Op IMPACT: CAF in the Iraq & Syria crisis

[Eye In The Sky]

EITS:  I did, they don't have acces to my pay anymore...

There must be an Admin O somewhere near you who's ear you could bend?  How about talking directly to the C Clk where you are at?

 

[PPCLI Guy]

EITS:  I did, they don't have acces to my pay anymore...

BobSlob:  I am with the US Navy, I don't have DWAN access anymore.

Max,

Leverage the CDLS(W) Air Attache Staff.  If they can't fix it, let me know by PM.  I have just left the States, but I likely still have some influence.

 

[The Bread Guy]

Buried in this BBC piece today, the latest  ...

... (Kurdistan Region) President Barzani said the drive for independence was very serious, and that preparations were going ahead "full steam".

He said the first step should be "serious negotiations" with the central government in Baghdad to reach an understanding and a solution, towards what Kurdish leaders are optimistically calling an "amicable separation".

If that did not produce results, he said, the Kurds should go ahead unilaterally with a referendum on independence.

"It's a necessary step, because all the previous attempts and experiments failed. If current conditions aren't helpful for independence, there are no circumstances which favour not demanding this right." ...

That's the Barzani the CDS had a chat with a couple of weeks back, and Canada's Defence Minister a few months back -- see pix attached.

 

[Good2Golf]

The Iraqi Government may pragmatically decide to have a collaborative approach to the effort.  It would be a bigger headache for Turkey... op:

 

[The Bread Guy]

Some updates:
1)  Canada's at the SYR peace discussion table (good luck with that) ...
2)  ... offering to help drop aid to Syrians if a ceasefire doesn't hold or spread (offering parachutes, not military planes to drop the aid from).

 

[Jed]

Some updates:
1)  Canada's at the SYR peace discussion table (good luck with that) ...
2)  ... offering to help drop aid to Syrians if a ceasefire doesn't hold or spread (offering parachutes, not military planes to drop the aid from).

Oh Great.  Maybe someone can pick off another aircraft with the seats full of blue beret wearing soldiers.

 

[The Bread Guy]

Latest from the Info-machine ...

As part of the Government of Canada’s expanded contribution to multinational efforts to degrade and defeat the so-called Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), the Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) recently added three CH-146 Griffon helicopters, an all-source intelligence centre, and additional trainers to Operation IMPACT.

The three CH-146 Griffon helicopters will enhance in-theatre tactical transport, including medical evacuations if required. The Griffons and their crews excel in the tactical transportation of troops and materiel. A variety of self-defence weapons are fitted to the aircraft for the deployment.

As a part of Joint Task Force-Iraq, the CAF officially opened an all-source intelligence centre, responsible for collecting, synthesizing, and analyzing information derived from a variety of sources. This intelligence is then used to inform operational planning, ultimately contributing to the protection of Coalition forces and the conduct of Coalition operations.

The additional tactical aviation, intelligence and training personnel are part of Canada’s enhanced mission that will eventually see around 830 CAF members deployed as part of Canada’s contribution to Coalition efforts to improve the security of Iraq and the region. These adjustments of personnel and capabilities are expected to be completed by late summer.

Under the enhanced mission, Canada is tripling the size of its train, advise, and assist mission to help Iraqi Security Forces plan and conduct military operations against ISIL ...

 

[Eye In The Sky]

Coming close to 500 missions now for the '140.  That's a lot of @#*@(* ONSTA pizzas and combat chips!!  ^-^

T:

 

[The Bread Guy]

If looked at not as a flag (with its basis for argumentation of political statement), but a positive identification with friend in the theatre (think PID), it could make sense.  :dunno:

G2G

In a similar (but not identical) vein ...

Photos have emerged of American special operations troops in Syria wearing uniform insignia affiliated with a Kurdish rebel group known as the YPG, whose connection to Turkish terrorists could could fuel tension between the U.S. and a key ally in the Islamic State fight.

The images were taken in a village about 40 miles north of the Islamic State group’s self-declared capital of Raqqa, which is the target of a newly announced offensive being led by a disparate group of Kurdish and Arab fighters, and backed by American military advisers and air support. They highlight the complicated network of alliances the U.S. is trying to forge in Syria, and the ethnic and sectarian tensions that could tear apart this fragile coalition.

Speaking Thursday, a top Pentagon official said it's fairly common for Green Berets and other operators to wear allies' patches ...

More on the YPG (usual Wikipedia caveats apply) here.

 

[The Bread Guy]

In a similar (but not identical) vein ...

Photos have emerged of American special operations troops in Syria wearing uniform insignia affiliated with a Kurdish rebel group known as the YPG, whose connection to Turkish terrorists could could fuel tension between the U.S. and a key ally in the Islamic State fight ...

More on the YPG (usual Wikipedia caveats apply) here.

Well, THAT didn't last long ...

