• Thanks for stopping by. Logging in to a registered account will remove all generic ads. Please reach out with any questions or concerns.

Deploying the DART to Asia

Addendum:

Regarding the ability of diplomatic staff to conduct at least a preliminary recce - sorry, they haven't a clue in that regard. Unless a given nation has a Canadian Defence Attache (CDA) there is usually no-one able to conduct a recce of any use to DART deployment. A possible exception is if they have a Military Security Guard (MSG) detachment at a given Embassy/High Commission/Consulate. MSG's are MP Sgts or WOs, and larger dets have several Cpl/MCpl as well. There are some ex-CF working for Foreign Affairs Canada (FAC), but it's just a lottery if one is at any given mission.

Acorn
 
I found this on the CTV website,
http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/1104971869614_8/?hub=Canada
DART an outdated dinosaur, officials tell CP

Canadian Press

OTTAWA â ” Canada's Disaster Assistance Response Team is outdated, disproportionately expensive to deploy and should be revamped, a senior military officer and a Foreign Affairs official say.

Ottawa's delay in sending the DART to Sri Lanka after a tsunami killed more than 150,000 people in 11 countries was solely based on concerns about its cost-effectiveness -- and rightly so, said the officer, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

The ultimate decision to send the team was a matter of politics taking precedence over prudence and practicality, he suggested.

For the $20 million it will cost the government to deploy and run the DART operation, Canada could better have sent bottled water and water purification tablets to the disaster zone, said the soldier.

"It will cost $20 million and in the end what we will be giving is first-and second-line medical support and water," said the officer. "That's why the government didn't want to send us."

An official in Foreign Affairs said it was ultimately decided the DART could supplement existing capacity and the expenditure, which comes out of general government revenues, wouldn't come at the expense of other aid.

"The conversation all of last week was entirely to do with cost-effectiveness and the appropriateness of the response," said the senior Foreign Affairs official, who also spoke on condition of anonymity.

Humanitarian response is internationally designated by the Geneva-based Office for the Co-ordinator of Humanitarian Assistance.

It mandates military assistance, including DART-like capabilities worldwide, based on strict guidelines. In theory, such capabilities must be requested, not imposed, said the official.

"They've never asked us for it because the type of capacity the DART can offer is not rapidly deployable enough nor does its field hospital meet the guidelines of the World Health Organization," said the official.

"It requires them to have surgical and trauma units, which the DART does not have."

The unit is better suited to domestic response, said the official.

Furthermore, the purification units being sent from Trenton, Ont., on Thursday produce top-of-the-line water - so pure that Canadian troops in Afghanistan were adding Gatorade crystals to give it some flavour.

"It's very good water, but for most crises they don't want that," said the veteran military officer. "They don't want perfect water. All they want is potable water. And they want tonnes of it."

The Canadian military's high-tech water purification units can turn out 50,000 litres a day - "a lot of water for normal consumption but for a crisis, especially of this magnitude, it's just not enough," he said.

Delays in Ottawa's response to the disaster caused a public outcry in Canada.

Defence Minister Bill Graham has said need, not politics, was behind the decision to send the DART. But the officer said the Sri Lankans indicated they would be just as happy to receive supplies.

The first planeload of troops and supplies leaves CFB Trenton on Thursday.

Initially, the rented Russian transport aircraft was to carry only some of the DART's equipment, but the officer said Graham's office insisted troops be there for him to bid farewell to after he announced the departure.

"He didn't want to go there and wave goodbye to water purification units and vehicles, so we're now sending troops."

The DART was formed in 1996 and has a 45-member headquarters in Kingston, Ont. Its full 200-member contingent of medics, engineers and logistics troops is normally scattered across the country.

It was last deployed after a 1999 earthquake in Turkey, its second mission. Its first was to hurricane-ravaged Honduras a year earlier.

Each time such crises arise, the same debate over cost-effectiveness has occurred, said the officer. It's time Ottawa reconsidered the team's make-up and mandate because times have changed, he added.

The DART was intended to fill the gap between a disaster and the arrival of aid provided by non-governmental organizations.

"It was put together in a different era when aid agencies and NGOs were just cutting their teeth and it took them a while to get there," said the military source.

"Well, nowadays, they're very proficient at getting in there very, very fast. They just pour money at the problem; they go in and buy everything that's available. The place is flooded with aid.

