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[esprit-de-corps-magazine]

ON TARGET: Taliban Not Living Up to Their Terrifying Hype

By Scott Taylor

Last week, the former Hamid Karzai International Airport was back in business under the new moniker of Kabul International Airport (aka KIA). The first flight to lift off from KIA was a Qatar Airlines charter carrying an estimated 200 foreign nationals including a number of Canadians.

Apparently the airport is being managed by the same Afghanistan Civil Aviation authority which operated the facility prior to the Taliban seizing power last month. Two Afghan airlines – Kam Air and Ariana Afghan Airlines have announced plans to resume flying regular routes out of Kabul in the coming days.

This anti-climatic, virtually bloodless return to near normalcy is almost as shocking as the Taliban’s lightning overthrow of President Ashraf Ghani’s regime.

When the Taliban-of-old captured Kabul in 1996, they hanged former opponents from traffic control towers in the central square.

Fear of such bloody reprisals led to those scenes of desperation during the U.S. led allied airlift out of Kabul prior to Aug. 31.

Most analysts believed that when the last U.S. plane lifted off the runway that the revenge bloodletting would begin.

For Canadian veterans of the war in Afghanistan, the fear was that those Afghans who had supported our mission such as translators and support staff would be at risk of Taliban vengeance.

Throughout the summer appeals by veteran’s groups rose to a crescendo as the Taliban rapidly captured town after town in quick succession.

Admittedly, this was not the Canadian government’s finest moment. Global Affairs Canada agreed to restart an earlier program to evacuate Afghans and their families who would be at risk.

However, with the Taliban advancing on the Afghan capital virtually unopposed throughout July, Canada’s ambassador returned to Canada on stress leave.

With the Taliban at the gates of Kabul, the decision was made to repatriate the rest of the embassy staff, and the Canadian authorities were subsequently hard pressed to screen applicants from the safety of Ottawa.

The poor handling of this affair has led to an almost rabid response from many veterans’ groups and media pundits.

I’m not going to defend the Liberal government’s actions in this instance.  However it would be unfair not to offer up a little context.

First of all, Canada concluded it’s military training mission in Afghanistan in the spring of 2014. Our major combat mission was concluded in 2011.

At those junctures, the war mongering military pundits chastised the Conservative government of Stephen Harper for ‘cutting and running’ from a challenging war.

Their line of reasoning was that our troops would miss out on the eventual victory parade. No one, other than Afghans predicted this would end in a Taliban triumph.

My library includes over thirty book titles written by Canadians about the war in Afghanistan.

The list of authors includes generals, soldiers, doctors, historians and journalists. While they all include elements of the challenges posed by the Afghan insurgency, not one of them foretells an outcome wherein the Taliban emerge victorious.

One book, published in 2018 and authored by Afghan war veteran Major General, (ret’d) David Fraser is misleadingly entitled Operation Medusa: The furious battle that saved Afghanistan from the Taliban.

Given that the public narrative from these well placed individuals with personal Afghanistan experience all projected a sense that if not already achieved, than an ultimate victory was nigh, why would any Canadian government have made it a priority to evacuate our former Afghan employees?

No one was predicting that individuals who had last supported our combat mission more than a decade ago would be imperiled by an enemy that our top military commanders had proclaimed defeated.

By the time this crisis erupted with lightning speed, the Canadian resources necessary to handle this mess were long since withdrawn from Afghanistan.

Those veterans who have stepped up by volunteering their time and money to evacuate former interpreters are to be commended for their noble efforts.

The blame for the Canadian government’s failing to handle this crisis in a timely manner, partly rests on the shoulders of those who circulated the false notion of allied success.

We can only pray that this new incarnation of the Taliban remains a kinder, gentler version of itself and that airlifts to safety replaces vengeful bloodletting.

[esprit-de-corps-magazine]

ON TARGET: When Did Canadian Leaders Realize Afghanistan Was Always Unwinnable?

By Scott Tayor

The news out of Afghanistan has gone from bad to worse since the American military virtually fled their main base at Bagram in the dead of night on July 2. With the withdrawal of these last major U.S. combat forces, the Taliban have been emboldened in their attacks against Afghan government security forces.

At time of writing, the Taliban were estimated to control roughly 85 per cent of Afghanistan’s territory. While not yet in control of provincial capitals, they are threatening to overrun the northern city of Kunduz.

The Taliban have also recently seized key Afghan border checkpoints including Spin Boldak, which is one of two major trade routes into Pakistan.

To stoke fear in the ranks of the Afghan National Army, the Taliban recently released video footage depicting the execution of 22 American trained elite Afghan Commandos. As they shot each of the captive Commandos in the head, the Taliban executioners shouted “Allahu Akhbar!” (God is Great). 

The intended message is that if these elite special forces troops cannot resist the Taliban, the average line unit of the Afghan National Army does not stand a chance.

The propaganda has obviously been effective as thousands of Afghan soldiers have since deserted and sought asylum in neighbouring Tajikistan.

The end is definitely nigh, and the outcome is no longer in doubt. After more than two decades of U.S. led International occupation of Afghanistan, the Taliban will emerge victorious.

This news, while not unexpected has caused many Canadian veterans of the Afghanistan war to question the sacrifice made by them and their comrades.

The emotional impact on our serving soldiers was so acute, that acting Chief of Defence Staff, Lt-Gen Wayne Eyre – himself a veteran of Afghanistan – felt compelled to issue a Forces-wide message on July 13. “Many of us have been watching the reports coming out of Afghanistan with dismay. The fall of Panjwai, reported last week, has hit many of us particularly hard, and as we question our legacy, it serves as a harbinger for all Canadians who served in the country regardless of when and where,” wrote Eyre.

He pointed out that following previous wars in Europe and Korea, our veterans could return to those lands with a sense of satisfaction for having made a difference.

However, wrote Eyre “At this moment in time it is difficult to envision having similar sentiments for our war.” The message ended with advice for any soldiers who are struggling with their experience to seek help.

With the Taliban poised to claim victory, many fear that will result in a wave of bloody revenge against those Afghans who cooperated with the foreign occupiers.

That angst has prompted a grass-roots campaign petitioning the Canadian government to bring home any of those Afghans who were once employed by the Canadian military as interpreters and their families.

Organizers of this quest estimated there are still approximately 125 such individuals remaining at risk in Afghanistan.

As Canada’s combat mission ended in 2011 and our military training mission concluded in 2014, these interpreters have not been employed by Canadians for some time.

However it was Canada, along with the U.S. and our NATO allies that fed these willing Afghans the false hope that we would actually make a difference in their country.

The most upsetting part about this current crisis is that the senior leadership in the U.S.A knew almost from the outset that this was an unwinnable war.

In December 2019, the Washington Post published a story entitled “At war with the Truth.” It was based on a treasure trove of documents obtained under the Freedom of Information Act.

These assessments were generated by the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR) and they compelling illustrated that high ranking officials were of the opinion that the war was already lost, but that truth was to be hidden from the public.

Regrettably, when the Post published these documents now known as the Afghanistan Papers, there was no outcry of disbelief or outrage from either Canadian or NATO officials.

Maybe Canada needs to establish a Parliamentary probe into when it was first known by Canadian military leaders and politicians that our soldiers were being sent to fight a war they knew we could not win?

[esprit-de-corps-magazine]

105th Anniversary Remembrance of Beaumont-Hamel

By Richard Lawrence

To see all the images from this ceremony, please go to:

https://www.richardlawrencephotography.ca/rlpgalleries/2021/beaumonthamel105/

The 105th ceremony of remembrance for the Royal Newfoundland Regiment (RNR) and Battle of Beaumont-Hamel was held on July 1st, 2021, at the National War Memorial in Ottawa, on a somewhat overcast morning that threatened rain but eventually cleared up to a beautiful summer’s day.  All Covid-19 restrictions were observed.

