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.”

US Special Forces to get high tech uniforms

Danger Room has an article about US Special Forces adopting some of the technology developed in the cancelled Land Warrior.

The remnants of the Land Warrior project were offloaded on the “Manchu” soldiers of the 4/9 infantry battalion in Iraq, who stripped down the package and sharpened its features. It worked so well, an entire Army brigade was equipped with the ensembles, and just shipped off to Afghanistan. Then the Pentagon approved a request by a special forces commander at Ft. Bragg, N.C. to get the improved Land Warrior, called the Ground Soldier Ensemble, tested and ready to outfit a brigade in Iraq by 2010.

Older recruits in US Army

The New York Times has an update on older recruits since the US Army raised it maximum enlistment age to 42.

The Army recruits about 80,000 soldiers a year, and the older recruits are having an impact even on basic training, Army officers say. At classes here, as many as one in seven soldiers are over 35, and many drill sergeants now look to the older soldiers as mentors, or proxy disciplinarians.

Staff Sgt. Arron Barnes, Fort Sill’s drill sergeant of the year in 2009, said the older recruits tended to bring technical skills and maturity, were easier to instruct and were often more committed than teenage soldiers.

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.

SAS have parachuted in Iraq

The Telegraph reports that the SAS have used parachutes on operations in Iraq.

On at least a dozen occasions SAS soldiers using BT80 parachutes jumped from the back of a Hercules aircraft at around 15,000ft. After steering for several miles, they landed silently close to insurgent strongholds on an area the size of a football pitch.

The troops of up 12 men then quietly made their way on foot either to begin an operation or set up a covert observation post where they would mount electronic devices linked to voice and facial recognition software to spy on insurgents.

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.

SAS banned from RAF Puma helicopters

The Times reports that the RAF have "banned" the SAS from riding on its Puma helicopters, apparently because the SAS commanders encourage the pilots to fly dangerously.

They flew so close to the ground — even when the situation did not require it — that there would have been no time to make corrections had a fault occurred.

According to the inquiry, nobody in the RAF has felt confident enough to oppose the demands of the SAS men for high-risk manoeuvres.

US Air Force school for UAV pilots

The LA Times has an article about a US Air Force school that trains drone pilots.

Until recently, pilots would work on the Predators and Reapers, then return to their assigned aircraft. But the Air Force would like officers to make a career out of flying unmanned craft and become experts at operating the drones.

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.

Aussie soldiers asked to buy own life insurance

David Pugliese's Defence Watch reports that Australian soldiers being sent to Afghanistan are being advised by their government to buy their own life insurance.

Obit: SBS commander

The Telegraph has the obituary of Colonel Richard Pickup who commanded the British Special Boat Service in Afghanistan.

The British government's response to 9/11 was to launch Operation Veritas, an attempt to deny al-Qaeda its Afghan base. Two months later Pickup was in the leading aircraft which landed unannounced at the former Soviet airbase in Bagram, which was being strongly contested by thousands of government fighters and the anti-Taliban Northern Alliance, led by Uzbek warlords.

Although vastly outnumbered, Pickup and his 100 men held on for a day and a night. This infuriated both contending armies, who were insulted by a fourth British invasion in two centuries; it also exasperated the American army's large Delta Force, which had planned to arrive first.

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.

60 year old Vietnam vet killed in Iraq

The Telegraph reports that Major Steven Hutchison who was killed recently in Iraq at the age of 60 is now the oldest american serviceman to die there. Hutchison had only recently re-joined the military.

Obit: RAF pilot who tried to escape in Nazi plane

The Telegraph has the obituary of Flight Lieutenant Walter Morison. While a POW during WWII Morison tried to escape from Germany by stealing a Nazi plane.

New British Patrol Vehicle

The BBC has an article, with video about the new British patrol vehicle the Jackal 2.

US Navy Patrol Boats

The Hampton Roads Pilot has an article about the US Navy's mid sized patrol craft which are used to patrol the Persian Gulf.

Pierside, the 170-foot patrol crafts cut a sleek and imposing profile, with several gun mounts and twin .50-caliber guns on either side. The ships were originally designed to carry Navy SEALs into coastal water and rivers, but the special warfare community replaced them about 10 years ago.

On the verge of Navy extinction, they found new life after 9/11. Since early in the Iraq war, the squadron has been part of a task force guarding Iraq's two major offshore oil platforms, which provide roughly 90 percent of the country's income.

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.

How hard was the shot?

Slate has an article about the difficult of the sniper shots made by US Navy SEALS when they shot 3 pirates holding a merchant ship captain in a lifeboat.

The short answer is: not very hard if you are a SEAL.

Followup: The Hampton-Roads Pilot has a related article about SEAL sniper training. It points out that today's SEALs are very experienced.