MILNEWS.ca News Highlights – 29 May 11

• Karl Manning, 5 RALC, R.I.P.:  Statements by the Governor General/Commander-in-Chief, Prime Minister and Minister of National Defence.
• Marc Diab, 1986-2009, R.I.P.:  “As Canadians mourn the loss of another soldier to the war in Afghanistan, a group of Mississauga residents gathered Saturday morning to honour local heroes lost in the line of civic and military duty at a Service of Thanksgiving.  The service was hosted by the Knights of Columbus (KofC) of Mississauga at St. Patrick’s Church on Flagship Drive in Mississauga. The event first started in 1934 in Washington DC by the KofC and quickly spread throughout North America as a way to pay tribute to local servicemen and women.
  Among those in attendance were Mississauga residents Jihan Falah and Han Diab whose son Marc was killed in action in Afghanistan in March of 2009 ….”
• Jeff Francis, 1970-2007, R.I.P.:  What it’s like getting “the call”.
• Taliban Propaganda Watch:  40+ ISAF, Afghan troops claimed killed across Kandahar, Uruzgan and Zabul.
• Libya Mission:  Update from the CF Info Machine.
• Richard Curnow, R.I.P.:  “The death of a missing soldier appears to have been an “accidental drowning,” says army affairs officer Cpl. Fraser Logan. The body of Master Cpl. Richard Curnow, 25, was found in the North Saskatchewan River on Sunday near Redwater, about 65 km northeast of Edmonton. Dental records were used to confirm his identity late Thursday. Curnow went missing nearly a month ago during an early morning army run while training for the Death Race marathon …”
• Still MORE speculation over Julian Fantino as Associate Minister of National Defence.  “…. Fantino, now the MP for Vaughan, had a long career as a senior police administrator. He had several careers, in fact -in London, in York Region, in Toronto, and with the province of Ontario. But what does he bring to Defence, exactly, that MacKay doesn’t? Fantino has been put in charge of procurement -that is, buying trucks, ships, aircraft and other military hardware. Ostensibly that accounts for just 15% of the total $22-billion annual defence budget. But in reality procurement is more important than that. Procurement creates legacy. The quantity and quality of weapons and transport determines what a military can do, often for a generation or two, or three. And Fantino is not MacKay’s only new playmate. Chris Alexander, a justly celebrated former Canadian ambassador to Afghanistan, is now the MP for Ajax-Pickering -and parliamentary secretary for defence. Alexander, as anyone familiar with his Afghan work will attest, is no mild bureaucrat. He is an effective and forceful leader and thinker. So, two Conservative heavyweights, and one leading figure in the Conservative Party, competing for oxygen in one teensy ministerial office. What gives? ….”
• F-35 Tug o’ War: “Delivery of Canada’s new F-35 fighter jets could be delayed beyond its expected date of 2016 due to ongoing development problems in the U.S. In the meantime, according to the Defence Department, Canada will continue flying its CF-18s, which are scheduled to retire between 2017 and 2020. Critics of the F-35 program — the costliest military acquisition in Canadian history — believe the delay is proof of the government’s dwindling credibility on the issue ….”