The 1st of July is a day of remembrance first in Newfoundland and a day to celebrate Canada second.  In the First World War, the Dominion of Newfoundland supplied 8,707 men to the three Dominion services including the Royal Newfoundland Regiment, the Royal Newfoundland Naval Reserve, and the Newfoundland Forestry Corps.  As well 3,296 men volunteered for the Canadian Expeditionary Force, 21 were known to be in the Royal Flying Corp/Royal Air Force, and 175 women served overseas in nursing and aid stations.  In all, 36% of men of military age (19-35) went to war. 

Beaumont-Hamel is significant in that the men of the Royal Newfoundland Regiment (RNR) went “over the top” on this day in 1916 and 30 minutes later, only remnants remained.  They left from a support trench (St. John’s Trench) which was 200 metres behind the jump off point because the dead and wounded from previous waves clogged the way to the front.  After this, it was another 500 metres to the enemy through a no-man’s land criss-crossed with enemy machine gun fire.  “It was a magnificent display of trained and disciplined valour and its assault only failed of success because dead men can advance no further.” said LGen Sir Aylmer Gould Hunter-Weston.  

While figures vary, the RNR website lists:  Killed In Action – 14 officers and 219 other ranks, wounded – 12 officers and 374 other ranks and 91 missing.  Out of 721 who went out only 68 were able to answer the roll call the next morning (85% casualties).  Every officer who went into battle was either killed or wounded.  Some of the dead were killed trying to crawl back to their own lines from no-man’s land as they had been made to wear metal triangles on their backs, so command could monitor their forward progress.  As they crawled back, the sun reflected off the metal making them easy targets for enemy snipers and many were killed.  It would be two weeks before the people in Newfoundland heard of the disaster.

The ceremony was hosted by the Royal Newfoundland Regiment Advisory Council and MC’d by Col (ret’d) Gregory Burt.  The official party to lay wreaths consisted of:

The Act of Remembrance was spoken by Mr. Bill Black and the Commitment to Remember was done by Mr. Austin Stein of Stittsville.  Mr. Stein is the great-grandson of Sgt. Joshua Robert Goodyear who managed to live through the battle and answer the roll call the next morning.  Of the five Goodyear brothers who served, three were killed in action and two survived. A sixth sibling, a sister, served as a nurse in a different battle area.  The oldest son, Roland (the seventh of the seven siblings), was denied enlistment so that the possibility of the entire family’s progeny being wiped out would be avoided.  Padré Gerald Peddle led the prayer and it was noted that he was the grandson of Pvt Stanley Budgell of the RNR.  Following the prayer, last post, silence, lament and rouse, the wreaths were laid. MGen Richard Goodyear, laying the wreath for the Canadian Armed Forces, is the senior Newfoundlander in the Forces.

To end the ceremony, the poem “Only One Tree” was read by Mr. Herb Davis whose great uncle Pvt Lester Barber was killed at Beaumont-Hamel.  Following the poem, Mr. Scott Richardson of the Atlantic Voices Choir sang “Ode to Newfoundland” and “O Canada” completing the ceremony.

While Newfoundland would not become part of Canada until 1949, as part of Canada now, it is important to remember the sacrifices made on behalf of the allies of this small part of the British Empire.

[esprit-de-corps-magazine]

ON TARGET: Military Police Should Call In RCMP To Dispel Perception Of Lack Of Independence

By Scott Taylor

It was on Sunday Feb. 2 that the current military sexual misconduct scandal first emerged.

Global National reporter Mercedes Stephenson broke the story that recently stepped down Chief of Defence Staff, General Jonathan Vance was accused of two counts of sexual misconduct.

What made these allegations newsworthy was the fact that during his entire five-year tenure as CDS, Vance had been the driving force behind his own Operation Honour, an initiative intended to stamp out sexual misconduct within the Canadian Armed Forces.

Vance was no longer the CDS but he was still a serving general. His successor, Admiral Art McDonald announced that in addition to a military police investigation into the allegations against Vance, there would be a separate, independent investigation into the former CDS’s actions.

In an attempt to bolster morale and restore confidence in the senior leadership, McDonald put out a message to the rank and file on Feb. 24.

In his memo McDonald encouraged any other potential victims of sexual misconduct to come forward. That very same day word was leaked to the media that McDonald was himself under military police investigation for an alleged case of sexual misconduct dating back to 2010.

By nightfall it was announced that McDonald would step aside as CDS until the police investigation had run its course.

Losing two top generals in three weeks proved to be just the tip of the iceberg.

The next revelation was that Lt-Gen Chris Coates had an extramarital affair while serving at NORAD headquarters. This incident prevented his posting to NATO Headquarters in Naples, and Coates has since retired from the CAF.

Far more startling was the allegations of rape against Vice Admiral Haydn Edmundson. That incident allegedly occurred aboard a RCN warship in 1991. Edmundson has since stepped down from his post as Chief of Military Personnel. The rape investigation remains ongoing.

One of Canada’s most noted generals is Major-General Dany Fortin who was seconded to the Public Health Agency of Canada to oversee the roll out of COVID-19 vaccines. Fortin’s telegenic appearances on nightly newscasts had become a reassuring fixture for Canadians eagerly anticipating an end to the pandemic.

Then on May 14, DND issued a brief three line press release announcing that Fortin was relieved of his Public Health post because he too, was under investigation. News reports pointed to allegations of past sexual misconduct. In Fortin’s case the complaint dates back to 1989 when he was a cadet at the College Militaire Royale in St. Jean, Quebec.

Also turfed from his secondment at the Public Health Agency was Brig-Gen Simon Bernard for allegedly uttering a racial slur while on duty.

For writing a letter to a judge in support of a convicted perpetrator of sexual assault, Major-Gen Pete Dawe was relieved as Commander of Canada’s elite Special Operations Force Command (CANSOFCOM). Dawe’s character reference was for an officer convicted of sexually assaulting a fellow officer’s wife.

The most recent purge of the senior ranks involves the Vice Chief of the Defence Staff, Lt-Gen Mike Rouleau and Commander of the Royal Canadian Navy Vice Admiral Craig Baines.

News outlets reported on June 12 that Baines and Rouleau had played a game of golf on June 2 with former CDS General Vance.

The optics of  them associating with one of the accused was grounds for Rouleau to resign as VCDS. For his part, Baines has apologized and has taken personal leave.

Critics of Rouleau’s casual outing with Vance were quick to point out that as VCDS, the military police are technically under his control. Add this to the fact that Major Kellie Brennan, one of Vance’s accusers, testified before a parliamentary committee that  the former CDS bragged to her that he was ‘untouchable’ and that he had the CFNIS [Canadian National Investigation Service] “under control.”

Within this scenario, the CFNIS are now in a no-win situation. If they investigate and uncover no grounds for criminal charges against Vance, the public will presume the investigation was thwarted from within.

My advice to Provost Marshal Brigadier General Simon Trudeau is to pre-empt such a predicament by announcing that Rouleau’s actions and Brennan’s allegations have already tainted any possible CFNIS conclusion.

Admit the obvious and call in the RCMP to conduct an independent investigation.

The truth will set you free.

[esprit-de-corps-magazine]

ON TARGET: Clueless in Iraq: The Sequel

By Scott Taylor

Last week the Canadian Press reported on a memo which they had obtained from the Department of National Defence under the Access-to-Information law.

The memo was dated January 16, 2020 and was written by Lt-Gen Mike Rouleau who was the commander of Canadian Joint Operations Command at that time. The recipient of the memo was then Chief of the Defence Staff, General Jonathan Vance.

