The CDS along with the Commander, Mobile Command told Defence Minister David Collenette that the CAR had been cleaned up; that further steps were under way; that the CAR should be continued; and that it should be sent, as scheduled, to Croatia where it was hoped the Regiment would take the opportunity to prove itself. The Minister overruled the recommendation.

The CDS acknowledged some shortcomings in continuing the CAR. The report to the defence minister conceded that [following public awareness of nine criminal charges against members who served in Somalia] public confidence in the Regiment was negligible, adding that the unit, if sent to Somalia, might conceivably over-react or under-react to crisis owing to the tremendous pressure it would be under to prove itself.

From all appearances and accounts, Collenette already knew what his decision was to be before he was briefed by the CDS on Monday. Immediately after the briefing, if he indeed heard it all, the minister told the CDS his decision. Within moments a press conference at the National Press Building on Wellington Street in Ottawa was under way. At the same time the public relations officer at CFB Petawawa announced that Brigadier-General Jeffries had been ordered to cancel his.

In this unprecedented disbandment of a CF regiment in disgrace by an elected official, the Chrétien government made news headlines on a global scale.

"We have to be concerned with the reputation of Canada and Canadians and the Canadian Armed Forces," said Collenette on Monday.

By its decision the Chrétien government has not improved Canada's image nor the reputation of the Canadian Forces but instead has indicated it believes the "problems" were epitomized by the two videos and are "systemic" within the Canadian Airborne Regiment. That means, we presume, that the globe is free to believe that anarchistic elements within the CAR created their own renegade command framework; were led by fanatical racists who traditionally thrashed prisoners and new recruits; and qualified only hard-core lunatics who are willing to eat anything from human faeces and vomit to urine-drenched bread.

Canada's Aerospace & Defence Weekly

Volume 9, Number 3 January 25, 1995

Comment:

Political correctness is an affliction of the 1990s. Going beyond the traditional and less eccentric concept of being courteous, political correctness permits a giant step away from reality in order to appease any or most of the special interest groups that have proliferated across the Canadian political landscape like rabbits at the height of mating season. (Repeat this at your own risk. It's not a politically correct thing to say.)

Political correctness killed the 700-strong maroon-bereted Canadian Airborne Regiment (CAR). It was not a matter of good politics as some pundits are saying.

Nor was it the answer to an unsolvable problem. There have always been nasty behaviour problems kindred to the type of tough nuts who volunteer for duty within an elite military `commando' or paratroop unit, the so-called "sharp edge" of any fighting force. The problems get fixed, if not by the current commander, then by the one the brass installs to sort things out.

The Ottawa decision under the National Defence Act that leaves an elected civilian official as the de facto leader of the military in our country may prove to be the stupidest decree relating to the military ever made by a Canadian government. It's a precarious decision.

Thirty-four-year CAF veteran General John de Chastelain, now Chief of the Defence Staff, has been overruled on a major decision by the Minister of National Defence and the Prime Minister, putting him at the end of his military career. An odd thing for Chrétien to do, as it was Chrétien who brought de Chastelain out of a healthy retirement posting in Washington to serve as CDS.

Statements made to the video camera operator in Somalia nearby Belet Huen in the spring of 1993 by unidentified commandos ranged from: "Let's get something straight... there's no one starving here... they never work, they're lazy, they're slobs and they stink..." to "I think it sucks... We ain't killed enough niggers yet."

That wasn't the nursing staff talking. Per se, these pumped-up combat arms soldiers were speaking about their "Enemy" during a war. Moreover, consider from whence it came. These chaps are prime young fighting specialists who have volunteered for rigorous training and duty involving jumping out of an aircraft and killing enemies immediately upon parachuting to the ground. The necessary training for this type of mission breeds a very hardened, well-disciplined, single-minded, professional killer, ready to do the dirty work of his country's diplomats and politicians once they have failed in their jobs, as happens all too often as history testifies. This training syllabus can also breed a small percentage of nearly uncontrollable ruthless zealots. For some missions, they can be useful. At the best of times though, they are a pain in the butt. That was predictable at the time the unit was sent to Somalia — a questionable decision for which there certainly are valid answers.

