MILNEWS.ca News Highlights – 11 Aug 11

• Canadian military helicopters, support staff headed to Jamaica to help out in case of hurricanes.  “Dozens of Canadian troops are heading to the Caribbean this week to assist the Jamaican military with medevacs and search and rescue during the region’s annual hurricane season, Defence Minister Peter MacKay announced Wednesday in Trenton, Ont. As part of Operation Jaguar, which could last until the end of November, Canada will deploy three CH-146 Griffon helicopters as well as 65 Canadian Forces personnel from Canadian Forces bases in Goose Bay, N.L., Bagotville, Que., and Trenton ….” – more on OP Jaguar here (CF Info-Machine version), here, here, here, here and here.
• Helping out Colombia. “Prime Minister Stephen Harper today announced Canadian support for new and ongoing projects that will enhance peace, security and justice in Colombia and the region. Areas of focus include preventing conflict, combating transnational criminal activity, facilitating access to justice, responding to the global threat of terrorism, ensuring security at major events and land restitution. The announcement was made during an official visit with Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos ….” – more in backgrounder here.
• Boss of CFB Trenton on to other tasks.  “The current commanding officer here has always been proud to call the air base his home.  He helped heal it. He helped put it on the global map.  Taking the lead of the largest and busiest air force base in the country 18 months ago, outgoing commanding officer Col. Dave Cochrane helped launch Canada’s new emergency response mission Op Jaguar along with minister of National Defence Peter MacKay Wednesday morning – a day before relinquishing his command to Col. Sean Friday.  “Since taking command last February we have done continuous operations,” said Cochrane. “It is because of efforts like Op Hestia in Haiti, our support to the Vancouver Olympic Games, the ongoing support to Afghanistan, and most recently our response to the wild fires in Northern Ontario where thousand of residents were evacuated that our emergency response units and personnel here at 8 Wing that I am proud to call this wing home and being its commander.” …. “It’s been truly amazing,” said the commanding officer, who will proceed on the advanced training list to attend the Defence and Strategic Studies Course – a top level curriculum for senior military officers and government officials engaged in national security issues – at the Australian Defence College later this year ….”
• Letter writer doesn’t seem to get it.  1)  Writer worried about brutality of Canada’s military police after the Provost Marshal’s annual report says there’s been more investigations of sexual assault, assault and death.  2)  CF Provost Marshal writes back saying:  “These are complaints investigated by or reported to Military Police; the way the letter is written would suggest that these complaints were against the Military Police. This is clearly wrong.”  3)  Original letter writer:  “I am still unclear though as to who committed more than 700 alleged crimes, in 2010, that Grubb stated in the press that he himself was concerned about.” >>insert banging head on wall smiley here<<
• What’s Canada Buying?  Boots, first for “user acceptance trials”, then loads if OK – more here in part of bid document (PDF).
• Editorial on need for more help for homeless vets:  “…. as important as it is to find and fund a solution, correctly identifying the problem is just as crucial.  For the most part, we don’t even know who these veterans are and how they ended up on our streets. Scant research has been done in this country. But a recent study by Susan Ray and Cheryl Forchuk, two nursing professors at the University of Western Ontario, challenges the assumption that these veterans are down and out because they suffer from addictions or mental health problems that can be traced back to post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).  Few among the dozens of homeless vets they interviewed had ever been deployed overseas. Their average age was 52 and it often took a decade or more after their release from the Forces before they ended up on the street. Many said they learned to drink while in the military and that alcoholism helped drive them to ruin.  What this points to, according to the Western Ontario researchers, is that Veterans Affairs is having some success in identifying and assisting veterans with PTSD. Primarily, those falling through the cracks in Canada seem to be a different group who have trouble making the transition to civilian life — from a highly structured environment to one with much more freedom to make choices …. the phenomenon might be more complex than we imagine and that we need harder data if we are to respond effectively and proactively over the long term ….”
• Libya Mission  Some of what HMCS Charlottetown was up to. “…. The ship’s superior combat co-ordination and communications systems led to its periodic assignment as Surface Action Group Commander, in which Charlottetown directed the tactical employment of allied warships and maritime patrol aircraft in the area while co-ordinating patrol areas and alert levels for shipborne helicopters. These same capabilities, summarized under the rubric “C4ISR” — standing for the command, control, communications, computing, intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance systems — allowed the ship’s combat control centre to alert NATO to a major offensive on April 26 against Misrata by Gadhafi forces. Working with NATO air controllers, Charlottetown’s operations staff assisted with the co-ordination of air strikes that blunted the attack and eliminated several dozen assault vehicles, artillery pieces and a main battle tank. The ship had repeat performances on May 8 and 24. This Canadian frigate is responsible for saving Libyan lives and preventing Libyan military offensives against the residents of Misrata — big achievements for one ship of Canada’s navy.”
• Afghanistan  Macleans before-and-after in Kandahar. “…. In the weeks and months of the transition from Canadian to American control, much has changed in Kandahar. The heavy hand of the American war machine has devastated the lives of many villagers. In the Arghandab valley, one elder tells Maclean’s that before the Americans came, there was peace. “Sure, the Taliban were in control,” says the 80-year-old Haji Abdul Jabar, “but they never bothered us. They treated us with respect. Now the Americans have come and they are destroying our gardens with their tanks. When they patrol the village they trample over our irrigation canals. And now war has come. Wherever the Americans go, war follows them.” ….”
• PM’s got a new (acting) foreign & security advisor.  “Prime Minister Stephen Harper has brought in Christine Hogan as his acting foreign and defence policy adviser to replace Claude Carrière, who moved out of the position last month to become associate deputy minister at Agriculture Canada. Ms. Hogan, who is usually the assistant secretary to the Cabinet, foreign and defence policy, stepped into the key role temporarily after the departure of Mr. Carrière on July 11. A permanent replacement has yet to be named and the PCO has been tight-lipped on when that would happen, but former diplomats say that the next person to step into the role must be knowledgeable, well-connected, and experienced ….”
• F-35 Tug o’ War  The good news:  American F-35’s back at work.  The bad news:  not flying yet, though.