The gist of Rouleau’s message to Vance was that the ‘identifying and vetting’ of Iraqi recruits to participate in the Canadian-led NATO training mission in Iraq “lacked the sufficient depth required.”

Taken in isolation this warning from Rouleau may seem at first glance to be rather innocuous. However, it is important to note the timeline here.

Earlier this month, David Pugliese at the Ottawa Citizen broke the story of Canadian military trainers in Iraq having witnessed video evidence of war crimes committed by the very Iraqi soldiers whom they were sent to train.

That incident occurred back in September 2018 and according to the internal report, the Canadian trainers immediately informed their superiors of these war crimes and requested guidance on how to proceed.

At least seven Canadian non-commissioned officers had viewed the videos. As professional soldiers they realized that the acts committed by their Iraqi recruits violated article 50 of the Geneva Convention which prohibits acts of “willful killing, torture, or inhuman treatment” of prisoners.

Included in the eagerly offered video evidence was footage of Iraqis “raping a woman to death; torture and execution of a line of bound prisoners whereby they were beaten to death with what appeared to be rebar steel bars; the execution of prisoners by shooting; and the execution of a man by hanging him from the barrel of a [Main Battle Tank],” according to a Canadian Forces briefing note.

Understandably the Canadian NCO’s had some serious qualms about teaching such sadistic killers in order to provide them with enhanced military skills.

Faced with this dilemma, the senior leadership in-theatre assured the NCO’s that this matter would be dealt with, but in the meantime, training of these war criminals was to continue unabated.

The Canadian trainers were also told that in the future, they should abstain from watching such videos, and for god’s sake, not to take possession of any such evidence.

When the mission concluded without the Canadian trainers having seen any action taken against the Iraqi perpetrators, the NCO’s continued to ask questions to their senior leadership after their return to CFB Petawawa, ON.

One of the Canadian witnesses wrote to his superior “we remain uncertain whether this appropriate action was effectively taken. I am an ethical man and I believe in our moral doctrine and the [Law of Armed Conflict]. I am bothered by the fact that my assigned duties allowed me to train and enable people who in my mind were criminals.”

More than three years later, and after the Ottawa Citizen broke the story citing 2018 DND briefing notes, we are told that the military police are conducting an investigation into the CAF’s leadership’s handling of this incident. Note that no one seems willing to pursue the original Iraqi war criminals.

Also important to the timeline of events are the statements made in August 2018 by Maj.-Gen. Dany Fortin. He had just been appointed to command the overall Canadian led NATO training mission in Iraq.

When asked by journalists how Canadians could properly vet the Iraqi recruits, Fortin confidently replied, “I think we have a pretty good vetting process in place to screen out those potential [Iraqi] instructors to ensure we have quality people, that they the Iraqi government feel confident with.”

One month later our trainers on the ground in Iraq viewed the video evidence of war crimes and reported it up their chain-of-command. From this latest memo released to the Canadian Press news service we now know that more than one year after the top brass knew that our troops were training war criminals, they still lacked the ability to properly screen any incoming Iraqi recruits.

On September 4, 2018 I wrote a column about the then impending training mission entitled “Clueless in Iraq.” I included a side note to Maj.-Gen. Fortin, which read: “I cannot wish you success in your mission because you are embarked on a fool’s errand. Training more Iraqis to kill in the name of a corrupt regime is insane.”

Little did I know that our soldiers would be knowingly training war criminals how to better kill in the name of a corrupt regime.

Fool’s errand indeed.

[esprit-de-corps-magazine]

ON TARGET: “I See Cracks”: General Eyre

By Scott Taylor

Last week in an interview with the Canadian Press Lieutenant-General Wayne Eyre, Canada’s acting Chief of the Defence Staff, admitted that the Canadian military is beginning to exhibit ‘cracks’.

Eyre explained that these ‘cracks’ are the result of the Canadian Armed Forces facing a multitude of concurrent challenges in terms of maintaining a brisk operational tempo while dealing with plummeting morale in the ranks.

The greatest contributor to that loss of faith in the senior leadership has been the almost continuous barrage of sexual misconduct revelations involving the top brass.

The first of these bombshells exploded on Feb. 2, 2021 when Global National’s Mercedes Stephenson revealed two allegations of sexual impropriety against General Jonathan Vance.

Vance had just stepped down as CDS after a five-year stint as Canada’s top soldier, but he had not yet officially retired from the Forces.

Admiral Art McDonald announced that in addition to a Canadian Forces National Investigation Service (CFNIS) investigation into the Vance allegations, a separate independent inquiry would be initiated into the actions of the former CDS.

The ink was still damp on McDonald’s message when it was announced that he was stepping aside as CDS to allow the CFNIS investigate a sexual misconduct complaint against him.

Then came the news that Lt.-Gen. Chris Coates would not be deploying to his new position at NATO headquarters because of an extra-marital affair he had while at his NORAD posting in Colorado Springs.

Next up to bat was Chief of Military Personnel, Vice Admiral Haydn Edmundson. News reports first cited that as a young officer Edmundson had faced allegations of impropriety while an instructor at CFB Esquimalt. The chain of command at the time had cleared Edmundson, which earned him the satirical nickname of the ‘mulligan’ man.

However once that story broke, memories were jarred and a separate accusation arose against Edmundson. This was an allegation of rape that occurred aboard a RCN ship in 1991.

On Friday, May 14 it was announced that Major General Dany Fortin was suspended from his high profile post overseeing the national roll-out of the COVID-19 vaccines with the Public Health Agency of Canada.

The reason for Fortin’s removal was that he too was under investigation by the CFNIS for past sexual misconduct. Media reports have revealed that the complaint against Fortin dated back to 1989 when he was a cadet at the College Militaire Royal in St Jean, Quebec.

In less than four months Canada lost two four star generals, two three star generals and a very high profile two star general. For the purists, I realize that Canadian generals wear maple leafs instead of stars, but either way you slice it, that is a lot of brass to lose in a very short span of time.

In the wake of this sudden exodus, senior female officers have been promoted or appointed to key positions.

Lt. Gen. Frances Allen is to become Canada’s first female Vice Chief of the Defence Staff. Jennie Carignan was recently promoted to Lieutenant-General and named to head the task force to eliminate sexual misconduct.

Commodore Josee Kurtz will soon assume the post of commandant at the Royal Military College in Kingston. The first female to hold that position.

Stepping up to fill the void left by Fortin’s departure is Brigadier-General Krista Brodie who was previously Fortin’s deputy commander at the Public Health Agency.

These promotions will definitely change the face of the ‘old boy’s club’, which was previously the composition of our senior military leadership. However, this in itself will not be enough to change an institutional culture that has been defined as highly sexualized by none other than former Supreme Court Justice Marie Deschamps in her 2015 independent review of military sexual misconduct.

I think Lt.-Gen. Eyre is optimistic to describe the current crisis in the military as mere ‘cracks.’

The CAF is currently changing the senior leadership on the fly, trying to alter a decades old culture of sexual misconduct, while still managing overseas operational deployments in Latvia and Iraq, coping with a personnel shortfall of 2,300 soldiers, and still assisting Canadians in dealing with a deadly pandemic.

This is definitely no time for anymore ‘cracks’.

[esprit-de-corps-magazine]

ON TARGET: The DND Sexual Misconduct Saga Continues Unabated

By Scott Taylor

Late in the afternoon of Friday, May 14 the Department of National Defence issued a curt, three line press release announcing that Maj.-Gen. Dany Fortin was being removed from his post pending the results of a military police investigation.

Fortin is of course no ordinary senior officer. Since his assignment to the Public Health Agency last November, the telegenic Fortin has become the face of Canada’s national vaccine roll-out.