But never mind all that, it is not politically correct to suggest that Canada participates in wars, only peacekeeping missions. You can't talk about the necessary sharp edge to a fighting force. You can't talk about the ultimate purpose of an army. In fact it is politically incorrect to refer to our military as the Canadian Armed Forces (CAF). (It's poorly armed anyway.)

Just as politically correct Canadians referred to CF activities during Dessert Storm as being "defensive", completely ignoring the reality of a war or the impact a CF-18 makes when it drops its load of 500-pounders, Canadians refer to the war in Somalia as a "peacekeeping" operation. And pigs fly.

As to its validity, the perfidious government action of killing the CAR, and perhaps the CDS's career to boot, reeks of an extreme addiction to the pursuit of political correctness, something you can't expect a CAR Commando to understand if he is true to his training.

What is lost now is the sharp fighting edge of Mobile Command. But just to show how far out in left field Canada's opinion leaders have become, the CBC yesterday morning was saying that the decision has cast a doubt on Canada's future in peacekeeping operations. Wasn't there a question surrounding the decision to send a leading combat arms force like the CAR to Somalia? More media overkill.

If there is any humour in the whole affair, it's in watching pundits and media people dodging the subject matter of the videos in a politically correct fashion.

For example, it is politically correct to bash the Canadian Airborne Regiment because some members said "Nigger" during a 10-second portion of a `home video', without mentioning or showing that the remaining 11,340 and some odd seconds of the video portray heroic and humanitarian acts by Airborne members. Nobody gets caught by the growing mob of righteously indignant saying "Nigger" and gets away with it, no matter what good they have done in the balance.

It is not politically correct to express anything but abhorrence for the content of the videos in general. (Don't go nuts and say something like, "I wasn't any more offended than I am at the gory, bloody and violent scenes I see in the top-selling Hollywood flicks.")

It is also not politically correct to demand public flogging for the schlemiel who filmed the seconds of racist bilge leaving it unedited within a video chock-full of the good work the Airborne did in Somalia.

Nor is it politically correct to demand a televised beating for the snakes and wimps who gave the malignant video snipits to the media, representing that this was Airborne culture.

Further, it is not politically correct to demand the tarring of eagerly longing TV editors who seek, and invent if they can't find, a made-in-Canada O.J. Simpson look-alike scandal.

"Politically incorrect" barely describes the thought of inflicting a hazing upon those attention-seekers who for three years kept drumming up more dirt, in colour, on the same, overexposed, racist weirdos within the Airborne Regiment — not to mention the disingenuous Tory politicians who dodged the issues for political reasons, while feigning competence.

It is also politically incorrect to suggest that the stuff of the hazing video, in isolated cases, has always been so, mostly in less repugnant forms, but no less real for its rarity. Only the ballyhoo that the behaviour is legion — is new. And false.

Any human social anthropologist would tell you that hazing, or secret initiations, ranging from mild to outright disgusting, have been part of fraternal organizations for hundreds of years. And for as many years, leaders have done as much as look the other way, occasionally, when the need arises, stomping hard on anything that

Page

The Wednesday Report - Copyright 1995

January 25, 1995

begins to look dangerous or outrageous.

The initiation rituals of certain CAR Commandos are sick, but with variations on theme, far more common than anyone wants to admit. Where? Among cops; prison inmates; bike gangs; private schools; boy scouts; within universities; within armed services around the world, particularly in the United States; and even within the CF. We spoke to one witness who described his own recent initiation experiences being much worse, at Queen's University in Kingston, Ontario. Queens has since put an end to this.

The fact is that the CF did clean up the mess. About a year ago. But advances in technology that make it simple for even the least nimble-brained psychotic to own and operate his own video camera, combined with the multitudinous perception among TV viewers that "what I am seeing right now on TV is real! news! and now!", the problem outlived its solution even after subject soldiers had moved on.

