MND O'Connor is in Aghanistan Again. Way to go supporting our guys

[commo_dude]

MND O'Connor is in Aghanistan again supporting our troops.  He arrived early this morning.

 

[Cloud Cover]

I saw that on the news. Was he packing heat?

 

[Franko]

MND O'Connor is in Aghanistan again supporting our troops.  He arrived early this morning.

Nice one liner for a post....

Here is the entire story from CTV whiskey601

http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20060813/oconnor_afghanistan_060829/20060829?hub=Canada

Defence minister visits troops in Kandahar

Updated Tue. Aug. 29 2006 10:56 AM ET

CTV.ca News Staff

Defence Minister Gordon O'Connor is in southern Afghanistan today meeting with Canadian troops for the first leg of a trip to the region.

O'Connor's flight touched down at the Kandahar Airfield at about 10 a.m. local time Tuesday. Military brass was there to greet him.

The defence minister, who will later visit Kabul and Pakistan, said he is trying to get "three perspectives" during his trip.

"One is what's happening on the ground here. The other in Kabul for what's happening on the national level, and then I'm going to Pakistan for the international perspective," O'Connor said before sitting down for lunch with military leaders.

His visit comes as Parliament is about to resume, and the Conservative government faces tough questions about the duration of the mission, and mounting casualties.

Eight Canadian soldiers have died in the last month, and there have been two friendly-fire incidents in the last week.

Highlighting the problems faced by Canadian troops, a Canadian convoy was hit by a bomb just hours before O'Connor arrived aboard the Hercules cargo plane.

CTV's Matt McClure, reporting from Kandahar, said the bomb killed two Afghans. It only did slight damage to a Canadian heavy truck.

Canada's mission in Afghanistan has grown increasingly dangerous as Canadian troops have been targeted not just by Taliban rocket and roadside attacks but by ambushes and suicide bombers.

On Aug. 22, Cpl. David Braun was the eighth Canadian soldier to be killed in Afghanistan since Aug. 3 and the 27th Canadian to die since Canada began sending troops to Afghanistan in 2002.

Meanwhile, Canadian army investigators are looking into two friendly-fire incidents.

In both cases, Canadian soldiers fired deadly shots believing they were about to come under attack by individuals who had ignored several warnings from the Canadian troops.

In the first incident, last week, a 10-year-old boy was killed, while riding on the back of a motorcycle near a military compound in Kandahar.

Then over the weekend, an Afghan police officer was killed when soldiers opened fire on his vehicle. Six other Afghan police officers were injured at the scene, about 25 kilometres west of Kandahar.

 

[Kirkhill]

One interesting comment from the video on CBC/CTV.  They got the MND asking one of the guys in the maintenance group how the vehicles were holding up to the terrain.  The answer was hedged a bit, it seemed obvious the maintainer might have said more if the cameras hadn't been running, but he did allow as how the HLVWs were getting past their best before - still running but courtesy of "bubblegum and bandaidds".  The Minister noted that they were trying to push through an urgent acquisition of new Heavies. 

 

[warspite]

It's always nice to hear about our government officials going and visiting our troops in Afghanistan

 

[Hunter]

One interesting comment from the video on CBC/CTV.  They got the MND asking one of the guys in the maintenance group how the vehicles were holding up to the terrain.  The answer was hedged a bit, it seemed obvious the maintainer might have said more if the cameras hadn't been running, but he did allow as how the HLVWs were getting past their best before - still running but courtesy of "bubblegum and bandaidds".  The Minister noted that they were trying to push through an urgent acquisition of new Heavies. 

I got the impression CBC was putting a rather negative spin on the Minister's visit.  It seemed to me that they were implying he was just there on a junket to do some "gladhanding" with troops who were "assigned via email to show up for the meet & greet".  Great sense of humour on the maintainer though, and I think it showed how hard those guys are working to keep the trucks rolling.

Good for Mr. O'Connor that he went to visit the troops.  

And fook the CBC.    :clown:

 

[geo]

Nutin wrong with the Defence minister looking in on his boys and how their capacity is being used.....

 

[Eland]

I was most impressed seeing Mr. O'Connor exiting a Herc wearing combat clothing. Here's a defence minister we can be genuinely proud of - someone with decades of military experience behind him,  so he can not only talk the walk, but walk the talk too. Beats seeing pictures of Cretch looking like a complete dork with his combat helmet on backwards, surrounded by bodyguards and behaving like a know-nothing.

It would do the CF (and Canada) a world of good if we enacted legislation that requires previous military experience as an essential qualification for assuming the role of the Minister of National Defence. It must be very heartening for the troops knowing their political master is, for a change, someone who used to be one of them and knows what he's doing. Bravo! A new day seems to be dawning for Canada.

 

[Kat Stevens]

-"It would do the CF (and Canada) a world of good if we enacted legislation that requires previous military experience as an essential qualification for assuming the role of the Minister of National Defence. It must be very heartening for the troops knowing their political master is, for a change, someone who used to be one of them and knows what he's doing. Bravo! A new day seems to be dawning for Canada."-

Yup, Jimmie Cox would be great at the job some day, too!