Given his high profile, the media immediately began to dig for answers. Well placed government sources advised Bob Fife, the Globe and Mail Ottawa Bureau Chief, that the misconduct for which Fortin was being investigated was of a sexual nature and that the incident in question had occurred prior to the launching of the 2015 Operation Honour initiative to combat sexual misconduct in the ranks.

This timeline also meant that it did not happen on the current Trudeau Liberal government’s watch.

Fife’s insight was widely cited by the other media outlets as no one had anything else to go on.

Then, on Sunday May 16, CTV’s Annie Bergeron Oliver revealed that the complaint against Fortin actually had been filed two months earlier with the Canadian Forces National Investigative Service (CFNIS). The complainant alleges Fortin exposed his genitalia while he was a cadet at the College Militaire Royal in the spring of 1989.

While Fortin did not respond directly, his lawyer, Commander Mark Letourneau told the media that his client “vigorously and categorically denies the allegation.” Letourneau also revealed that prior to being contacted by CTV, Fortin was unaware of the nature of the complaint against him.

Then on Wednesday May 19, Brig.-Gen. Simon Trudeau, the Canadian Armed Forces Provost Marshal, informed the media the CFNIS had concluded their investigation into the Fortin allegation.

The findings of their investigation were forwarded to the Quebec public prosecution service to determine whether criminal charges are warranted in this case.

According to the Provost Marshal the referral of this case to the Quebec prosecutors had taken place “late [the previous] week.” Which means the investigation was complete and out of the military’s control before Fortin was publicly removed from this assignment with the Public Health Agency’s Vaccine roll-out.

Then there is the claim from counsel Letourneau that the CTV reporter’s revelation of the nature of the allegation against Fortin took his client “completely by surprise.” If that is true, then this would mean the CFNIS wrapped up their investigation into a 32-year-old incident without having questioned the accused.

As for the rationale behind putting this in the hands of the Quebec prosecutors, that is explained by the fact that the alleged crime took place before 1998. Prior to that juncture the military did not have the judicial authority to try cases involving crimes of a sexual nature.

The Fortin saga has of course sparked the opposition parties to demand answers of who-knew-what-when among the top Trudeau Liberals.

Questions are being asked of acting Chief of Defence Staff Lt.-Gen. Wayne Eyre as to why he left Fortin at his post for two months after being informed of the complaint. Others want to know why Minister of Defence Harjit Sajjan once again did not take any immediate action.

The revolving door of departures for Canada’s top generals began on February 2, 2021 with the first allegations against recently stepped down Chief of the Defence Staff Gen. Jonathan Vance.

Then it was his successor Admiral Art McDonald who stepped aside while military police continue to investigate allegations of a sexual misconduct incident dating back to 2010.

Lt.-Gen Chris Coates announced his retirement from the military after revelations of an extra-marital-affair at NORAD headquarters in Colorado Springs, precluded him from deploying to NATO headquarters in Naples.

Vice Admiral Haydn Edmundson has been replaced as Chief of Military Personnel after a female sailor alleged she had been raped in 1991.

In each of these cases – with the exception of Coates who is not accused of any crime – the allegations are historical in nature. Perhaps more importantly in a justice system that is to presume innocence until guilt is proven, all four of these senior officers under investigation have denied any wrongdoing.

Yet they have already been stripped of command and condemned in the court of public opinion.

[esprit-de-corps-magazine]

Airbus launching new satellite system

By Vincent J. Curtis

When you think of Airbus, most people think of it as an aircraft manufacture famous for its A300 and A200 series commercial aircraft, fighters like the Eurofighter and multipurpose military aircraft such as the C295 and MRTT.  But Airbus is more than that.  It is also a world leader in satellite systems and geointelligence data and products. 

Airbus advanced its space system capabilities on April 29, 2021, when an Arianespace Vega rocket launched from French Guiana, arced over the Atlantic Ocean and delivered into earth orbit the first of four new satellites which together will form the Pléiades Neo constellation. The new optical satellite constellation will enable Airbus to provide a second-generation of geo-intelligence data services.  The second satellite of the Pléiades Neo series is expected to be launched this summer.

The Pléiades Neo imagery is very high resolution - 30 cm - with a geomatic accuracy of less than 5 meters.  The new satellites deliver 6 multispectral channels.  The constellation has a nominal lifespan of ten years.

The Pléiades Neo constellation was entirely funded, designed, manufactured, and is owned, and operated by Airbus. It is intended to provide commercial and institutional customers with high-resolution imagery that can be combined with Airbus’ proprietary analytics.  Each of the four satellite can cover up to 500,000 sq. km per day, for a total of 2 million sq. km per day coverage.  The images will be made available on Airbus’ OneAtlas digital platform, which will allow Airbus’ customers immediate access to both freshly acquired and archived data, combined with Airbus’ extensive analytics.  The analytics include object identification, change detection, and activity monitoring.

The Pléiades Neo constellation will work in conjunction with Airbus’ existing fleet of Earth observation satellites that includes the TerraSAR-X, TanDEM-X, and NovaSAR radar satellites; and optical satellites that include the original Pléiades series (2 satellites), SPOT (2 satellites), DMC constellation (4 satellites), and Vision 1 (1 satellite) 

The Pléiades Neo constellation incorporates laser inter-satellite links (ISL) that provides connectivity to the SpaceDataHighway (EDRS) geostationary satellites. The use of ISLs accelerates the tasking process enabling urgent image acquisition within 30 to 40 minutes of a tasking request.  The combination of both high resolution and fast reactivity provide fast tempo, actionable intelligence.

“The Pléiades Neo constellation will definitively boost the 30 cm imagery market, bringing a lot of innovation and coverage capacity to the commercial and government end uses” said François Lombard, Head of Intelligence at Airbus Defense and Space.

Airbus lists the key features of the Pléiades Neo system as: provides the highest commercial resolution combined with accurate geolocation; reactive tasking and rapid delivery; up to 2 million sq km coverage per day; mono, stereo, and tri-stereo acquisition capability; and 100 percent commercial resource availability.  The benefits of these features include: information delivery in a drastically reduced timeframe; rapid coverage at a regional scale; extensive monitoring; and a leveraging with Airbus’ suite of analytics for automatic detection and object identification.  According to Airbus, the user benefits from immediate access to Pléiades Neo and the entire Airbus constellation, either straight from the users Direct Receiving Station or through the Airbus digital platform OneAtlas.

The potential applications of the imagery and analytics include: defense and intelligence, law enforcement, maritime; oil, gas, mining, and energy sectors; agriculture, forestry and environment, land use administration, mapping, transportation and engineering; 3-D modelling, and aviation.

Because the data is commercial and unclassified, users such as the CAF could share it with allied powers during its international operations, according to Airbus.  The imagery is complementary to space-based radars presently used by the CAF.  Airbus says it can bring space based optical and radar surveillance capabilities to the CAF’s space based surveillance project called DESSP. It is actively engaged in the development of solution concepts that address the future Earth observation  requirements of DND and the Canadian Space Agency.

[esprit-de-corps-magazine]

Iraq Mission: A Failure of Leadership?

By Scott Taylor

Last week a very disturbing story surfaced in the media which once again clearly illustrates how the Canadian military leadership is totally out of its depth in Iraq.

My colleague David Pugliese at the Ottawa Citizen obtained internal military documents which reveal how Canadian soldiers faced a moral dilemma when they were shown evidence of war crimes committed by the very Iraqi soldiers which they were sent to train.

It wasn’t as if our Canadian trainers stumbled across these videos. It was the Iraqi soldiers who boastfully played them for the Canadians as though it was proof of their martial success.

