MILNEWS.ca News Highlights – 28 Jun 11

• Francis Roy, R.I.P.:  He’s on his way home – more here.
• Meanwhile, the CF Info-Machine cranks out an updated post traumatic stress disorder.
• Afghanistan (1)  How much the mission is costing (~$11.3B in incremental costs), courtesy of Canada’s Info-Machine.
• Afghanistan (2)  Purple prose team – UP! “Wild dogs howl warnings at night outside the Bulldog’s pen. The Canadian soldiers answer loudly back come morning — moving swiftly from this dusty Afghanistan forward operating base and into an area where insurgents don’t want them to be. By the end of the day’s operation, the Canadians — along with an embedded QMI Agency team — will come under small arms fire. But only after the Quebec-based Van Doos have successfully taken away — then later destroyed — a cache of materials that were likely to be made into deadly improvised explosive devices (IEDs). The fighters from the 1st Battalion of the Royal 22e Régiment — and more specifically, Bravo Company, who have earned the hard-earned war mantle of Bulldog Company — will soon leave this earthen fortress for good. Just like the Soviets, who actually built it decades ago. An approaching end to Canada’s combat role hasn’t seen our troops give an inch to insurgents, who often bark and sometimes try to take a bite when patrols roll out through the front gates ….”
• Afghanistan (3)  “The last Canadian combat soldiers in the Panjwaii district have started to hand over control of the region to U.S. troops, a major sign that Canada’s withdrawal from Afghanistan is underway. Canada’s Royal 22e Regiment, nicknamed the Van Doos, has patrolled the often-hostile region since 2006. Control of the formerly Taliban-held area will soon be passed on to American forces as part of Canada’s gradual pullout from Afghanistan ….”
• Taliban Propaganda Watch:  More than 7 claimed killed in Kandahar, Zabul.
• “The Honourable Cheryl Gallant, Member of Parliament for Renfrew-Nipissing-Pembroke, announced today the opening of an Operational Trauma and Stress Support Centre (OTSSC) at Canadian Forces Base (CFB) Petawawa. The announcement was made on behalf of the Honourable Peter MacKay, Minister of National Defence …. The centre joins already established OTSSCs in Ottawa, Halifax, Valcartier, Edmonton, and Esquimalt in providing full-service assessment and treatment for CF members suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder and other operational stress injuries. Each centre has an interdisciplinary team of psychiatrists, psychologists, social workers, mental health nurses, addictions counsellors, and health services chaplains ….”
• Libya Mission:  Canada’s Foreign Minister drops by to visit the rebels.  “Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird was politically surprised and personally moved by his first-hand look at Libya’s rebel council members after a secret trip to meet them Monday. Baird said the group preparing to take power once the country’s dictator, Moammar Gadhafi, is ousted has a strong dedication to democracy, but he added no one should expect that transition to take place overnight. “Our vision is a strong, prosperous Libya, living in freedom and living peacefully with its neighbours,” Baird said after meeting with anti-Gadhafi rebels and delivering trauma kits to help their cause ….” - more here, here, here, and here.
• What’s Canada Buying?  “The Defence Department has purchased nine U.S. presidential helicopters to be stripped down for spare parts for the Canadian air force’s Cormorant search-and-rescue choppers. The nine helicopters were purchased at a cost of around $164 million. That price includes shipping, handling and engineering support. The Obama administration had pulled the plug on the US101, also known as the VH-71, after the projected cost of the aircraft doubled from $6.5 billion to $13 billion US. News reports indicate the U.S. government invested $3 billion into the helicopters, before the Pentagon decided to withdraw from the program. “This package is considered an excellent one-time opportunity for the Department of National Defence and the Canadian Forces to address long-standing CH-149 Cormorant fleet availability issues related to the availability of spare parts,” said Defence Department spokeswoman Kim Tulipan ….”  More on how the U.S. is more than happy to be rid of the choppers here – sounds pretty expensive to shut down the contract, too.
• Intercepts over Alberta.  “The North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) is conducting exercise flights this week (June 27-30) as they practice intercept and identification procedures …. people living in or around Edmonton, Alberta may hear or see NORAD-controlled fighter jets in close proximity to a U.S. Air Force B-52, which will be taking on the role of a Track of Interest (TOI). The exercise flights could be cancelled due to weather concerns. In order to test responses, systems and equipment, NORAD continuously conducts exercises with a variety of scenarios. These exercises are carefully planned, closely controlled and include exercising airspace restriction violations, hijackings and responding to unknown aircraft ….”
• Honouring Canada’s help during World War 2 in the U.K.  “With Canada poised to celebrate the country’s birthday this week after the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge arrive from Britain, a more sombre ceremony symbolizing the deep bond between the two countries – a tribute to fallen Canadian airmen from the Second World War – is quietly taking shape in the U.K. Britain’s Royal Air Force is preparing to unveil a “long overdue” national memorial to Canadian aircrews that helped achieve the Allied victory in the Second World War – including some 10,000 RCAF personnel who lost their lives battling Germany and other Axis enemies. The poignant, maple leaf-inspired monument to this country’s air forces, made of granite cut from the Canadian Shield and transported to Britain earlier this year, is to be dedicated July 8 at the U.K.’s National Memorial Arboretum in the central English countryside ….”
• “30 soldiers of the Bermuda Regiment 2011 Junior Non Commission Officer Cadre have successfully completed the final exercise, tactics phase, after spending two weeks living and working in the field at Canadian Army Training Centre, Meaford, Ontario. This exercise was the culmination of six months lead-up training, and was designed to test the students’ military and leadership skills by putting them through a demanding training regimen consisting of field craft exercises, skill at arms, adventure training, command tasks, map reading and cross country navigation. Under the leadership of Platoon Commander Lieutenant Mark Lavery, the six month course has built on the basic soldiering skills learned during recruit camp, and focused on the basic principles of teamwork, perseverance and military leadership ….”
• “A fringe Quebec pro-independence group is tasking dozens of its burliest members to act as security guards for a protest planned for Prince William and Kate’s upcoming visit to the province. But the head of the Quebec Resistance Network insists his organization hasn’t employed the imposing chaperones to clash with law enforcement. Instead, Patrick Bourgeois says the bruisers will be there to ensure the weekend demonstration doesn’t get out of control. He says the guards were hand-picked based on brawn. “Even myself, if they tell me what I to do — they’re so big that I’m going to listen to them,” Bourgeois told The Canadian Press in an interview Monday. “We chose them based on build. There’s no one in there who’s 100 pounds soaking wet.” Bourgeois said protest organizers plan to cause civil disobedience during the royal visit — but no violence ….”

