Kandahar Supplies

The Edmonton Journal has an article about the effort involved in managing all the supplies needed by the CF's troops in Kandahar.

At a brisk pace through a massive warehouse on the Kandahar Airfield, Ward points at different crates and boxes stacked to the high steel roof.

"It's everything under the sun, from foot powder to everything I'm wearing, to weapons, Head and Shoulders shampoo, toothpaste, toothbrushes," he says, barely scratching the long list.

"The National Support Element is not the sexy part of the fight, but it's highly important. We're all about the beans and the bullets."

A Fence for HMCS Carleton?

The Ottawa Citizen has an article about the controversy about putting a fence up around HMCS Carleton, Ottawa's Naval Reserve unit.

"If we fenced all around it would really take away from the façade," said Cooper. "We don't want people to bike by and think it's a POW compound." But, he said, in this era of heightened security, the ultimate decision will be made by the military police.

Oldest NATO soldier in combat

The Edmonton Journal has a story about Cpl. Eric Hjalmarson. He joined the Canadian Forces at the age of 49 and is now, at 58, serving as an armoured vehicle gunner in Afghanistan.

Army.ca also has a post about him, this one with a picture.

Military Historians in Afghanistan

The Toronto Star has an article about military historians who work for the Canadian Department of National Defence. In addition to working in the archives, the historians travel to operations in places like Afghanistan to make sure that war diaries and other records are properly maintained and collected.

Navy considers swapping crews in Arctic

The Free Press has an article that says the Canadian Navy is considering swapping out crews mid-mission for ships on arctic patrols. The Canadian Coast Guard already does this.

CF anti-NBC special ops unit

The Legion magazine has a somewhat sensational article about the Canadian Joint Incident Response Unit. This is the special forces unit that responds to nuclear, biological and chemical incidents on behalf of the Canadian Forces.

As I say the article is a bit sensationalistic but it does contain some interesting bits of information.

For example, one of the unit's member says that she is the first woman in Canada's special forces and that she has only been a member for two years.

Master Corporal M. is one of the decontamination specialists. Her boss introduces her as the first female operator in Canadian Special Operations Forces Command, but for this two-year veteran of the unit, labels of any kind aren’t really to her taste.

CF take out Taliban mortar team

The Stars and Stripes has an article about Canadian soldiers attacking a Taliban mortar team in Afghanistan. The article is a perfect example of the sort of thing one never sees in Canadian news.

Windsor Naval Reserve Division thinking of moving

The Windsor Star reports that HMCS Hunter, the local Naval Reserve Division, is considering moving house.

The Department of National Defence is negotiating with the Windsor Port Authority to lease the former Mill Cove Marina lands at the foot of Mill Street to build a new headquarters for the local naval reserve division.

CF drops donkey experiment in Afghanistan

The Halifax Chronicle Herald reports that the Canadian Forces have called off an experiment to use donkeys as, well, beasts of burden in Afghanistan.

The hope was the donkey,, which can survive with little water and carry nearly 160 kilograms of gear, would be able to help.

But the animal didn’t live up to the billing that has made it popular with United States and British soldiers, who use pack animals to support special operations in the mountains.

The Americans studied the use of camels, dogs and mules — but the donkey came out tops in the ratings.

Cdn Navy bans beards at sea

The Canadian Navy is banning beards at sea. Sailors will still be able to wear them on shore assignments.

“I know this decision may be difficult to accept, but it was not made lightly,” says Command Chief Petty Officer Robert Cleroux. “It was absolutely necessary for operational reasons. Facial hair, beards in particular, prevent a proper face-to-face-piece seal when wearing respiratory protection systems. When the argument boils down to safety versus tradition, the safety of our sailors must remain paramount in all of our decisions.”

CF Doctor / Diver retires after 40 years

The Ottawa Citizen has an article about Commander David Carpenter who is retiring from the Canadian Navy after 40 years service.

He wears the badge of a navy diver. The navy doesn't hand them out to people who learn from books. He was 34 when he decided to add hyperbaric medicine to his list of specialties. He went to diving school in Esquimalt, B.C. The waters of the North Pacific are bitterly cold and every day at diving school started with a swim of about a kilometre. They wore wetsuits and if any man failed to finish the course in 20 minutes, everybody had to work in the cold water without gloves for the rest of the day.

Dr. Carpenter decided he would never be the reason for his much younger classmates losing their gloves, and he kept that promise to himself.

Canada's eye on the Atlantic

The Halifax Chronicle Herald has an article about the operations room in Halifax that monitors Canada's east coast.

They work "24-7" out of secure Halifax offices and one day may ward off something as massive as a terrorist attack or as minor as a small oil leak from a visiting ship.

CF info war in Afghanistan

The Toronto Star has an article about a planned Canadian Forces effort this summer to disseminate information to Afghan mobile phones.

Canada plans to boost its propaganda reach by tapping into mobile phones in Afghanistan to send text messages, run contests and drive listeners to its military-run, Pashto-language radio station.

CF air operations in Afghanistan

The Torch has a post summarising Canadian air operations in Kandahar.

CF diver passes course at 52

The Lookout reports that 52-year-old naval reservist OS Robert MacDonald has become the oldest person to pass the Ships Divers Course.

Most of the way to Afghanistan

The Whig Standard has an article about Camp Mirage, a Canadian base in a well known secret location near Afghanistan.

Staffed by about 300 people - 200 of whom are military -and with an annual budget of $19 million, the camp has dispatched nearly 5,000 missions since being established in 2001, carrying 150,000 passengers and 23 million kilograms of cargo.

Sailing on HMCS Fredericton

Te Daily Gleaner has a story written by one of their reporters who went on a trip on HMCS Fredericton. The article gives an idea of what it's like to live on a Canadian warship.

Batteries for the infantry

The Toronto Star has an article about the battery requirements of the Canadian infantry in Afghanistan and the efforts to develop a replacement.

The average infantry soldier on a three-day mission in Kandahar carries up to 40 spare AA batteries. That rises to more than 900 batteries for a platoon, 3,200 for a company and 6,500 for a full battle group of about 1,000 soldiers. The cost of equipping all the 2,800 Canadians soldiers in Afghanistan with enough juice to power their equipment for a standard six-month deployment, approximately 750,000 batteries weighing about 14 tonnes, can run up to $1 million.

CF to map Afghanistan

The Canadian Press reports that the Canadian Forces are to produce a digital map of southern Afghanistan. The Air Force will use Aurora reconnaissance aircraft which are normally used for maritime patrol.

The article includes these stats:

According to statistics provided Monday by Canada's air wing, during the first three months of this year its Chinooks and Griffons in Afghanistan flew nearly 4,000 passengers and about 90,000 kilograms of cargo.

The Hercules transports, which are normally based at Trenton, Ont., moved 38,000 passengers last year and lifted nearly five million kilograms of cargo.

CF to deply to Caribbean and Latin America

The Ottawa Citizen reports that 30 Canadian Forces medical personal will be deploying with the US Navy on a medical mission to Latin America and the Caribbean.