This is not to belittle the problems faced by the Defence Minister. Each of the three Commando units within the CAR have hung albatrosses of varying weights around the Minister's neck. Events in Petawawa, Somalia, and Rwanda have been attributed to 1 Commando, 3 Commando, and 2 Commando in that order. But Collenette seems to have weathered the storm with the help of the CF leadership. Is there more to come? We believe so. We also believe that Chrétien, not Collenette, took the decision.

We fear that Jean Chrétien dumped an apparently competent Minister knee-deep in trouble with his precipitous decision to disband the Canadian Airborne Regiment in disgrace. Concurrently the Canadian Forces has taken a low-blow to its prestige and morale from its political master. A blow which is unprecedented and from which we predict the CF will not survive for years, if at all.

Chrétien, a man who learned his politics under a Prime Minister who hated the military with a passion, does not comprehend the impact of his decision. It hurts thousands of military people in a very significant manner, moreover it hurts the perception of Canada in the global community at a time when The Wall Street Journal is already calling Canada a third world republic over economic concerns.

There is an air of arrogance to the decision and the way it was done. Worse than anything, for the sake of political correctness and Chrétien's anger at the military for causing him grief during his all-important bid for world respect, the government's action condemns without a hearing, all 700 CAR members, thousands of former members, and all their families.

They should have come first. They are the people who make the difference. These persecuted unknowns are the ones who make Canada's all-volunteer military the best in the world, person for person. After this, fewer will fall in their footsteps.

There are a lot of unsung Guy Paul Morins out there this week.

Micheal John O'Brien

THE `HOME' VIDEOS THAT FINISHED OFF THE AIRBORNE

Defence Minister David Collenette announced on Monday that the Canadian Airborne Regiment will cease to exist. The recent release of two home videos made by members of the Regiment had fed the burning fire of outrage over criminal acts of members in Somalia in 1992.

One of the tapes, made before the unit deployed to Somalia, was taken outside a barrack block at CFB Petawawa. It shows scenes of drunken members of the Regiment's 1 Commando hazing a new group of individuals posted to the unit. They were forced into disgusting and humiliating acts. Some, their bodies smeared with excrement, are shown eating vomit and human waste. There are also depictions of oral sex, sodomy and other degrading activities.

The second tape was filmed in Somalia to record routine activities of 2 Commando during its tour of duty. Although the whole two hour-plus tape was released to the CBC, the broadcast media chose to air only mini-excerpts in which one or two members of the unit use racial slurs, thus adding to suggestions that racism ran rampant in the unit.

On Monday the Minister disbanded the CAR and announced that a full public inquiry into the circumstances surrounding the Regiment's deployment to Somalia and its conduct there will be headed by a civilian and will get under way as soon as the General Court Martial of Captain Michael Sox, now under way at CFB Petawawa, is concluded. The inquiry will have access to the video tapes; an earlier Board of Inquiry by Major-General Terry Liston; the proceedings of various courts martial of members of the Regiment; and military police investigations. The new inquiry has been invited to examine the CDS as well as other senior officers whose decision it was to send the CAR to Somalia in 1992.

THE CANADIAN AIRBORNE REGIMENT — A BRIEF BACKGROUND

The 28-year old Canadian Airborne Regiment came into being during the late 1960s in the midst of the confusion created by Paul Hellyer's unification of the three services into a single entity. Notwithstanding this,

The Wednesday Report - Copyright 1995

January 25, 1995

Page

the Regiment traces its roots back to WWII.

It was to provide parachute troops from a regular infantry battalion, but at the same time be something quite new and different. Unlike the British style battalions and brigades into which the Canadian army had traditionally been organized, it resembled a U.S. Army regimental combat team, vaguely reminiscent of the World War II Canada-U.S. Special Service Force — a glamorous unit subject of the Hollywood film "Devil's Brigade".