 

[Scoobie Newbie]

Eland I used to think that.  However with the statements made early on by our current MND I quickly changed my mind.  Some people take their own perceptions of when they were in and try to apply it to the current situation years later. 

 

[paracowboy]

he's a putz. Run a search on his name or title, and you'll see what I mean.

 

[Haggis]

he's a putz. Run a search on his name or title, and you'll see what I mean.

Who?  Jimmie Cox or the current MND?  Or both?

(I can think of many people I've served with who would make a horrible MND.)

 

[tomahawk6]

I think the early criticism of O'Connor was unfounded. Some thought that he and Hillier would clash hamstringing the effort to revitalize the CF. So far it seems to me that O'Connor is doing his bit and allowing Hillier wide latitude to do his. Just the way it looks to this outsider anyway.

 

[paracowboy]

Who?  Jimmie Cox or the current MND?  Or both?

sorry, I meant MND. Loosely paraphrased -
"We're gonna create a new SpcOps unit, a Parachute BN, and 3 more BNs of Infantry."
Oh, where ya gonna get the Sr NCOs?
"Uhhhh, hey! Thanks for the question. I gotta go."

"Gonna go over there an' git all them Tallybans an' them nasty ol' moolahs!"
What are the plans for reconstruction and infrasructure?
"You betcha! Git all them there Tallybans!"

That's face-to-face stuff. His recorded stuff in the media is just as silly.

 

[tomahawk6]

The US Army during the war on terror has seen NCO shortages, which have been solved by fast tracking sharp younger NCO's. Right now promotions to Sgt on average are at the 4 year point,Staff Sgt 8 years,SFC 14 years,17 to Master Sgt and 20 to Sgt Major.

Canada faced NCO shortages in WW2 as all allied nations did. Shortages were filled by accelerated promotions. Right now I would say there are a number of qualified NCO's in the CF that could be promoted if there were a vacancy. If I am wrong please correct me.

 

[paracowboy]

The US Army during the war on terror has seen NCO shortages, which have been solved by fast tracking sharp younger NCO's. Right now promotions to Sgt on average are at the 4 year point,Staff Sgt 8 years,SFC 14 years,17 to Master Sgt and 20 to Sgt Major.

Canada faced NCO shortages in WW2 as all allied nations did. Shortages were filled by accelerated promotions. Right now I would say there are a number of qualified NCO's in the CF that could be promoted if there were a vacancy. If I am wrong please correct me.

you's wrong. We can promote as fast as we want, but calling a Cpl a Sgt doesn't change the fact that he only has a Cpl's experience. Takes at least 4 years to even begin to master the trade. Takes at least 6 to make a Sergeant, and that's if he's switched-on. Rushing things just makes it worse. There are rare exceptions, but in the main, nobody's ready for promotion to Sgt until at LEAST 6 years of regular service, and usually 10.

 

[Kat Stevens]

We had a saying in my Beloved Corps, usually heard after a particularly baffling promotion parade:  "the cream rises to the top, but crap floats, too."  Loosely translated into this situation as "Young cream rises, unformed crap mixes with it."

 

[tomahawk6]

Paracowboy normally I would agree with you about time in grade/time in service equals experience. But we are at war. Wartime experience trumps TIG/TIS. What our young Sgt's are gaining in combat experience outweighs their lack of garrison/peacetime experience. We saw this in Vietnam with accelerated promotions the norm - Colonels at 16 years of service, Ltc's at 10 year point and so on down the line. During WW2 it was the same, if a guy could lead he was promoted.

 

[paracowboy]

Paracowboy normally I would agree with you about time in grade/time in service equals experience. But we are at war. 

all the more reason to ensure that our leaders are as fully trained and prepared to lead as possible. They're not just shootin' shit, they're making tactical/strategic decisions that will affect entire nations. Never mind the fact that they're responsible for troops' lives. And, they're not just fighting. They're gone for six months, then have to come back and teach/train, as well as deal with the multitude of administrative bullshit this army creates for itself. Simply throwing people through schools, or tossing promotions is not the answer. The reason this army has been able, in the past, to take over AOs so much larger than our allies's equivalent unit's is due entirely to the seniority of our personnel, and the enormous cross-training we used to do.

Now, we're losing that. We don't have enough pers trained in Advanced courses. We don't have enough pers trained in Basic courses. And, to off-set the latter, we're sacrificing the former even further. And, it's gonna get worse. There's no way around it. We're going to continue to lose our senior pers to normal attrition, and continue to rapid-promote our youngsters. And I'm seeing the results. It ain't all good. Not by a long shot. It forces too steep a learning curve, and we end up re-inventing the wheel repeatedly.

Wartime experience trumps TIG/TIS.

to a point.

 

[tomahawk6]

Perhaps qualified people that have released from the CF could be lured back to help fill shortages ?