"We are better off, nine times out of 10, giving the aid agencies the money to spend in the local economy to buy all the transport and bottled water they need. We're at the point now where it's not cost-effective.

"It's common sense."

The Foreign Affairs official agreed, saying there is almost nowhere in the world where international aid groups aren't already in place or nearby.

"The relief agencies can always get there faster," said the official. "As an international mechanism the DART's not very appropriate.

"It doesn't meet the guidelines, it can't be deployed fast enough really to make much of a difference and, almost always at the end of the day there are domestic capacities in place that can do the same thing -- they just need the money to get them going."

Senior officials are promoting a refined, pared down, more specialized unit of paratroopers highly trained in first aid and engineering services that would reinforce existing local capabilities.

Its golden rule: "Whatever you bring in there, make sure you can leave it behind so that you don't leave a gap when you leave."
 
In a slight contradiction to armybuck041,

There might not be a large number of people who actually stay here in Pet for holidays, but there are enough pers within the magic 6 hr circle to man the DART in 48 hrs.

Speaking of what I know, the medical platoon would be filled by any medical pers avail, whether on the DART list or not. One of the problem is that with the upcoming deployment, the unit has 15-20 % less personnel to pick from (who are like me deploying in Feb). Plans are made to ensure it is known who on DART is staying in the "circle" and ensuring the mbrs who are leaving have replacements named prior to the leave period.

All lessons learned from the Ice Storm, and the difficulties in pers coming from NF and BC from leave.

And all it takes to cancel leave is a CO's order.
 
I don't consider it a contridiction.

In our case I think it was pure good fortune rather than planning, that we had some key pers available. Although i'm not so sure we could have produced in 48hrs as designed. Lets just say there were some pretty surprised people, and troops were running all over the Base getting needles and dental work done. In our case (no different than the medics), it is the Tech positions that are the issue. No offence to the young guys, but the Spr/Cpl positions tend to be plug and play. Getting the pers together would not be difficult if it didn't take place over the Block Leave period. This is one of those situations that we all joke about that actually happened.

For Hondouras, I was Dagged and in Trenton 8 hours after we got the word (although my particular position as part of a team looking at washed out infrastructure ended up being scrapped, due to Recce Info).

All in all, its par for the course.

On a positive note, there is no better organisation than 2 CMBG when it comes to reacting to fast balls. My time posted in Gagetown really opened my eyes to this fact.

I just want to be clear that I am by no means faulting the Army (and more specifically the Units themselves) for any of this. There are so many little Hats worn by the CMBG's these days that after a while its hard to even take them all seriously. Furthermore, based on a relative's employment as a Snr Mbr with the CF-JOG, I was privvy to allot of the "goings on" last week. I wish I could post it all here..... but I don't think it would be appropriate. Lets just say the above Canadian Press Post really sums it up.
 
As a partially-related aside, this forum (and this thread in particular) was quoted in yesterday's Fredericton Daily Gleaner.  They mentioned the forum web-site address, and quoted 3 posts verbatim. 

Just a word to the wise.  Be careful what you say if you are not willing to stand by your comments in the light of day.  One would imagine that the "hits" on this site are going to increase exponentially as it continues to gain mainstream recognition as a source of "tell it like it is" soldier commentary.

I have no personal regrets nor worries, but some of you may.  Aside from that minor sobering thought, by all means please carry on..... 

 
Out of curiosity...   is the Gleaner online? Link? Which posts?

Cheers.

[edit: I found their website, but a) can't find the article and b) believe  it is all subscriber only anyway ]
 
DART airlift to cost Ottawa $4.4-million: Department of National Defence
The Hill Times
January 10th, 2005
CIVIL CIRCLES
By Paco Francoli

It will cost the federal government at least $4.4-million (U.S.) to charter two Russian Antonov aircrafts to deploy Canada's embattled Disaster Assistant Relief Team ­ known simply as DART ­ which has been under intense fire because it doesn't have access to its own long-range aircraft and has taken so long to make its way to Sri Lanka to assist in the tsunami disaster relief effort.

Five flights have been booked at a cost of $880,000 (U.S.) each, all operated by Polet Cargo Airlines from Voronezh Russia, confirmed the Department of National Defence (DND) last week.

This includes the cost of going through Canadian broker Sky Link Aviation out of Toronto which DND uses for all chartered aircraft movements.

