Judging battlefield decisions

For people in the Canadian Forces and others who regularly follow Canadian news Captain Robert Semrau was recently charged with and found not of second degree murder for allegedly firing two bullets into a mortally wounded Taliban fighter who was probably going to die a few minutes later.

I am required to be very careful about the things I write, especially to do with the Canadian Forces and so I will not be expressing a personal opinion, but I would like to point out that it is very easy to judge a battlefield decision which was made under extreme stress and danger, whilst you are far from the battlefield and sitting down perfectly safe at a desk.

Also I would like to point out that if I had been in a firefight and then came across a mortally wounded Taliban fighter who had one leg torn off, the other held on by skin only with a huge gaping stomach wound I am sure my urge to make a humanitarian decision would be very strong.  It would be especially strong if the wounded enemy would not have survived until the medevac helicopter arrived, and if calling in a helicopter would have put countless more lives at risk.

Scott Taylor wrote an article for the CF Magazine ‘Esprit  De Corps’ and in it he said:

While the gesture may have indeed been a sincere act of humanity, there is nothing in Canada’s criminal code or military justice system which allows military personnel to play God in any given life or death circumstance.

However, I can’t voice an opinion regarding Capt Semrau’s alleged actions which really sucks.

I am glad that a brilliant and decorated Canadian soldier was found not guilty of the charges.  I would have like to see him exonerated of all charges though.

Bad Touch in an Army Vehicle

This last weekend I finished my Driver Wheel course for the army. Been learning how to drive the military vehicles.  The LSVW is a good workhorse, but speed and reliability are definitely not its strong points.  The last course weekend before this one I was driving back to Shilo and the transfer case exploded – literally.  The metal is nearly an inch thick and it exploded like a grenade.  I had to retrieve the shards from the road and then got into the civvy pattern van while my instructor had to stay with it by the side of the road until a retrieval vehicle came from Shilo two hours later even though we were about ten minutes away when we broke down.

So this last weekend I was driving four other dudes up to Portage La Prairie in the crewcab civvy pattern truck.  We were jamming out to Macgill’s girlfriend’s iPod.  Bunch of dudes without any higher ups kinda allows the atmosphere to be more relaxed.

Bad Touch came on in the army vehicle… everybody was jamming out doing the upper half of the funky chicken dance move.  Then the dudes in the back were singing along to Taylor Swift.  With the good feeling in the air, good music, and awesome dudes… it was truly the best time I’ve had so far in the army.  The first time I felt truly relaxed and having fun.  That’s a good memory that will stay with me forever.

So in light of that trip up there… I put this video up:

BMQ Instructors

Anyone who’s been on BMQ (that’s basic training for Canada’s military) will almost certainly tell you they had problems with certain instructors. I know I definitely did.

No names obviously because that’s not professional but he weird thing is by the end of the course I ended up greatly respecting those instructors I had problems with.

For instance… during a classroom lesson I volunteered to go down and fill up the huge water can for everyone. I had to go to a different than normal water source because a Corporal told me the one we’d been using wasn’t drinkable water. So off I went. Once I got back to the classroom, everyone was waiting outside on a break saying I was in trouble. Turns out I’d left my C7 rifle beside my chair during the lesson and didn’t take it with me. I naturally assumed that buddy next to me would look out for me because I was doing something for everyone else. So when the class went on a break and buddy didn’t pick up my rifle the instructor took it. The remedial training I received was that Read more...

News on the military ‘n myself

The last two months have been very eventful… and after 23 years of dreaming I finally made it happen. A slight incident cut it short officially by only two days but I’m making that up at the end of December on a weekend.  After that I’m hoping to get on my artillery course, all driving courses, and especially communications courses so I can get on those badass radios and do radio stuff.

Whilst on BMQ (L)… I experienced the awesomeness of IMP (individual meal packs) which are issued to the Canadian Forces.  Call me ridiculous but I loved them.  That may be that I was deprived of home comforts whilst in the field… nevertheless I now fully believe all my instructors when they say that out of all the western military powers in Afghanistan, we have by far the best meals.  Apparently the Yanks and British soldiers will always try to trade meal parts.  The bread in a packet rocks!  If you’re interested… you can actually buy IMPs from a surplus store.

I’m also glad that I did not join the British Army.  Not because of any perceived lack of dashing bravery, ruthlessness or competence… but because of the mere factor that our (Brits) squaddies bomb around Afghanistan in rag top Land Rovers, and their armour plates only cover their heart and not other vital organs.

Being a Canadian soldier I now have a lot of restrictions on what I can or cannot post on my website regarding the Canadian Forces particularly… so you might see the tone of my blog posts change somewhat.

One of our boys has passed away… Pte Kyle Whitehead from 3PPCLI passed away when his vehicle rolled on the Big River First Nation. What’s really uncanny is that his best friend ‘Sgt. Darby Morin’ from the same First Nation in Saskatchewan – passed away on the same day in Afghanistan whilst serving with the U.S Army.

According to this news story… the upcoming Olympics is pushing the Canadian Forces to the edge.  This article says that 4000 Canadian soldiers will be guarding the Olympics to protect all the heads of state.  That along with the Afghanistan mission and the upcoming G8 summit in Huntsville is testing the limits of our endurance according to this story.  My answer to that would be to quote one of my instructors on basic training… ‘We’re Canadian soldiers – we win!’.  I know one thing that would solve problems like this…  boosting Canada’s defence budget from $18billion to about $36billion to increase the size of our armed forces.

Military stuff

As the time draws near, just a few days away, my interest in the military seems to be increasing. The American war machine claims to be the most efficient in the world, certainly the most funded… but they can’t seem to train their soldiers to stop sexual harassment or assault on its female personnel. There’s a story on BBC News which details female American soldiers carrying a knife to defend themselves against members of their own platoon.  My first thought was that the movie ‘The General’s Daughter‘ was fiction and that sort of thing didn’t happen in real life. It’s disgusting that the upper echelons in the U.S military damn well know this goes on but do diddly about it.

On another note… the Canadian Defence Minister  Peter Mackay sent me a letter a couple of weeks late regarding my application to join the Canadian Forces.  Would have been nice had it arrived in a timely fashion.  He also said recently in Parliament that Canada’s Federal Government wouldn’t accept any Cyclone MH-92 helicopters that were ordered for the Canadian Forces unless they have the ability to fly if the main gearbox loses oil pressure.  I think I’m going to volunteer for the Conservatives campaign next election.