The graphic images included those of “raping a woman to death; torture and execution of a line of bound prisoners whereby they were beaten to death with what appeared to be rebar steel bars; the execution of bound prisoners by shooting; and the execution of a man by hanging him from the barrel of a [Main Battle Tank]” states a Canadian Armed Forces briefing note.

At least seven Canadian non-commissioned officers viewed the footage and to their credit, they immediately reported the situation to their superiors.

All trained soldiers should know that Article 50 of the Geneva Convention prohibits acts of “willful killing, torture or inhuman treatment” of prisoners.

What the Canadian instructors had seen clearly constituted war crimes perpetrated by the very Iraqi soldiers to whom they were to teach additional weapons and tactical skills.

One sergeant reportedly recommended suspending the training in order for his superiors to deal with this issue first.

However, the senior leadership in theatre assured the NCO’s that the matter would be dealt with, but in the meantime they were to press on with the training of these Iraqis. Just to be on the safe side, the officers also advised the NCO’s that in the future they should not view such videos, and more importantly not take possession of any images. See no evil.

The initial incident took place on 18 September, 2018 at a U.S. military facility near the Iraqi city of Mosul. The troops involved were from the Royal Canadian Regiment based at CFB Petawawa.

They had been sent to train an Iraqi unit known as the Wide Area Security Force (WASF).

Many of these Iraqis had fought against ISIS in the recently concluded liberation of Mosul.

One can easily understand how our soldiers would have qualms about associating with and training individuals who were capable of such cold-blooded murderous crimes.

Yes, the violent crimes perpetrated by ISIS were widely publicized, but that does not grant one the right to kill disarmed ISIS captives in the same fashion.

Police do not get to beat serial killers to death or sodomize rapists. That is what separates criminals from law enforcers.

Despite the reassurances that some sort of action was being taken, it seems the soldiers on the ground did not believe it.

Once the unit was back in Petawawa, they continued to press for answers. “We remain uncertain whether this appropriate action was effectively taken,” wrote one of the NCOs “I am an ethical man and I believe in our moral doctrine and the [Law of Armed Conflict]. I am bothered by the fact that my assigned duties allowed me to train and enable people who in my mind were criminals.” 

When the 2018 training mission was first announced, the commander -  Maj.-Gen. Dany Fortin assured skeptical journalists that he was confident in Canada’s ability to screen Iraqi recruits. “I think we have a pretty good vetting process in place to screen out those potential [Iraqi] instructors to ensure we have quality people, that they the Iraqi government feel confident with,” Fortin told reporters.

One month later the RCR NCO’s reported the videos of war crimes committed by these same Iraqi instructors, and they were told keep quiet and to continue the training.

Some vetting process.

On 30 March, Canada extended Operation Impact, the mission to Iraq and the Middle East, for one more year. Since first deploying troops to Iraq in 2014, Canada has spent over $1 billion on the mission.

After all that time and money, we still can’t tell the good guys from the war criminals. Even with the video evidence.

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Babcock Canada and Leonardo Canada join Forces for Canada’s Future Aircrew Training (FAcT) Program

Ottawa, ON, Canada 14th  May 2021 –Babcock Canada and Leonardo Canada are pleased to announce that they have signed a Letter of Intent (LOI) to jointly pursue Canada’s Future Aircrew Training Program (FAcT) and to create a Canadian joint venture.

This partnership between two companies with strong footprints in military pilot training, ensures that the FAcT program will benefit from the expertise and innovation made by two global players, each of which have over 70 years of aircrew training experience delivered around the world.

A modern air force needs an advanced training solution based on cutting-edge technology, focused on early streaming, and better output standards at lower costs. Babcock and Leonardo can offer a modern and comprehensive solution drawing on their long experience as leading providers of civil and military fixed-wing, rotary-wing and mission training services. The companies stand ready to offer an innovative and comprehensive turnkey solution to meet all of the Royal Canadian Air Force’s training requirements.

Leonardo as a world leader in the training sector can cover the entire pilot training syllabus with a unique range allowing the training syllabus to be tailored to air force requirements. A complete Ground Based Training System (GBTS), which is perfectly integrated with the platforms, able to ensure both high quality training and strong operating efficiency, complements the aircraft. Platforms and systems offer customers worldwide a turnkey training solution that can guarantee the highest quality standards at every training stage. With a long heritage and its expertise in military pilot training, Leonardo has built about 2,000 trainers that have been sold to more than 40 countries.

From basic to advanced flying training for air forces, navies and armies, Babcock delivers unrivalled technical instruction across multiple locations and aircraft types. Whether it is providing technical training instruction, developing training materials or maintaining critical training assets, Babcock is trusted by its customers to deliver world-class training solutions.

Babcock Canada and Leonardo Canada are strongly committed to building a strong Canadian Team reinforcing their existing long-term relationships and partnerships with the Canadian Government and Canadian industries.

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ON TARGET: Canada Must Denounce Glorification of Nazis

By Scott Taylor

On 28 April approximately 250 people marched through the streets of Kiev, Ukraine to commemorate the 78th anniversary of the WW2 Waffen SS Division Galicia.

That’s right folks, hundreds of people gathered despite the threat of spreading the COVID-19 virus, to commemorate Ukrainian soldiers who took an oath of allegiance to Adolf Hitler and fought for Nazi Germany.

This parade drew an immediate backlash from Germany’s ambassador to Ukraine, Anka Feldhusen. She tweeted “Waffen SS units participated in the worst war crimes and the Holocaust during WW2. No volunteer organizations fighting and working for Ukraine today should be associated with them.”

This blatant display of Nazi glorification was also condemned by the Israeli ambassador in Kiev and the Israeli Foreign Ministry. Sadly, there was no such reaction from the Canadian embassy nor from the Canadian Armed Forces. Canada presently has over 200 military trainers assisting the Ukrainian armed forces in the face of Russian aggression.

For the regime in Kiev to not only allow a tribute to Hitler’s SS to take place, but to also provide the marchers with a police escort, flies in the face of all those Canadian soldiers who fought and died in WW2 to defeat the Nazi regime.

For the record, and before the apologists claim this event was an exercise in ‘free speech’, Ukraine has cancelled this year’s May 9 traditional celebration of Victory Day WW2 due to COVID19 concerns.

Ukrainians were prevented from gathering to celebrate the defeat of Hitler, but allowed to parade in commemoration of Ukrainians who volunteered to fight for the Nazis?

The U.S. State Department did not directly condemn the parade but in a statement to The Nation they noted “We welcome [Ukraine] President Zelensky’s strong statement condemning the march.” However, they added the comment that the U.S. State Department “continues to monitor and systematically refute a longstanding Russian disinformation campaign that conflates support for Ukrainian sovereignty with support for neo-Nazi and fascist ideals.”

Here is a little bit of free advice for those concerned about Russian disinformation: just put an end to parades and events that glorify Hitler’s Waffen SS.

While I can understand that Ukrainians are proud of their heritage, I cannot fathom why young nationalists seek to glorify those who took up arms to enforce the Nazi’s ideology? Yes, I understand that Stalin imposed ruthless measures against the people of Ukraine and that they suffered horribly under the Soviet regime.

However, the fact that Ukrainian men took up arms to fight the Red Army as members of the Waffen SS does not change the reality that Hitler’s Nazis perpetrated the Holocaust.

Of all the incredible accomplishments that Ukrainians have achieved throughout history – music, literature, cuisine, art etc, I cannot fathom why it is a flawed military unit that fought for Hitler, which these young Ukrainians have chosen to revere.

Formed in 1943, the SS Galicia Division only really fought one major engagement against the Soviets in the Battle of Brody in July 1944.