The total cost of the mission to Ampara, a district of about 600,000 people on Sri Lanka's east coast, could reach as high as $20-million. Members of DART began deploying last Thursday and Friday to Ampara from Canadian Forces base Trenton outside Toronto. Two more flights are scheduled for Jan. 10 and 11, and more could follow which could increase the deployment costs further.

This will be only the third mission for DART which was created in 1997 amid high expectations. It was last used five years ago in Turkey which was savaged by a massive earthquake in 1999.

The team can operate field hospitals, purify water and repair basic infrastructure and communications. It has an annual budget of $250,000 and about 15 full-time staff. The government pulls in other Canadian Forces staff depending on needs.

Defence Minister Bill Graham gave DART the green light on Jan. 4 to deploy to Sri Lanka, more than a week after the disaster and after days of balking over whether to send the team of specialists drawn mostly from the Canadian Forces.

Former Canadian Forces staff have been highly critical of the federal government for taking so long to deploy DART.

Alain Pellerin, a retired colonel who is now executive director of the lobby organization Conference of Defence Associations, said the delay was caused by the fact the government has no long-range airlift capabilities.

"Without the means to transport, DART is really just a concept. And therefore it's something the government needs to address. If they're serious about using a force like DART to support their foreign policy they need to respond more rapidly with their own airlift," said Mr. Pellerin who retired from the Canadian military in 1996.

Mr. Pellerin noted that Ottawa's logistical problems are compounded by the fact there are only 16 available Antonov aircraft available for rental in the world right now.

"Obviously there is a lot of competition when something like that comes up. It's a little bit like a timeshare condo. Everyone wants it at Christmas time for skiing," he said.

Canada has nothing comparable to an Antonov. DART's needs could be accommodated in part by the Air Force's fleet of 32 C-130 Hercules, but these aging machines, most of which were purchased between 1960 and 1975, have been plagued with problems. Additionally, the Hercules are much smaller than the Antonov and would require several trips to do the job.

Canada also has five civilian A310 Airbuses which have been converted for military use, but again these aircraft are too small to carry DART's heavy equipment which includes large military vehicles.

Mr. Pellerin said that 19 of Canada's Hercules are "essentially non-operational" because they are so old. He added that the rest will reach their best-before date in about 10 years.

Mr. Pellerin said Canada should consider leasing or buying the Boeing C-17 Globemaster III cargo airplanes used by the U.S. and British military which are smaller than the Antonov but still effective for DART's long-range strategic airlift requirements. Each C-17 costs about $200-million.

Ironically, the federal government created DART nine years ago as a response to its delayed reaction to the United Nations-led relief effort in Rwanda in 1994. When then defence minister David Collenette launched DART, he said the new unit would be available for deployment within 48 hours and remain on the ground for up to 40 days.

Last week in an interview on CBC Newsworld, retired Lieutenant-Colonel Wayne Douglas, a former commander of DART, was asked if DART should have its own aircraft.

"It would be good," he replied, but then added diplomatically: "There are a lot of priorities that have to come into play and that may not be one of them at the moment."

On the internet, a number of Canadian Forces staffers were far more blunt in their assessments of DART when chatting on a popular public forum set up specifically for them.

"I was part of [DART] when it first got dreamed up. It seems to keep getting bigger and bigger, but no clearer focus," said a corporal who identifies himself only as Kevin B.

The forum, found at www.army.ca, has been around since 1993 and provides a gateway for anyone interested in the Canadian military. It is not sponsored or connected to the federal government. Most subscribers use aliases but identify themselves as current or former members of the Canadian military.

"DART is like my grandmother's living room furniture ­ looks great, but for goodness sakes don't use it," wrote Bograt, an officer cadet.

After the Canadian government indicated it intended to send DART to Sri Lanka to help with the tsunami disaster, many subscribers logged on to the forum to slam the government for failing to properly fund and equip DART.

"I know same people that have said the DART is a good thing? We do require it. Every country has a DART. We just need the aircraft," lamented Recce41 who identifies himself as a warrant officer.

Many subscribers praised a recent editorial by retired Maj.-Gen. Lewis MacKenzie (who one subscriber called "Uncle Lew") who pointed out that the federal government is stuck leasing Antonov aircraft for DART at a time of high demand.

"We now have a major disaster, and with everyone and his dog renting from the same source, the price has skyrocketed," wrote Mr. MacKenzie.

