Organization of American States meeting on the issue.
• Canada’s “in the green” (or low risk) when it comes to the potential for a terrorist attack, according to a British corporate risk assessment company’s recent study – more on that here.
• So, what’s with all the video games the CF wants to buy and ship to a Montreal military warehouse? Even a CF spokesperson speaking to the Canadian Press admits “It’s a strange one”.