The SS Galicia was soundly defeated and it was subsequently relegated to fighting against partisans, first in Slovakia and then in Yugoslavia.

For those who would paint the SS Galicia volunteers as fighters for Ukraine’s independence, this theory cannot be justified in view of the fact they actually fought against civilian patriots in Slovakia and Slovenia to enforce Hitler’s Nazi occupation.

In the final days of the war, the SS Galicia changed their name to the 1st Ukrainian Division prior to surrendering to the allies in Austria.

After a lengthy internment in Italy, many of these Ukrainian SS veterans emigrated to Canada. There is actually a memorial erected to the memory of the SS Galicia division in Oakville, Ontario.

That said, it is estimated that over 40,000 Ukrainian Canadians served in the Canadian military during WW2, fighting to defeat Hitler.

It is those brave, patriotic Ukrainian- Canadians that Canada needs to remember. It will make it far easier for our government to publicly denounce any future Nazi-glorification in Ukraine.

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ON TARGET: MISGUIDED LOYALTY: MILITARY BRASS SUPPORTED SEX OFFENDER, NOT VICTIMS

By Scott Taylor

Last week yet another disturbing story surfaced regarding the military and sexual misconduct. A retired Special forces major told the CBC that he felt betrayed when senior military leaders provided glowing character references to the follow soldier who was convicted of sexually assaulting his wife.

The incident occurred in 2017 following the conviction of Major Jonathan Hamilton in a civilian court on six charges.

Prior to his sentencing hearing Hamilton’s defence lawyers received positive character reference letters from Major-General Pete Dawe, at the time deputy commander of special operation command, and Lieutenant- Colonel Scott McGregor on behalf of the Princess Patricia’s Canadian Light Infantry regiment.

Those letters from senior military leaders admittedly had an impact on Justice Larry O’Brien, the sentencing judge in Hamilton’s case. According to the transcript of the hearing, O’Brien said that Hamilton’s military superiors characterized him as “a man of great character and leadership before being engulfed in PTSD.”

In light of Hamilton’s distinguished service to his country, O’Brien sentenced him to three years probation rather than jail time.

On the surface this would not appear to be an unusual circumstance for a commanding officer and for the officer’s regiment to plead for leniency on behalf of a soldier who has proven himself on the battlefield.

However, contrary to the regimental assertion to Justice O’Brien that this case was an “isolated legal incident” it must be noted that Hamilton has since been sentenced to three years in custody for an unrelated sexual assault case.

What is truly perplexing is the fact that, in the first case, Hamilton’s victims were fellow members of the Canadian Armed Forces.

The crimes for which Hamilton was convicted involve breaking into a Kingston Ontario home in 2013 and sexually assaulting Annalise Schamuhn on two separate occasions.

He was also convicted of twice physically assaulting Kevin Schamuhn. The Schamuhns are now both retired from the military, but at the time of the incident Kevin was a major serving in the special forces, and like Hamilton, was a member of the PPCLI. Annalise served for 13 years as a logistics officer.

One can therefore easily understand the sense of betrayal Kevin Schamuhn must have felt when he and his wife were victimized, and both his commanding officer and his regimental officer showed support to his attacker.

Upon learning that the character reference letters were being submitted, Schamuhn confronted MGen Dawe and the PPCLI regimental colonel Jason Adair.

Despite Schamuhn’s plea for them to either rescind their letters or edit them to remove anything other than Hamilton’s professional qualifications, both letters were submitted unchanged.

“It made the feeling of betrayal much worse.” Schamuhn told the CBC. “This was the first time I asked for something that meant so much and we were left out to dry.”

Which brings us to the whole point of senior officers requesting lenience from a civilian judge in a sexual assault case because of PTSD developed through military service.

If a service member requires mental health care, then provide them with mental health care.

Suffering from PTSD should not be a literal “get out of jail free” card. Volunteering to serve in uniform should not automatically reduce punishment for a civilian crime.

In fact, like those in law enforcement, military members are trusted to be upholding of those values which they are sworn to protect.

In the Hamilton case he didn’t just violate a random victim, he assaulted a fellow soldier and his wife.

That the military brass chose to stand behind the perpetrator and not support the victim in this case is troubling.

However, it also needs to be remembered that those letters of character reference were submitted back in 2017.

In light of recent explosion of me-too sexual misconduct revelations ripping through the senior ranks of the Canadian military, there will not be many similar letters of character reference being submitted to support soldiers convicted of sex assault. And if there are, they won’t be worth the paper they are written on in the eyes of any judge.

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ON TARGET: The General Vance Saga: So Many Not-So-Secret-Secrets

The more bombshell revelations that drop in the military sexual misconduct scandal, the more one understands the scale of the complicity of those who have remained silent.

Last Thursday evening, the parliamentary Standing Committee on the Status of Women heard some shocking testimony from Major Kellie Brennan.

Arguably it was Brennan’s allegations against recently retired former Chief of the Defence Staff, General Jonathan Vance – revealed by journalist Mercedes Stephenson on Global News – that set the current military ‘me too’ phenom in motion.

Originally Brennan had wished to remain anonymous when she publicly alleged that she had participated in a lengthy extra-marital affair with General Vance, including during his five-year tenure as Canada’s top soldier.

However since the story first broke Brennan has brought forward many more damning details first through an exclusive Global News interview and most recently before the commons committee.

According to Brennan, during the course of her nearly twenty-year affair with Vance, many of her superior officers were well aware of the liaisons because she made a point of telling them.

She revealed that while they were both working in Toronto, her and Vance would have sex in his office and in his car. According to Brennan, the two slept together on 16 July 2015, the night before Vance assumed the post of CDS.

After sex that evening, Brennan claims that Vance read through the speech he was to give the following day in which he would stress the importance of stamping out sexual misconduct in the Canadian military.

She told Global News that after the first story broke and before her identity was public, Vance had called her and instructed her to lie to the Canadian Forces National Investigative Service (CFNIS) Investigators when they questioned her.

At the committee hearing she testified that she had provided the CFNIS detectives with the audio recordings of Vance allegedly instructing her to give a false statement.

Brennan also stated that Vance claimed to her that as former CDS he is ‘untouchable’ and that he ‘owns’ the CFNIS.

Last week’s big reveal at the hearings was Brennan’s claim that Vance is the father of two of her eight children and that he pays her no support.

For Journalists covering this story the part about Brennan raising eight children as a single parent was not news. The minute her identity was known a quick Google search unearthed an 8 May 2016 news story in the Ottawa Citizen entitled ‘Army of mom: Captain with 8 kids urges more child-care compensation for big families.’ Supporting her in this quest for additional child care funds was Conservative, MP Pierre Poilievre.

As the opposition critic of Treasury Board, President Scott Brison and her own local MP, Brennan realized that Poilievre was best positioned to help achieve her goal. That and the media coverage by the Citizen complete with a photo of Brennan and her eight children grouped around Poilievre in a local park.

The gist of Brennan’s plea was that in order for her to get promoted from Captain to Major she required professional training courses located outside of Ottawa.

At the time, Treasury Board guidelines only provided a $75 a day allowance per family and that was simply not enough to purchase care for eight kids then aged 16 months to 16 years.

Now Brennan reveals that two of those eight were fathered by Vance, who was the CDS at the time she took her tale to the Citizen. The Army of Mom story also noted that Brennan subsidized her military Captain’s reservist salary with a part-time real estate job.

It was earlier reported that in 2015, the CFNIS had investigated Vance for an alleged extra marital affair while he was stationed at NATO headquarters in Naples, Italy. Vance was cleared of any wrongdoing and subsequently married the alleged mistress, a U.S. JAG officer.