The two massive Antonov aircraft charted by Ottawa, which dwarf most other planes, will load up with about 225 tons of equipment. It's a major job. The last time DART deployment to Turkey, military staff worked around the clock for over a week procuring and loading the Russian Antonovs with large vehicles and specialized equipment such as water-purification machines to prevent cholera.

Before DART deployed to Sri Lanka, a 17-member reconnaissance team was sent to Ampara to determine if Canadian assistance would be helpful. DART's commander, Lieutenant-Colonel Mike Voith, was part of that initial deployment which included 11 staff from DND, three from Foreign Affairs, two from CIDA, and one from the Canadian Public Health Agency.

The reconnaissance team will soon be joined by about 200 Canadian Forces soldiers, including about 40 medical professionals.

The DART serves four critical needs in emergencies:

* primary medical care;

* production of safe drinking water;

* a limited specialist engineer capability; and

* a command and control structure that allows for effective communications between the DART, the host nation, and the other agencies involved in the relief effort, including international organizations, non-governmental organizations and UN aid agencies.

francoli@hilltimes.com
The Hill Times
http://www.hilltimes.com/html/index.php?display=story&full_path=/2005/january/10/civ_circ/&c=1
 
DART DART DART DART Everyone seems fixated on DART coulden't we just send help.
Recalling DART personnel, remember this happened over the Xmas holidays and a lot of people were visiting family all over the country and couldn't have made it off leave if they tried as most means of public transport was booked months in advance and even a lot of people who had reservations found themselves stranded some where other than home.
I also noted that on CNN the talking heads spent a lot of time moaning about the slow responce from the U.S. government.
The rest of the world were also probably complained about their respective gov. responces. This event has become the latest cause de jour a new one springs up every so often . There has been a unprecedented responce from all over the world and i don't know why. Certainly it was a horiffic event but there have been several other humanitarian disasters with much larger loss of life in recent memory and they did not generate near as much international attention.
You critisize the slowness of deploying DART, but do you in fact know if someone wasn't frantically trying behind the scenes to charter airlift and could not arrange it for a week or so, and do you in fact know that several government departments wern't  also working long hard hours trying to put a plan together. Its easy to sit at home and moan about it.  In any case its obvious Canada needs a heavy airlift for its Forces and not just for humanitarian reasons but military ones as well ,but we also need many other pieces of kit and the Canadian public and its elected reps will never pony up the $$$$$.  Most of the public would never in a million years think of heavy airlift if the deployment of DART wasn't splashed all over the front pages.
Everyone should note that i saw some ARMY Reserve Medics interviewed on TV who bought drugs with their own money and paid their own way to SIRA LANKA and hooked up with a European doctor and set up a clinic and were assisting people only hours after arriving despite jetlag .  They could have just stayed home like us and posted on the internet.  BRAVO ZULU GUYS. 
 
STONEY said:
DART DART DART DART Everyone seems fixated on DART ...

Yup - there are other issues Canadian citizens should be more concerned about, such as whether a special interest group of only 200,000 should unduly influence Liberal party strategy (and whether Canada should be financing a terrorist organisation ...):

... Toronto is home to more than 200,000 Tamil-Canadians, the largest expatriate group of Tamils in the world. They vote, campaign, join the Liberal Party -- and influence at least 10 Toronto ridings. So far, they have flexed their muscles in leadership battles in 2003 and nomination races in 2004. In the Scarborough Centre riding, a Tamil slate took 11 of 12 delegate spots for the 2003 leadership convention that crowned Paul Martin.

On Dec. 27, one day after the tsunamis hit, Defence Minister Bill Graham was on the phone with other MPs who, like him and Mr. McCallum, have significant Tamil populations in their Toronto ridings. Mr. Graham concluded that this was not only a major crisis for the world, but big for the Canadian government, and that the government's message had to be focused on Sri Lanka, according to a Liberal insider.

"It was Bill who hammered that in," the insider said. "You didn't need to get out your crayons and draw directions. Bill intuitively understood that while there were larger geopolitical issues, and certainly other communities were going to be affected, the way it would play here would be as it relates to the Sri Lankan/Tamil issue."

http://army.ca/forums/threads/23668/post-146531.html#msg146531
 
Sorry STONEY, I disagree with you on a few points. I don't know if you are CF or not, so I am unsure of your frame of reference of your comments...

