*** They do a great job every single time. God bless them for keeping us safe. MS ***
FROM: http://www.thestar.com/news/canada/afghanmission/article/824026--canadian-army-well-prepared-for-future-roles-thanks-to-afghan-mission-top-commander-says
OTTAWA – Canada’s future military engagements around the globe will be complicated and dangerous, warns the head of the army, suggesting that the image of calm United Nations’ peacekeeping missions are a thing of the past.
But the army is ready to tackle those challenges, thanks to its experiences in Afghanistan, some of them bloody, says Lt-Gen. Andrew Leslie, the chief of the land staff.
“I’m not aware of too many UN missions which are like Cyprus of many years ago,” he said in an interview Tuesday.
“We’ve got threats ranging from international narco-terrorists to the curse of war lords who seek to acquire power to people who are not the least bit shy about using (improvised explosive devices) to cause and sow chaos and confusion,” Leslie said.
“The capabilities we have acquired, the lessons that we’ve learned, sometimes paying blood to learn them, I think will serve us in good stead where ever we go next,” Leslie said.
After four years as head of Canada’s army, Leslie is moving to a new posting. But as he prepared to turn over command, he reflected on how the mission in southern Afghanistan has transformed the army.
He took command of the army in June, 2006, just as the Canadian Forces was engaging in its toughest mission in decades – the battle for Kandahar. Now as that mission gets set to end in 2011, the army is in the best shape it’s been in years - bigger, better equipped and boasting a corps of battle-hardened troops, he said.
“The equipment that the people of Canada have been willing to buy for their army has been nothing less than staggering. And the money they’re willing to invest in training their soldiers has been a Godsend,” Leslie said.
Billions of dollars have been pumped into buying new equipment to help soldiers fight and move on the battlefield, everything from tanks, artillery pieces and helicopters to night vision gear and personal protection gear.
He says the army will leave Afghanistan “well respected for its combat abilities, better able to operate under complex circumstances, and it doesn’t get any more complicated than in Afghanistan.
“Canada now has an enormously competent, well-equipped, fully-manned army,” he said.
Thanks to those investments – the army budget is up some 50 per cent in four years -- and the warm glow of publicity that has surrounded the military in recent years, he said young people are knocking down the doors of recruiting offices to enlist.
“We have thousands of young Canadians who are joining to serve their country because of, I think, the sense of pride that the nation has for what their soldiers are doing,” Leslie said.
As a result, the army is now at nearly at full strength with 23,000 full-time troops and another 23,000 reservists.
Leslie spoke in his 19th floor office at defence headquarters. He has already started to empty his quarters and boxes were on the floor and pictures were off the wall.
Earlier this year, Leslie had been touted as commander of the peacekeeping mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo, a posting that Ottawa declined. He betrays no disappointment at not getting the job, saying “I go where I’m told, as soldiers do.”
And while Leslie’s name has long been in the mix as a contender for the military’s top job as chief of defence staff, he also concedes his next job as Chief of Transformation could be his last in uniform.
“It might well be. That’s up to the government to decide,” Leslie said.
In his new job, his focus will shift from the frontline to the bottom line with an eye to making the Canadian Forces more efficient at a time of spending restraint. The goal is to reduce overhead and try and get more uniformed personnel “back out in battalions and regiments and ships and servicing the flight lines,” he said.
“Where can we shift things to get better output for Canadians?” he said.
Showing posts with label Canadian Forces deployment. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Canadian Forces deployment. Show all posts
Wednesday, June 16, 2010
Friday, December 25, 2009
PRAISE FOR CANADA'S EFFORTS IN AFGHANISTAN
FROM: http://terrorism-online.blogspot.com/2009/12/mcchrystal-praises-canadas-afghanistan.html
By Gerry J. Gilmore
American Forces Press Service
Dec. 17, 2009 - The demonstrated bravery and resolve of the nearly 3,000 Canadian forces serving in Afghanistan reflects the commitment necessary to achieve success there, the commander of U.S. and international forces in Afghanistan said in the Canadian capital yesterday. Canadian forces' efforts in mentoring Afghan security forces and their work in infrastructure development projects in southern Afghanistan's Kandahar province are greatly appreciated, Army Gen. Stanley A. McChrystal said at the Conference of Defence Associations Institute in Ottawa.
"The courage and determination of Canadian forces are an inspiration to our coalition," McChrystal said, noting that Canada, with about 2,800 forces in Afghanistan, one of the 44 coalition nations that have devoted considerable resources to the effort. Canada has lost 133 soldiers, three civilian employees and a diplomat supporting operations in Afghanistan.
Though challenging, the mission is Afghanistan "is achievable," McChrystal said. The Afghans, he added, are determined to defeat the Taliban and view coalition forces as partners in that endeavor.
The coalition's core strategy "is to partner with Afghanistan to provide them the time and space to assume their own security, and to shape their own future," McChrystal explained. "We're going to do this by disrupting and degrading the Taliban's capacity, denying them access to the Afghan population and strengthening Afghan security forces."
President Barack Obama directed an extra 30,000 U.S. troops be deployed to Afghanistan in coming months. NATO countries pledged to provide 7,000 additional forces.
"With the decisions made recently by President Obama and other members of the coalition, we have forces moving forward now," McChrystal said. "By this time next year, I believe we'll have indicators across the country – hard reflections, metrics – that will make it clear to us that the insurgency will be defeated."