The Harper government subsequently named Vance as their CDS and his first task was to implement Operation Honour, the initiative to wipe out sexual misconduct in the CAF.

If Brennan’s allegations prove to be true – and to be fair, Vance has maintained he has done nothing wrong, including fathering any of Brennan’s children – there will be a lot of people that will have some explaining to do.

Vance would have had a top-level security clearance yet we are to believe that many people were aware of his affair with Brennan and our counter-intelligence folks saw and heard nothing for the past twenty years?

Impossible.

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Whats going on in the NDDN? The National Defence Committee All Political Parties Need to do better

By Military Women

Question: What do you think about everything that is going on right now in the National Defence Committee?

Answer: Every political party says it cares about ensuring the wellbeing of those serving in the military (and veterans)–but that sentiment isn’t always evident in these committee meetings. So, while the highly politicalized media storylines may keep shifting, from the perspective of serving and former military members the one point that hasn’t shifted is that ALL political parties can and need to do better. 

In case there are any readers not already aware, the Parliamentary Standing Committee on National Defence (NDDN) started a study into sexual misconduct in the Canadian Armed Forces mid-February.  The study was initially slated for three committee meetings, but strategically timed, laser-guided incoming media bombs have resulted in a continuation of those meetings. Spillover from NDDN is expected to soon reach into other committees such as Status of Women (FEWO) and Veterans Affairs (ACVA).

When one is discussing the need for improved federal government oversight mechanisms for Canada’s all volunteer military workforce, within a minority government situation, Canadians might have assumed that all political parties would work together towards achieving that commonly held goal. Surely, the wellbeing of women and men in uniform would be the one time and place that doing the right thing would trump individual and party political agendas. Unfortunately, that assumption has not yet proven to be correct.

Elizabeth May always elevates any political discussion she’s involved in, so kudos to her for her involvement of late in the NDDN; however, let’s face it, supporting women in the military has never been a priority for the Green Party.

The signature strength of the NDP party is its support of “the people” and yet there is no NDP call for unionization of the military. If unions are good for the RCMP and several European militaries, why not the Canadian military too? 

Québec is home to over 20% of Canadian veterans and the Bloc is usually keen to highlight and amplify that fact and support francophone voices. But we continue to watch as courageous Francophone women such as Stéphanie Raymond and Marie-Claude Gagnon take on the military system alone.

The Liberal Party says all the right things about women and intersectionality, and it did introduce gender-based analysis and named the first ever Ambassador for Women, Peace and Security (Jacqueline O’Neill).  But, the Liberal’s significant efforts to increase the number of women in the military to 25% continues to fall short. One has to be willing to boldly address the core issues behind CAF’s “diversity and inclusion” recruitment and retention woes. This includes identifying and neutralizing the dinosaurs still roaming amongst us that come from all political stripes, Liberals included. 

That leaves us with the Conservatives. While in uniform, military members are apolitical. We vow to serve Canada and Canadians faithfully and fully regardless of which political party governs. However, as per all law and order-related professions, there tends to be a natural alignment between soldiers and conservative values. For example, when a veteran recently ran for party leadership, the Conservative party successfully played to those values to help grow its constituency. The Conservative party has successfully solicited financial support and campaign volunteers through military and veteran social circles, charities and organizations—officially and unofficially. As a result, many veterans, including from the highest military ranks, have now, often for the first time, become politically active.

So where does this leave us? Instead of everyone working together to ensure the wellbeing of military members (and veterans), individual military-related vendettas and agendas are being intermixed with opportunistic party politics at the NDDN. It’s hard not to feel exploited.

The Australian Chief of Defence Staff, Gen Campbell, recently commented that sexual misconduct within the military really comes down to two problems—abuse of power and lack of respect for the individual human being. The failure of Canada’s MPs and political parties to prioritize military members’ needs for federal workplace safety conditions feels like another layer of abuse (of parliamentary powers) and disrespect for those in uniform.

Being in service means putting the mission first and self second.  Ensuring all Canadian military members a welcoming and inclusive workspace is part of the parliamentarian’s mission to achieve. We do our job, we need parliamentarians to do their job.  Members of the NDDN, we deserve your help. Together we can fix these problems. Let’s get on with it.

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ON TARGET: Afghanistan: Three Decades of Futility?

By Scott Taylor

Last week, U.S. President Joe Biden finally admitted that the war in Afghanistan is unwinnable. Starting in May the remaining American troops - roughly 3,500 - will begin pulling out of their bases in Afghanistan.

By this September 11th, the 20th anniversary of the 9-11 terror attack that spawned the U.S. 2001 invasion of Afghanistan, the last U.S. soldiers will be repatriated home.

The Taliban are celebrating this troop pull-out as their military victory.

For the past two decades, the U.S. have trained, equipped and bankrolled the Afghan forces. Technically this force of nearly 400,000 have been responsible for battling the Taliban since 2014. However without the martial ‘stiffening’ supplied by U.S. special forces and the availability of American air support, the Afghan security forces are no match for the Taliban.

Despite their numbers, these Afghan military units are ill-disciplined and demoralized. They don their uniforms seeking to survive in order to collect their U.S. funded pay cheques, whereas Taliban insurgents are willing to kill themselves in suicide attacks.

Analysts predict that the corrupt U.S.-installed regime of President Ashraf Ghani could hold out in some major urban centers for at most a handful of years. Others predict Ghani’s power will be overthrown as soon as the wheels are up on the last U.S. military evacuation flight from Kabul.

Canada participated in combat operations in Afghanistan from 2002 until December 2011. Our troops continued to deploy to Afghanistan as trainers for the Afghan security forces until the spring of 2014.

When the mission concluded, media outlets began to ask whether or not Canada’s sacrifice had been “worth it?”

The butcher’s bill was steep with 158 soldiers slain, 2047 wounded and injured and thousands more veterans suffering from the unseen mental wounds of PTSD.

The dollar figure spent has yet to be fully tallied but it is estimated that when the long term treatment of our injured veterans is factored into the equation, the war in Afghanistan will have cost taxpayers $22 billion.

On the plus side of the ledger there was not a lot to show in the way of meaningful progress.

At its zenith, the NATO led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) of which Canada was one of more than 50 members – boasted a force in excess of 130,000 troops.

These foreign troops were supported by the most modern air force that money can buy.

Despite that overwhelming force, the Taliban continued to resist.

Their continued existence meant that any progress such as the building of schools was temporary at best.

These facts did not deter the war-mongering cabal of media cheerleaders who vehemently opposed Canada terminating our mission to Afghanistan back in 2014.

Their argument was that we needed to see the job through to its eventual victorious conclusion. They harrumphed with indignity at this ‘insult’ to our martial legacy.

Ludicrous comparisons were made to the Second World War and how we didn’t simply pull out of the alliance before Germany and Japan were defeated.

Well, now that Biden has pulled the plug on the U.S. military commitment, we can be certain that Canada will not be missing out on any victory parade.

The Americans and NATO have lost the war.

What is perhaps the worst element of this sad saga is that the senior leadership in the U.S. knew they were in an unwinnable war from the outset – and they chose instead to lie to the American public.

This was categorically revealed in a series of media reports in December 2019. The Washington Post obtained a set of internal documents compiled by the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR), through the Freedom of Information Act.

These documents clearly illustrated that the “new Pentagon papers describe explicit and sustained efforts by the U.S. government to deliberately mislead the public.”

Even after the news broke regarding the ‘Afghanistan papers’ as they came to be known, the U.S. did not immediately cut their losses.

Now that they have, perhaps even the most hawkish of our military pundits can ask themselves, was Canada’s contribution worth it?

The answer is ‘no’.