The unit was commanded by a Colonel and contained infantry, artillery and engineers as well as some logistics support elements. The infantry sub units were called Commandos. The units were larger than the usual infantry company, but smaller than a battalion. They were commanded by a Lieutenant-Colonel and each of the three drew its soldiers from the long established Regular Force infantry regiments: 1 Commando from the Royal 22nd Regiment (R22R); 2 Commando from Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry (PPCLI) and 3 Commando from The Royal Canadian Regiment (RCR).

At the time of its formation there was considerable concern in the country about the possibility of a violent attempt on the part of some Quebeçois to stage a full scale revolution in Canada and, while no specific tasks related to such an event were ever made public, there can be little doubt that some enthusiasts saw the CAR as a quick reaction force for use in internal security. The adoption of variations on the British Special Air Service (SAS) motto and crest added to this speculation.

By 1974, peacekeeping headed the priority list and a portion of the Regiment, organized along traditional infantry lines, was dispatched to Cyprus to take its turn in UNFICYP where it manned the Green Line at the time Turkey invaded. The Regiment took some casualties, acquitted itself well and generally added to the Canadian army's excellent reputation.

Over the years, as the Canadian Forces suffered cutbacks, the CAR was reduced in size and moved from its original home in Edmonton, Alberta to Petawawa, Ontario where some of its members established a reputation as tough guys in Ottawa valley drinking establishments.

By the spring of 1992, when the CAR was much the same size as any other infantry battalion, and Canada was collecting peacekeeping commitments at an accelerated rate, it was warned for peacekeeping service in UNOSOM (United Nations Operations in Somalia).

But, before the CAR could deploy to Somalia, U.N. Security Council resolution 794 called upon member states, using force if necessary, to ensure that humanitarian aid could be safely delivered to the people of that country. UNOSOM was suspended, the Regiment's task was changed and, in December 1992, the CAR was dispatched to the Belet Huen area of Somalia as part of the U.S.- led UNITAF (United Nations Task Force).

While the unit carried out its duties to the satisfaction of the Task Force commander and the United Nations it came under considerable criticism from the Canadian media when it was learned that in the process of using `force, if necessary', some of its members had shot and killed Somali nationals. Individuals in the Regiment were charged with various offences related to the shooting incidents but, given the active war conditions under which the incidents took place, were acquitted.

More disturbing was the suggestion, subsequently proven by evidence, including lurid photography, that at least one member of the Regiment had brutally tortured a prisoner to death. Most disturbing was the obvious fact that the torture had taken place within the confines of a small regimental compound, the victim had continuously called out in pain and despair, and no one had intervened because the sound of Somalians screaming out had become a familiar occurrence.

WEST COAST FLEET ACTIVITY

Four major vessels of the west coast fleet are engaged in a fleet exercise with ships of the U.S. Navy in the San Diego area. Commanded by Captain (N) Robert Clayton, the commander of MAROPSGRU TWO the task group includes HMCS Vancouver (FFH 331), HMCS Algonquin (DDH 283), HMCS Annapolis (DDH 265) and HMCS Provider (AOR 508 ). The group departed CFB Esquimalt last week and is expected to return in two to three weeks time.

In the meantime, HMCS Kooteny (DD 259), Commander Richard Dawes commanding, departed Esquimalt on Monday to conduct a patrol of British Columbia coastal waters. On board were members of the RCMP and the Federal Department of Fisheries. The patrol will take Kooteny to a number of small communities along the coast. Kooteny is due to return to Esquimalt on February 3.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, JUMBO

It's probably the only aircraft to become a household word. Remember when it made its first revenue flight 25 years ago January 21 when Pan American flew the giant ("Jumbo") Boeing 747 from New York

Page

The Wednesday Report - Copyright 1995

January 25, 1995

to London?

With 324 passengers on board, the 747 made the trip to Heathrow in six-hours and 10-minutes. The passengers, the first of whom made reservations more than two years prior, paid $210 (U.S.) for a one-way ticket in the economy section.