MILNEWS.ca News Highlights – 8 Feb 11

• “Officials at the Defence Department turned over boxes and filing cabinets Monday looking for records of payments to a warlord who signed on to help defend a Canadian base in Afghanistan. Documents tabled in Parliament last week show Haji Toorjan received $2.5 million to provide an additional layer of defence around the Kandahar provincial reconstruction base that delivered aid and development. Those records show payments started in 2008, but access-to-information documents and published reports suggest Toorjan’s 40-man militia was on the payroll in 2007 and perhaps earlier. In the House of Commons, Foreign Affairs Minister Lawrence Cannon defended the use of hired guns as a necessary practice. “We employ these companies to protect our personnel, as well our facilities,” he said ….” Here’s what was said in the House of Commons yesterday on this one.
• Elsewhere in the House of Commons, Bloc Quebecois member asks why new infrastructure went to Gagetown instead of Bagotville.
• No, the time of the main battle tank is NOT quite over yet (via Army.ca – h/t to Mark Collins for this one).
• Here’s the latest list of announced senior-level promotions in the Canadian Forces.
• Here’s what the new promotions mean:  “With the Canadian Forces preparing to leave southern Afghanistan for the relative stability of Kabul, top Canadian military brass are starting to take top spots in the NATO-led training mission. Brig.-Gen. Michael Day was appointed Monday the deputy commanding army general, effectively putting him in charge of the army training mission. Brig.-Gen. Kelly Woiden is joining him as the assistant commanding general for Afghan national army development, replacing fellow Canadian Brig.-Gen. Dave Neasmith. The Canadian appointments Monday pave the way for the Canadian Forces’ involvement in the training mission, to begin in July, where around 950 Canadian Forces members will be training the Afghan army until 2014 ….”
• Here’s what ELSE the promotions mean:  “The military has named a new commander for its elite special operations unit, which includes the JTF2 counterterrorist force.  The move, one of 15 appointments announced Monday by Defence Minister Peter MacKay, comes while the Canadian Forces is conducting a probe of complaints that the unit’s senior leaders may have encouraged the commission of war crimes in Afghanistan.  Brig.-Gen. Michael Day, head of the Canadian Special Operations Forces Command, is heading to Afghanistan where he will work at the Kabul headquarters of the NATO force responsible for training the Afghan army and police …. Brig.-Gen. Dennis Thompson, who is currently the chief of the army’s land operations and formerly commanded Canadian troops in Afghanistan, will assume command of the Canadian Special Operations Forces Command (CANSOFCOM).  A spokesman for the special forces said Thompson is expected to take over in April ….”
• How Canadian troops are helping the U.S. space program.
• What’s Canada Buying? Translation cards troops can point at when they don’t know the language of the locals they’re dealing with.
• Taliban Propaganda Watch:  Attacks alleged in Kandahar, including one claiming to have killed 14 Americans.