• "Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan on Saturday condemned the United States for giving support to Syrian Kurdish fighters in the YPG (People's Protection Units) and PYD (Kurdish Democratic Union Party - Syria) ..."
• "The US special forces in Syrian Kurdistan (Rojava) who were wearing People’s Protection Units (YPG) patches have been ordered to remove them due to “political sensitivity.”  The US military spokesperson for the US-led global coalition against IS, Steve Warren, said on Friday that wearing the YPG patches was “unauthorized” and it was inappropriate, and corective action has been taken ..."

 

[Kirkhill]

I just found this DND photograph in the public domain showing a couple of Canadian SF types "training" an Iraqi in the use of a mortar on the front lines.

Apparently "training" includes calculating, fuse-setting and "bubble-up" by the "instructors".  All the Iraqi needs do is drop the bomb down the tube.  (And probably carry the tube).

 

[Cloud Cover]

What a barren wasteland...

 

[YZT580]

It may look it now but after a rain it is alive with colour and if it wasn't for the war you would see flocks of sheep/goats and camel herds.  There is lots of grazing in between those rocks

 

[Eye In The Sky]

Depending on where you are looking.  There's lots of bleak areas...

 

[The Bread Guy]

Latest in the "Kurdish flag as PID device" saga, via Kurdish media ...

Canadian military advisors in the Kurdistan Region may have to remove the Kurdish flag patch they wear on their uniforms, only days after US forces in Syria were ordered to remove Kurdish insignia from their uniforms.

"We'll have to re-examine that and we may well take them off too," the commander of Canada's forces in the Kurdistan Region, Mike Rouleau, told Canada's CTV News on Wednesday.

"Whether we have them on or off, it's not going to change anything about the level of commitment and closeness that we have with the people who we're sent there to support," Rouleau went on to claim.

It's common for embedded forces to wear the flag patch of a country they are deployed in along with the flag of their own country. In this case however the wearing of Kurdish flag patches has proven controversial since the Kurdistan Region is still a part of Iraq.

It's not clear if the Canadians will wear an Iraqi flag patch on their uniform instead or simply not wear any second flag patch at all ...

 

[George Wallace]

Latest in the "Kurdish flag as PID device" saga, via Kurdish media ...

....and from CTV:

Canadian soldiers in northern Iraq may stop wearing Kurdish flag on uniforms
CTVNews.ca Staff
Published Wednesday, June 1, 2016 10:13PM EDT
Last Updated Thursday, June 2, 2016 7:20AM EDT

Canadian soldiers guiding and mentoring Kurdish forces in northern Iraq have been wearing the Kurdish flag on their uniforms in a sign of respect, but that tradition may soon end, CTV News has learned.

Although it is tradition to wear the patch of a military partner, the Kurds do not have a nation state and are seeking independence from Iraq.

U.S. troops were recently ordered to stop wearing the Kurdish flag.

Maj.-Gen. Mike Rouleau, commander of the special forces in Iraq, told CTV Chief Anchor Lisa LaFlamme that Canada is also rethinking the custom.

“We'll re-examine that and we may well take them off too,” Rouleau said.

“Whether we have them on or off, it's not going to change anything about the level of commitment and closeness that we have with the people who we're sent there to support,” he added.

Over the weekend, Canada’s special forces helped Kurdish soldiers launch a major offensive against ISIS, but Prime Minister Justin Trudeau insists Canada’s role did not amount to combat.

Canadian troops were fired on while assisting with the two-day operation called Operation Evergreen, during which more than 5,000 Kurdish Peshmerga took 120 square kilometres of territory near Mosul.

Interim Conservative leader Rona Ambrose accused the Liberals in daily question period of “misleading Canadians about the nature of this mission,” which she said is now “more dangerous” and “is combat.”

While the Conservatives support “taking the fight to ISIS,” Ambrose said the “Liberals have put them into a more dangerous mission, tried to call it training and have withdrawn our CF-18 (fighter jets) that are a key pillar to degrade the enemy.”

Ambrose said the Liberals pulled the CF-18s deployed under the previous Conservative government for “purely political reasons.”

The prime minister responded by stating that “the mission in Iraq is support, assist … it is focused on training.”
“It is not a direct combat mission,” Trudeau added. “It is not a combat mission.”

Rouleau said the mission was carried out by the Kurds alone as part of Canada’s “advice and assist” mission. While he admits it was a “dangerous” operation, he said that no Canadians were injured and it was not combat.

“We are not conducting unilateral offensive or defensive operations,” he said. “We are not conducting combat operations as Canadian Armed Forces.”

Rouleau said the Canadian role involved “establish(ing) positions so we could provide over-watch” and “mak(ing) sure the Kurds are clearly communicating to their forces.”

 

[jollyjacktar]

....and from CTV:

Elbow-gate and now flag-gate.

 

[Oldgateboatdriver]

Well, at least the Peshmerga recaptured a reasonable amount of territory.

That's much better than most WWI assaults:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yZT-wVnFn60

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[Eye In The Sky]

This is what we focus on as a nation that is sending troops and aircrews against a group who slaughters people?  Flags?  :

Morons. 

 

[George Wallace]

>

I am sure, that there was no requirement for you, or any of your comrades, to get involved in this silliness flying at your altitudes....... [