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ON TARGET: General Confusion: Vaccine Roll-Out In Canada A Bust

By Scott Taylor

The repetitious routine that has become the pandemic norm gives one the false sense that society has been put on hold. However one need only contrast where we were just four months ago to get a sense of how quickly the public sentiment can change.

Back in late November 2020, after more than eight months of lock downs, masks and social distancing, we were given the uplifting news that a vaccine had finally been developed to counter COVID-19.

We realized that this was not the beginning of the end, but it was the end of this beginning as a light was now visible at the end of a heretofore dark tunnel.

Attention was then turned to the massive challenge of actually distributing and administering the millions of vaccine doses once they became available.

In the U.S. President Donald Trump announced that General Gustave Perna would be in charge of Operation Warp Speed which would entail the U.S. military assisting with the logistics of vaccine distribution.

Canada followed suit with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau naming Major-General Dany Fortin to head the national operation center for national vaccine distribution. Fortin works through the Public Health Agency of Canada with support from the Canadian Armed Forces.

At that juncture general officers enjoyed an almost mythical reputation and public adoration: Every province soon wanted one for their own vaccine own task force.

In Alberta they were fortunate to have recently retire Lieutenant-General Paul Wynnk on staff as a senior provincial bureaucrat.

In Ontario - Canada’s largest province and therefore facing the steepest distribution challenge – Premier Doug Ford appointed former Chief of Defence Staff General Rick Hillier to head up the vaccine roll out.

“Rolling out and distributing this vaccine, it will be a massive logistical challenge.” said Ford. “Without the right planning it risks becoming a logistical nightmare … we need the discipline that only a general can bring to the task.”

Hillier, the charismatic former top soldier was confident in his ability to get the job done. “The military gives you incredible experiences and leadership in putting those ‘big muscle’ movements together,” Hillier told reporters at the time, adding “It’s all about the fact that I want to do my duty and serve the people of Ontario as best I can.”

While caught up in his patriotic fervor, Hillier also invoked the memory of the Canadian warrior spirit that carried the day on the WWI battlefield of Vimy Ridge and on the beaches of Normandy 1944.

This no doubt puzzled the average Ontario citizen who simply wanted to know when they could expect to get their COVID-19 shot, and instead got a Canadian military history lesson.

As events have developed, the nationwide rollout has been anything but a clear cut victory, and Ontario in particular has received one of the worst provincial rankings.

According to a recent assessment by Dr. Brian Conway, medical director of Vancouver’s Infectious Disease Center, Hillier’s task force did not get a top grade. “Ontario’s really had a scattered approach, and it’s an approach that’s been marred by a changing overall strategy at the central level but then also trying to deploy things at the level of 34 different public health units,” Conway told Global News. It was also noted that the distribution to date has not been even across the province and that the real test has yet to begin as the vaccines are only now starting to become available in large quantities.

Premier Ford insists that Hillier has done a great job, but the Ontario government did not extend the former Generals order-in-council $20,000 a month contract beyond the original end date of 31 March 2021.

Hillier has since left the post, and has boastfully declared his mission accomplished. At a 23 March keynote speech to the Canadian Construction Association Hillier recounted his success.

“I used every leadership tool and lever I had to pull together the disparate pieces of the Ontario Health Care System to bring it into one coherent operation for Ontario’s vaccine program,” Hillier told the audience. He went on to explain that a leader’s actions, words and values must align. “If any of these is off sync you lose credibility instantly. And it’s only a matter of time before they find some other leader…” said Hillier prophetically.

Dr. Homer Tien is now the head of Ontario’s Vaccine Task Force.

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Les Peate: An Old Soldier Has Faded Away

by Scott Taylor

In the early hours of Friday 26 February, 2021 we received the sad news that Les Peate had passed away the previous afternoon. We were notified by the Peate family, but for the past three decades we have been proud to consider Les Peate as a much loved member of the Esprit de Corps family. Peate joined our writing team almost from the outset of us launching the monthly version in May 1991. 

We soon discovered there was almost no part of the Canadian defence community to which Peate was not somehow connected. He had fought in the Korean War with the British army but then subsequently served for 16 years in the Canadian Forces. 

He dedicated his time to the Korea Veteran’s Association (KVA), and ended up serving a term as their National President.

Peate was also: a devoted member of the Royal Canadian Legion, a Liaison officer to the Army Cadet League, a volunteer at the Canadian War Museum and an eager participant with the Memory Project Speakers’ Forum. Peate was the last surviving member of a team that we unoffically dubbed ‘The Old Guard’. This was Esprit

de Corps’ original historical writing team which included fellow historians Strome Galloway and Norm Shannon, both of whom were WW2 veterans of the RCR and RCAF respectively.

Peate initially contributed to Esprit de Corps, monthly features on the Canadian military involvement in the Korean War. These short stories were eventually compiled into a chronological account of that conflict which was released as Peate’s 2005 bestselling book The War That Wasn’t: Canadians in Korea. Following the completion of that book Peate admitted that after writing 168 stories, over 14 years, covering a conflict that lasted only 3 years, he had run out of new Korean War material. 

Instead, Peate began producing a monthly Trivia section and what would become one of our most popular monthly segments The Old Guard Update. In these columns Peate would bring readers up to date on all the latest developments in the world of Canadian veterans. While often holding the VAC government officials’ feet to the fire with his writings, Peate was still held in high esteem by the VAC bureaucracy.

Les Peate leaves behind Joyce his loving and devoted wife of 71 years. For those who were blessed to know them, they were truly a tight team – a dynamic duo. At Esprit

de Corps we did not regard them individually, but rather collectively they were simply known to us as “Les & Joyce”. While Les contributed his writing skills and extensive military experience, Joyce spent years volunteering her bookkeeping skills to assist with the magazine’s administration. The two Peates also consistently volunteered for our monthly mail–out sessions when we used to manually affix the labels to every subscribers’ copy. 

On behalf of the entire extended Esprit de Corps family I wish to offer Joyce and the Peate family our sincere condolences on the loss of a truly great man. He was a soldier to the bitter end. He is gone but will never be forgotten.

Rest In Peace Leslie Peate.

Les Peate In His Own Words

Editor’s Note: This bio passage was written by Les Peate about himself (circa 2006), and it clearly reveals both his humility and humour.

Les Peate’s military career began when, as an army cadet, he was poised to prevent a German invasion of his homeland, armed with an 1880’s Martini-Enfield carbine (but no ammo). The success of this was evident as the Nazis were obviously deterred from invading Britain. Later Les joined the British army, perhaps his most notable exploit being to pass out on his first Buckingham Palace guard. He later served with no particular distinction as an infantryman in the Far East and later in Korea.

Following his release he became a “bobby” in England for a couple of years until, lured by the high pay he remembered from his Canadian contacts in Korea, he joined the Canadian Army in 1954, serving for 16 years in the Canadian Provost Corps, the Royal Canadian Regiment and eventually the Canadian Intelligence Corps.

After leaving the Regular Force in 1970 he worked with Employment and Immigration Canada until retiring in 1992.The last 10 years were spent in Emergency Planning. He also spent 15 years in the Reserves (CIC) finally hanging up his uniform (the tie and socks of which still fitted) in 1986. Since 1992 he has been active with the Korea Veterans Association (of which he is National Vice-President), as a Vice-Chairman of the National Council of Veterans Associations in Canada, and as a member of a number of committees and working groups on veterans’ issues. He is also a contributor on the Korean War, veterans’ issues, and other matters to the Canadian Military Magazine,

Esprit de Corps. He is partnered by a patient spouse (Joyce) who also helps out at this magazine, and is a slave to a ginger cat.

He has recently become a published author with his book The War That Wasn’t: Canadians in Korea detailing the lives of Canadian soldiers in the trenches of Korea.