At that time the New York Times wrote, "The 747 will make it possible for more and more people to discover what their neighbours are like on the other side of the world." That prophecy has become a reality with more than 1.5 billion people flying on the 747 in the past 25 years, the equivalent of one out of every four people now living on Earth.

The only prediction that didn`t come to pass was a belief that the 747 would be in service for only 20 years. Airlines now have been operating the 747 for 25 years, and the 747s being delivered today will be flying well into the next century. To date, 83 operators fly 1,046 747s to nearly every corner of the world.

Adjusted for inflation, the Boeing Commercial Airplane Group has delivered $125 billion worth of 747s since the first airplane went into service. Sales to airlines outside of the United States have totalled nearly $102 billion, with nearly 93 percent of all 747 sales in the past five years to customers overseas.

The 747 also plays a vital role in supporting the world's aviation industry. Last year alone, the 747 programme provided an estimated 80,000 full-time jobs—32,800 at Boeing, 36,800 at other U.S. manufacturing companies and 10,400 at suppliers around the globe.

Today's 747-400 is available in maximum takeoff gross weights of up to 875,000 pounds (393,750 kg.). The plane typically carries 420 passengers in a three-class arrangement, and has a range of more than 8,000 miles (12,800 km.). The current model has a slightly larger wingspan with six-foot-high (1.8 meter high) winglets at the wingtips. The upper deck has grown by 23 feet (7 meters).

On the flight deck, digital avionics have replaced the 747-100's analog systems. Programmable displays and simpler cockpit procedures have reduced crew workload so only two officers are required. And, the 971 lights, gages and switches of the first 747 have been reduced to 365.

Meanwhile, the aircraft engine that powered one of the most significant changes in commercial aviation history also marks its 25th anniversary in service this month. When the Boeing 747 made its first revenue flight for Pan Am, four Pratt & Whitney JT9D engines took the airplane into the sky. It was the first commercial turbo fan with a high bypass ratio. The engine's fan diameter of 92 inches was equal to nearly two- thirds the length of the whole engine. This provided a bypass ratio of five-to-one; five times as much air passed around the core of the engine as went through it. The JT9D thus gave the then unheard of thrust of 43, 600 pounds with outstanding fuel efficiency and relatively low noise.

Pratt build three thousand JT9Ds. The last model achieved 56,000 pounds of thrust with an eight percent improvement in fuel burn over the original. Some 2,800 still fly every day around the world on over 600 wide body aircraft operated by 68 airlines. After that first 747, airlines picked the engine for McDonnell Douglas DC-10s, Airbus A300/A310s and Boeing 767s. The JT9D family has flown more than 130 million hours. Pratt stopped building the JT9D in 1990.

PATRIOT MISSILE CONTINUES TO ENJOY POPULARITY

Raytheon Company has received contracts totalling more than $123 million for the Patriot air defence system.

The U.S. Army Missile Command has awarded a $106.9 million contract for engineering services in support of the Patriot air defence system inventories for the U.S. Army and the governments of The Netherlands, Germany, Japan, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Israel. These engineering activities include logistic support, quality assurance, configuration management, software engineering, testing and programme management. The contract extends through the balance of 1995. The effort will be distributed among Raytheon facilities at Bedford and Tewksbury, Mass. and other locations in both the United States and overseas.

Additionally, the U.S. Army Missile Command awarded a Patriot Missile Support Centre contract for $16.6 million. The support centre will provide both technical and logistics support to the fielded Patriot Missile Facilities in Texas, Germany and The Netherlands. Technical support will also be provided to the U.S. Army Missile Command at Redstone Arsenal in Huntsville, Alabama as well as to the NATO Maintenance and Supply Agency in Luxembourg. This effort will be distributed among Raytheon's Massachusetts facilities in Bedford, Tewksbury, Andover and Burlington. Additional effort will be performed at various overseas locations.