STONEY said:
Recalling DART personnel, remember this happened over the Xmas holidays and a lot of people were visiting family all over the country and couldn't have made it off leave if they tried as most means of public transport was booked months in advance and even a lot of people who had reservations found themselves stranded some where other than home.
Actually, as I mentioned above, they rework the DART manning to ensure pers is avail during leave periods. The great majority would be within 6 driving hours of Petawawa (TO, Ott, Montreal areas). It would be the exception that someone would have to book special airfare to return to duty. And if they do, they are fully refunded the costs by the CF.

You criticize the slowness of deploying DART, but do you in fact know if someone wasn't frantically trying behind the scenes to charter airlift and could not arrange it for a week or so, and do you in fact know that several government departments weren't also working long hard hours trying to put a plan together. Its easy to sit at home and moan about it. In any case its obvious Canada needs a heavy airlift for its Forces and not just for humanitarian reasons but military ones as well ,but we also need many other pieces of kit and the Canadian public and its elected reps will never pony up the $$$$$. Most of the public would never in a million years think of heavy airlift if the deployment of DART wasn't splashed all over the front pages.
Every natural disaster worthy of two days of news headlines is probably worthy of the CF DART to deploy. What lacks as I mentioned above is our gov'ts will to use it because of cost, political gain etc, and the CF's ability to get it anywhere in the world, due to our lack of strategic airlift assists. I do know for a fact that pers in several departments laboured over the decision to send the DART and indeed had plans ready for their deployment 48-72 hrs after news of the disaster happened (because this is what they do at DART HQ in Kingston). It was high level political decisions that slowed the deployment, not the CFs ability to mobilize. This is wrong, particularly in this specific situation. The delay in decision making has now delayed the stand up of the operational facility by as much as a week.

Everyone should note that i saw some ARMY Reserve Medics interviewed on TV who bought drugs with their own money and paid their own way to SRI LANKA and hooked up with a European doctor and set up a clinic and were assisting people only hours after arriving despite jetlag . They could have just stayed home like us and posted on the internet. BRAVO ZULU GUYS.

Actually I saw 4 Toronto City Paramedics, two of which also serve in the reserves as medics volunteering their time and services. The media portraited them slightly inaccurately. As you, I also say BZ to them.   :salute: Wish I could do the same.
As a regular force member, I do not have the freedom of choice and movement to just spontaneously go and do what it is they are doing, even if I had the time, money and resources to do it.
And personally, I am departing for Afghanistan in 33 days....so watching the news, wishing my friends and coworkers a safe and fulfilling deployment in Sri Lanka, and spending time with my family is all I can do for now.
 
Can someone explain how DART is better suited for domestic deployment?

My understanding is that if an event had happened in Canada (not in Trenton) that it still would've been at least 72-hours just for the team mobilized to leave because of the non-dedicated nature of the group.

Anyone?



Matthew.    ???
 
It will cost the federal government at least $4.4-million (U.S.) to charter two Russian Antonov aircrafts to deploy Canada's embattled Disaster Assistant Relief Team ­ known simply as DART ­ which has been under intense fire because it doesn't have access to its own long-range aircraft and has taken so long to make its way to Sri Lanka to assist in the tsunami disaster relief effort.

:warstory:

I remember a great lesson i learned from my section commander and 2IC that I think applies here.

After falling out of a run they approached me saying my level of fitness was attrocious and to be a good soldier i needed to fix it.
Being embarassed I argued saying i was a great shot, knew all the drills backwards, great with vehicle and weapon recognition and on and on. Who cares if i wasn't that in shape.

"If you can't get to the battlefield in time your ineffective as a soldier regardless of how good you are in everything else"

They were 100% right.

If our DART team can't make it to the disaster area by their own means how effective are they?

Relying on someone else to carry us to disaster areas (or battle as the case may be) seems to crazy to be true.
 
Cdn Blackshirt said:
Can someone explain how DART is better suited for domestic deployment?

My understanding is that if an event had happened in Canada (not in Trenton) that it still would've been at least 72-hours just for the team mobilized to leave because of the non-dedicated nature of the group.

Anyone?



Matthew.    ???

It's not....

Aid to civil power is the responsibility of the Area in which the disaster happens ie, Toronto Blizzard = LFCA.

If the Area responsible does not have the resources to deal with the situation, other Area's are then tasked to assist ie, Winnipeg Flood = LFWA, LFCA, & some of LFAA.
 