MILNEWS.ca News Highlights – 15 Feb 11

• “Col. Hercule Gosselin is so focused on his own duties as commander of the Operational Mentor Liaison Team in Kandahar that he knows little about Canada’s future training mission in northern Afghanistan, which is to replace the current combat mission in the south when it ends this summer. But Gosselin — who works closely with the Afghan National Army and Afghan National Police in Kandahar — says, “There are many lessons here that we can share with the instructors going to Kabul.” One of those lessons is not to be too proud, said the former Airborne Regiment paratrooper and Van Doo infantry battalion commander, who is on his second tour in Afghanistan. “Humility is the most important quality we can foster, because this is their country and they know better than we do what is going on,” he said ….”
• How some of Canada’s troops are taking the initiative to learn the language for tours in Afghanistan. Well done to the soldier in question!
• Meanwhile, how is the language barrier being solved during some training scenarios for possible future conflicts?  Laminated cards where you point at pictures of things you mean.
• Taliban Propaganda Watch: Taliban offers to help Afghans “pull an Egypt”, and remembering the anniversary of the USSR leaving..
• A bit more on the Leopard tanks Switzerland is selling to Canada.
• Way Up North (1): Western Canadian reservists train to work, fight in the cold in northwestern Ontario.
• Way Up North (2): Quebec Regular Force troops train to work in the cold in northern Quebec.
• CF lessons learned while helping provide security at the recent Olympics. “The Canadian military is revising the way it handles domestic operations, after realizing there are gaping holes in the existing strategy. Newly released documents show the 2010 Winter Olympics were an organizational nightmare because the military lacked what they call domestic doctrine. Doctrine provides rules and protocol on how to handle different types of operations. “The absence of adequate, or up-to-date, domestic operations doctrine and policies resulted in excessive debate and distracted from the real task of planning and executing Op Podium,” says the after-action report on the military’s contribution to Olympic security. Military planners were stymied by everything from what jobs they were and weren’t prepared to do at the Games, to how to get all the soldiers they needed for the plan …. The report was obtained by The Canadian Press under Access to Information ….”
• Even MORE on the PM’s Plane’s Paint Job (1):  “A Grade 9 student from Hamilton joined opposition parties in asking the prime minister to abandon any plan to repaint the government’s VIP jet from military grey to civilian white and red. Stephen Harper’s staff have been pushing the new colour scheme for two years, but the air force resisted because the white colour would make the plane more visible in risky zones overseas. Documents obtained by The Canadian Press show one of the strongest opponents of the new paint scheme has been Defence Minister Peter MacKay ….”
• Even MORE on the PM’s Plane’s Paint Job (2): Questions in the House of Commons yesterday from the Liberals, the NDP and the Bloc on this thing.
• Even MORE on the PM’s Plane’s Paint Job (3):  Spokespersons finally speak.  “…. Andrew MacDougall, a spokesman for the prime minister, said the aircraft is due for a paint job next year and that the government was “looking at some options.” MacKay spokesman Jay Paxton added paint jobs are restricted to the regular maintenance cycle, which is every six years. “Minister MacKay believes that to ensure costs are negligible for Canadian taxpayers, the repainting of military assets should take place in the established maintenance cycle when the operational tempo is such that there (are) no negative ramifications on the Canadian Forces mandate,” he said. “This recommendation is agreed by all and no decision has been taken on repainting the Airbus.” “
• I’ve added a couple of Israeli films to my collection of military and war flicks (new additions in red).