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Update on the DND’s Pain-free Interview with RCN’s AOPS Budget Cuts CF Ombudsman e espritdecorps CANADIAN MILITARY VOLUME 21 ISSUE 3 $3.95 CANSEC ‘14: FOCUS ON THE FUTURE ARMY April 2014 Issue $3.95 Cdn / $4.50 US Display until 6 May 2014 FATHERS OF CONFEDERATION Publications Mail # 40069149 Return undeliverable Canadian addresses to Circulation Dept. 204-1066 Somerset St. W. Ottawa ON K1Y 4T3 AFGHANISTAN: WAS IT WORTH IT? april 2014 espritdecorps 1 espritdecorps.ca METTRUM NEW AD COMING 2 Volume 21 Issue 3 COMMENT Scott Taylor publisher 4ON TARGET Disgraced ex-general Volume 21 Issue 3 Publisher Manager sheds light on current Scott Taylor Julie Simoneau situation in Afghanistan Senior Writer Circulation David Pugliese Kim Davis ONE STORY THAT crept into the news for 38 days in an Afghan prison. He was Columnist last month but garnered little lasting quietly released last Wednesday after Michael Nickerson attention was that of disgraced former GardaWorld presumably paid a sizable Contributing Editors Brigadier-General Daniel Ménard. fine. Les Peate, Norman Shannon Most Canadians will recall that Ménard While this incident could be viewed with Journalism Interns was relieved of command in Kandahar in smug amusement because aespri disgraced tdeMegancorps Brush, Laurel Sallie 2010 and subsequently court-martialled officer continues to screw up in Afghan- Special Events CANADIAN MILITThérèseAR Darêche,Y MAGAZINE Michèle Simoneau, for having sex with a subordinate. While istan, the fact is Ménard’s incarceration Wendy van Beilen, Emily Walsh the liaison was a violation of regulations, illustrates just how much the situation has the more serious charge Ménard faced evolved in Afghanistan. The truth is that, Contributors in this issue stemmed from the fact that he had tried after years of us allowing the Afghans Sean Bruyea, C.P. Champion, Michel Drapeau, The one T.that’s Robert Fowler, read! Bob Gordon, Joshua Juneau, to use the authority of his rank to cover up to think they were in charge while their Jason McNaught, Robert Smol, Alan Williams his indiscretion. western sponsors/donors/ mentors Regular Contributors Before the sordid details could be flagrantly violated Afghan laws, the worm Chuck Konkel, Rick Leswick, Steven Staples brought out at trial, Ménard did the hon- has finally turned. Esprit de Corps ourable thing, resigned his commission With NATO troops now almost invisible #204-1066 Somerset St. W., and pleaded guilty. As a result, Ménard on Afghan roads and Afghan security Ottawa, ON K1Y 4T3 Tel: 613-725-5060 • Fax: 613-725-1019 was convicted, issued a $7,000 fine and forces assuming ever-greater responsibil- a meaningless demotion to the rank of ity, they have finally realized that they are, www.espritdecorps.ca colonel. in fact, in charge. Toll-free: 1-800-361-2791 While this particular story has long When I made several unembedded trips E-mail: [email protected] since collected a hefty layer of dust, what into Afghanistan between 2007 and 2010, Follow us on Twitter @EDC_Mag propelled the disgraced officer back into the place was like the Wild West. the headlines was the news that he had It was incredibly easy for security con- Subscriptions $34.95 for 12 issues • $95.95 for 36 issues been held in an Afghan prison cell for over tractors and even construction contractors five weeks. to obtain weapons permits, and even Esprit de Corps (ISSN 1194-2266) is published twelve times a year (HST (no. 135453157) included). Following his early retirement, Ménard easier to obtain weapons. For as little as Please send cheque, money order, Visa or Master- took a private security job with the firm $5 a day, you could either hire an Afghan Card information with your subscription request. If you are moving or need to correct your mailing GardaWorld. Although he was based in guard or simply pay the same amount address, call us toll-free from anywhere in Canada. the United Arab Emirates, Ménard was the to rent his Kalashnikov to carry around director of operations for GardaWorld in yourself. Any ammunition fired during the Afghanistan. It was during a visit to Kabul course of your rental would cost you an on or around Jan. 12 that Ménard was first additional dollar per bullet. detained by Afghan officials. On my most recent trip to Afghanistan Although the details remain sketchy, last December with teammates David it appears that Ménard failed to properly Pugliese of the Ottawa Citizen and license the hundreds of assault rifles used Australian cameraman Sasha Uzunov, by GardaWorld security personnel. The I discovered that things have changed Cpl Christian Emond from Les Voltigeurs