STONEY said:
You critisize the slowness of deploying DART, but do you in fact know if someone wasn't frantically trying behind the scenes to charter airlift and could not arrange it for a week or so, and do you in fact know that several government departments wern't  also working long hard hours trying to put a plan together. Its easy to sit at home and moan about it.  In any case its obvious Canada needs a heavy airlift for its Forces and not just for humanitarian reasons but military ones as well ,but we also need many other pieces of kit and the Canadian public and its elected reps will never pony up the $$$$$. Most of the public would never in a million years think of heavy airlift if the deployment of DART wasn't splashed all over the front pages.

Exactly.... maybe the delay was all about making sure there was an effective plan in place.

 
armybuck041 said:
... Aid to civil power is the responsibility of the Area in which the disaster happens ie, Toronto Blizzard = LFCA.

If the Area responsible does not have the resources to deal with the situation, other Area's are then tasked to assist ie, Winnipeg Flood = LFWA, LFCA, & some of LFAA.

Small point on terminology:  ACP/Aid to Civil Power is related to "maintaining law and order".
Humanitarian Assistance (HA) in the wake of a civil disaster/emergency is not the same thing
(having said that ... sigh ... there's the remote chance of ACP in the wake of a civil disaster/emergency, but ONLY if the provincial government and RCMP are unable to maintain the rule of law, or require Army/armed assistance to do so ... but that's unlikely ...)

We now return to regularly scheduled broadcasting ...

 
bossi said:
Small point on terminology:   ACP/Aid to Civil Power is related to "maintaining law and order".
Humanitarian Assistance (HA) in the wake of a civil disaster/emergency is not the same thing
(having said that ... sigh ... there's the remote chance of ACP in the wake of a civil disaster/emergency, but ONLY if the provincial government and RCMP are unable to maintain the rule of law, or require Army/armed assistance to do so ... but that's unlikely ...)

We now return to regularly scheduled broadcasting ...

My bad, and hopefully people understood what I meant by the examples I gave.
 
Cdn Blackshirt said:
Can someone explain how DART is better suited for domestic deployment?

My understanding is that if an event had happened in Canada (not in Trenton) that it still would've been at least 72-hours just for the team mobilized to leave because of the non-dedicated nature of the group.

Its not meant for domestic ops. Aid to civil power Assistance to civil authorities/humanitarian assistance ops which disaster related missions like the Red River floods and the Ice storm follow a diffrent chain of command/gov't requesting procedures. Say like the number of disasters we have had in Canada in the last 10 yrs. In every case the Canadian governmental organizations, NGOs like Red Cross, and the military work together to provide "care' to the affected area.

With the Ice Storm in Jan 98, we actually were mobilized and in position a week after the first blackouts occurred. We in this case was the entire 2 CMBG, not just 150-200 mbrs on 48 hrs NTM.

The DART puts forth two disaster area requirements that most NGOs are unable to provide quickly in a non secure disaster area, medical support and large scale water purification. Finding fresh water in Canada is usually not a problem. As for providing domestic medical support, there has to be provical MOU drawn up for the military to provide care to civilians (was done for emergent care during the Ice Storm). The DART also has a security platoon (about 30 pers) whose sole role is to ensure the safety of the ROWPUs and ensure the cordon of the hospital is orderly and safe. Guys with guns bring a bit of order. But we use police in Canada for that.

By having the ability to move to a location, set up self sufficient in a secure area amidst the confusion, and providing basic medical care and fresh clean drinking water might be a small but essential contribution.

[Moderator note:  Edited for accuracy of terminology - no other content altered]
 
As the SQ for the current DART Engr Sqn, I have just spent the last week of my hard-earned Xmas leave getting the Engr out the door! From 2 CER, we sent over a total of 46 soldiers. A Hvy Eqpt Sect, a Fd Sect, an Assault Boat Op Sect (+), and an array of Constr Tp soldiers with all tech trades covered.
  Just for those wondering what the Engr commitment was! Cheers!
 
Its been along week for all of you who had to get them out the door...

Hope your not too overworked as the acting SSM.
 
Another thing I heard Adrianne Arsenault (sp?) of the CBC mention today was that the delay in deployment was not just about "waiting for a request" (which was the original Liberal excuse) but that at least two different departments were squabling over if and how it should be deployed.

Can someone clarify the chain of command (within the Federal Bureaucracy) as well as budget structure for the unit?

Thank you again,



Matthew.  ???
 
Back
Top