By the summer of 2011 "we can make that same progress clear to the Afghan people, that the insurgency will not win," McChrystal said.
Canada's contributions in Afghanistan "have in some respects foreshadowed how our capability will be employed in the months ahead with the integration of civilian and military expertise," McChrystal said.
For example, the general said, the primary mission focus is to separate the insurgents from the Afghan people, particularly in the south of the country.
"And, that's where the bulk, of course, of the Canadian forces have been," McChrystal said.
Some Canadian forces serve as mentors to Afghan security forces, McChrystal said, while others employ different skills in development efforts performed by provincial reconstruction teams, which work on development initiatives that provide jobs and education that advance prospects of long-term economic growth for the people of Afghanistan, McChrystal said.
"Canada has made a particular investment in education, with the expansion and repair of 50 schools in Kandahar," McChrystal said. The Canadians also oversee programs, he added, that train teachers and increase female Afghan enrollment and literacy. Canadian engineers also are helping to renovate the 50-year-old Dahla Dam, the largest dam in Kandahar province, and the second-largest in Afghanistan. The dam is about 21 miles north of Kandahar City. When the project is completed, it's expected to double the amount of irrigated land in the region.
Afghanistan has plenty of water, McChrystal said, but it lacks the ability to transport the water where it is needed for agriculture. With proper water management, Afghanistan can become "an absolute net exporter of food," he said.
The general emphasized commitment as the key component to achieving success in Afghanistan.
"Increased capability translates to credibility in the minds of Afghans," McChrystal said. "They want to know that our intentions are to help them." Delivering on promised projects will provide that credibility, he added.
Meanwhile, the commitment displayed by coalition nations has been key, McChrystal said. "And that resolve will be critical in the months ahead," he told the group.
*** What do you expect from the best trained army in the world? A sharp snap of a salute is hereby in order. _\ MS ***
By Gerry J. Gilmore
American Forces Press Service
Dec. 17, 2009 - The demonstrated bravery and resolve of the nearly 3,000 Canadian forces serving in Afghanistan reflects the commitment necessary to achieve success there, the commander of U.S. and international forces in Afghanistan said in the Canadian capital yesterday. Canadian forces' efforts in mentoring Afghan security forces and their work in infrastructure development projects in southern Afghanistan's Kandahar province are greatly appreciated, Army Gen. Stanley A. McChrystal said at the Conference of Defence Associations Institute in Ottawa.
"The courage and determination of Canadian forces are an inspiration to our coalition," McChrystal said, noting that Canada, with about 2,800 forces in Afghanistan, one of the 44 coalition nations that have devoted considerable resources to the effort. Canada has lost 133 soldiers, three civilian employees and a diplomat supporting operations in Afghanistan.
Though challenging, the mission is Afghanistan "is achievable," McChrystal said. The Afghans, he added, are determined to defeat the Taliban and view coalition forces as partners in that endeavor.
The coalition's core strategy "is to partner with Afghanistan to provide them the time and space to assume their own security, and to shape their own future," McChrystal explained. "We're going to do this by disrupting and degrading the Taliban's capacity, denying them access to the Afghan population and strengthening Afghan security forces."
President Barack Obama directed an extra 30,000 U.S. troops be deployed to Afghanistan in coming months. NATO countries pledged to provide 7,000 additional forces.
"With the decisions made recently by President Obama and other members of the coalition, we have forces moving forward now," McChrystal said. "By this time next year, I believe we'll have indicators across the country – hard reflections, metrics – that will make it clear to us that the insurgency will be defeated."
By the summer of 2011 "we can make that same progress clear to the Afghan people, that the insurgency will not win," McChrystal said.
Canada's contributions in Afghanistan "have in some respects foreshadowed how our capability will be employed in the months ahead with the integration of civilian and military expertise," McChrystal said.
For example, the general said, the primary mission focus is to separate the insurgents from the Afghan people, particularly in the south of the country.
"And, that's where the bulk, of course, of the Canadian forces have been," McChrystal said.
Some Canadian forces serve as mentors to Afghan security forces, McChrystal said, while others employ different skills in development efforts performed by provincial reconstruction teams, which work on development initiatives that provide jobs and education that advance prospects of long-term economic growth for the people of Afghanistan, McChrystal said.
"Canada has made a particular investment in education, with the expansion and repair of 50 schools in Kandahar," McChrystal said. The Canadians also oversee programs, he added, that train teachers and increase female Afghan enrollment and literacy. Canadian engineers also are helping to renovate the 50-year-old Dahla Dam, the largest dam in Kandahar province, and the second-largest in Afghanistan. The dam is about 21 miles north of Kandahar City. When the project is completed, it's expected to double the amount of irrigated land in the region.
Afghanistan has plenty of water, McChrystal said, but it lacks the ability to transport the water where it is needed for agriculture. With proper water management, Afghanistan can become "an absolute net exporter of food," he said.
The general emphasized commitment as the key component to achieving success in Afghanistan.
"Increased capability translates to credibility in the minds of Afghans," McChrystal said. "They want to know that our intentions are to help them." Delivering on promised projects will provide that credibility, he added.
Meanwhile, the commitment displayed by coalition nations has been key, McChrystal said. "And that resolve will be critical in the months ahead," he told the group.
*** What do you expect from the best trained army in the world? A sharp snap of a salute is hereby in order. _\ MS ***
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