de Québec monitors his position during premise of this “administrative misunder- reconnaissance operations at CFB Valcartier. standing” resulted in Ménard being held PUBLISHER ... CONTINUED ON P. 73 (2LT ISABELLE PROVOST, 35 CANADIAN BRIGADE GROUP) Publications Mail Agreement No. 40069149 Return Undeliverable Canadian Addresses to: #204-1066 Somerset St. W., Ottawa, ON K1Y 4T3 espritdecorps.ca Tel: (613) 725-5060 april 2014 espritdecorps 3 V O L U M E 2 1 I S S U E 3 CONTENTS FAVOURITES p6 p60 p70 p72 LETTERS TO THE EDITOR IN THE NEWS THE OLD GUARD TRIVIA F E A T U R E S WAS IT WORTH IT? Now that Canada’s mission in Afghanistan is over, were the blood, sweat and tears worth it? – by Scott Taylor – 8 40 CANSEC ‘14: 18 THE FATHERS & FOCUS ON THE THE WAR OF 1812 FUTURE ARMY Family ties link two key – by David Pugliese – events in Canadian history – by C.P. Champion – STORIES 22 PERSPECTIVES: 50 PERSPECTIVES: Arctic Offshore Patrol Ships — by Healing the Unseen Wounds — by Scott Taylor Jason McNaught 54 LAW AND ORDER: 26 COMMENTARY: March of the Elephants — by Michel Budget Cuts Hurt — by Alan Williams; Drapeau & Josh Juneau CAF on Health Care — by Sean Bruyea; 56 PERSPECTIVES: Gen. Leslie — by Michael Nickerson Afghanistan: Outside the Wire — End Game 30 PERSPECTIVES: — by Jason McNaught It’s Time for the CAF to Unionize— by 59 BETWEEN THE COVERS: Robert Smol “Of Courage and Determination” reviewed 34 INTERVIEW: — by Bob Gordon Retiring CF/DND Ombudsman Pierre 64 HISTORICA CANADA: Daigle — by Laurel Sallie Korean War veteran Morley Balinson 38 PERSPECTIVES: 66 WORLD WAR II: Driving Independence— by M. Brush Courage of POWs — by T. Robert Fowler 46 INTERVIEW: 68 WORLD WAR I: The WiDS-ard of Ottawa: Louise Trench Raiding: Avion, June 8-9, 1917, Mercier — by Jason McNaught Part V — by Bob Gordon 4 Volume 21 Issue 3 FAVOURITES LOCKHEED NEW AD COMING april 2014 espritdecorps 5 FEEDBACK 4POSTED IN Letters to the editor CONSEQUENCES OF WAR preserve it. However, they never, that I am it was decades later before it was diag- aware of, came up with a possible answer. nosed. It was 56 years after the fact, before An appeal was made to Australia, New I was finally diagnosed and started therapy. Zealand, and Canada and likely the US I saw my therapist every two weeks for just Army to see if there were any C-rations over six years. He saved my life, for one left over anywhere. These C-rations were of the many facets of PTSD is thought of left over from WWII. That means they were suicide . yet I did not really want to die. I five or more years old by the time we got to knew if I hung tough the feeling would pass. consume it. When we got to Korea in late It kept repeating periodically. Sometimes 1950 or early 1951 those men up at the it would be soon after the latest episode, sharp end would most likely have eaten sometime it would be several weeks later. quite a bit of this stuff. It always came back though. Our clothing was woefully short of what Fairly recently, medical people came it should have been. When we got there up with a new disease from that war. It is we had neither arctic jackets nor adequate now known as the Cold Weather Disease. boots for winter. The winters there have This ailment is not readily treatable. It was temperatures of minus 20 degrees or more, caused by sometimes days of being very On November 21, 1950 a troop train with and then there is the wind chill factor. With cold. Lying on a frozen ground, unable to members of the Royal Canadian Horse all the valleys mostly running north and get warm for perhaps days, left these men Artillery (RCHA) aboard bound for Korea south, no surprise that wind from the north with joints and muscles in later life, that no collided with a passenger train near Canoe River, BC. Seventeen soldiers was awful indeed. longer functioned as they should because of were killed and 52 were injured in the Wayne Mitchell asked me to write a letter what was a severe form of arthritis. Men of accident. Some of the survivors, like R.W. on the subject of C-rations. Wayne was in that war are now in their mid to late eighties. Stirling, would suffer lasting effects of the battle of Kap’yong, he was a 19-year-old Life for these men is not a whole lot of fun. post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) corporal whose best friend died in his arms. There was a three-year war, then two from the incident. (john stables) That man’s girlfriend bore twins on the day more years of occupational duty. All told, THE WAR IN KOREA had many medical their father died. Wayne was decorated for over those five years, Canada had about consequences, some of which did not show his part in that battle.