FIRST IN THE WORLD: CAE BOEING 777 FLIGHT SIMULATOR CERTIFIED

CAE has reason to be proud. The company's Boeing 777-200 Full Flight Simulator has received FAA certification, the earliest certification of a comparable device for any new aircraft programme.

The Wednesday Report - Copyright 1995

January 25, 1995

Page

CAE Electronics Ltd. delivered a Boeing 777 Full Flight Simulator (FFS) and Flight Training Device (FTD) to the Boeing Commercial Airplane Group's new customer services training centre in Seattle, Washington. A 777 Maintenance Training Simulator (MTS) and a Cabin Management Simulator (CMS) - for training flight attendants in cabin systems and procedures - were delivered in June 1994 and have been used for training service since the middle of August. United Airlines was the first 777 customer to begin maintenance training on Boeing's CAE device. The FTD was ready for training November 1, 1994.

The deliveries signify the introduction of new technologies and the simulators are an exemplary result of the working together partnership concept used by Boeing in the design and development of the 777 aircraft itself.

The FFS, equipped with CAE's series 600 motion system and advanced instructor facility, is also the first to use a CAE 5 channel 210 degree MAXVUE visual system. This is a key element because it matches the very wide window layout of the 777 aircraft and provides a high resolution and broad field-of-view in all directions. In addition to providing peripheral cues which assist depth perception, pilots learning circling approaches can keep an airport runway in sight at all times. The FFS, FTD and CMS are located at Boeing's new Customer Services Training Centre in Seattle, Washington.

ROLLS-ROYCE CANADA NOW HAS JAR 145 ACCEPTANCE.

An agreement signed recently between Transport Canada Aviation and the European Joint Aviation Authority has resulted in Rolls-Royce Canada being recognized as an acceptable source for maintenance of European-operated aircraft and components.

To comply with the Joint Aviation Requirements (JAR), Rolls-Royce Canada had to produce and secure approval of a detailed 12 page supplement to the existing Transport Canada Aviation Maintenance Control Manual. The approval process then culminated in a visit by a 5 person Maintenance International Standards Team, comprising members of both the Joint Aviation Authority and Transport Canada, to Rolls-Royce Canada's facility in Lachine, Quebec.

Rolls-Royce Canada is one of five business units operating under the Rolls-Royce Industries Canada Inc. umbrella. With more than 3,000 employees across the country and annual sales in excess of $500 million, Rolls-Royce Industries Canada Inc. is one of the largest offshore investments of parent company Rolls-Royce plc, based in London, England. Rolls-Royce plc is a diversified, high technology engineering group operating worldwide in aerospace and industrial power markets.

CANADAIR RJ ORDER BOOK GETS BOOST FROM FRANCE

Brit air of Morlaix, France has purchased three additional Canadair Regional Jet aircraft from Bombardier Regional Aircraft Division.

Brit air's initial order for three Canadair Jet aircraft was announced in early October last year. The airline's RJ deliveries will begin in June 1995 and will be completed in late 1996.

Brit air president Xavier Leclercq plans to enhance his airline's operation with introduction of the Canadair Jet fleet. "Canadair Jet service will allow Brit air to provide better service to its customers on longer routes replacing turboprops," he said. "This will allow us to consolidate some of our current markets with the faster, quiet Canadair Jet," he explained.

The Canadair Regional Jet order book is now raised to 104 aircraft: 52 firm backlogged orders and 52 delivered aircraft.

CALENDAR

February 15 — The winter meeting of the Industrial Benefits Association of Canada will be held at the Ottawa Congress Centre, 55 Colonel By Drive, Ottawa, Ontario. The meeting will deal with subjects relating to Canadian industrial regional benefit policy, international offset and government reorganization. The invited guest speaker is the Honourable John Manley, Minister, Industry Canada. The meeting is open to all who wish to attend, however pre-registration is a requirement. For further information contact Bob Brown at 1538 Featherstone Drive, Ottawa, K1H-6P2, Tel: 613-733-0704 or Fax: 813-945-3367.

Page

The Wednesday Report - Copyright 1995

January 25, 1995