by Dan Black

Disaster Assistance Response Team members deliver medical supplies in Honduras.

Shortly before noon on Dec. 4, 2000, Captain Peter Scott was watching a cloud of dust rise from behind the wheels of a civilian transport truck that had just delivered a stack of wooden fence posts. As the truck disappeared from view, Scott wondered how strange it must have been for the driver to leave the only white guy for miles sitting on a pile of lumber in the middle of an African field.

The 41-year-old from Kingston, Ont., had never been to Africa before, let alone to the tiny country of Eritrea wedged between the Red Sea, Sudan, Ethiopia and the tiny speck of a nation called Djibouti. And so while he sat there waiting for several other team members to arrive from the nearby village of Dek’emhare, it occurred to Scott that he was the only Canadian soldier holding ground on the site that would become the main Canadian camp for the United Nations Mission in Ethiopia and Eritrea, UNMEE. The camp would also serve as a logistics centre for Dutch peacekeepers.

Scott was also quite aware of the fact that he was part of something new: The first-ever Canadian Forces Theatre Activation Team, TAT.

Based 10,500 kilometres away in Kingston, the team’s job was to prepare the ground for a large follow-on contingent of peacekeepers, including approximately 460 Canadian Forces personnel that would arrive Dec. 23. In just a few weeks, Scott and approximately 75 other team members would turn a dry field into a camp that would contain the same type of facilities found in small Canadian towns. It would have water, electricity, roads, sewers, satellite communications and computer networks, office space, maintenance facilities, fuel storage, warehousing, security and a heliport.

“We went from a dirt field to an 800-person camp in three weeks,” explained the team’s commanding officer, Lieutenant-Colonel Don Young. “Of course there were glitches, but you work through those until you get the job done.”

Some of the early glitches occurred in Canada before the team’s aircraft left Canadian Forces Base Trenton. Scott, who served as the trip’s chalk commander, said the initial group of about 60 personnel easily slipped away from Kingston during the wee hours of Dec. 1. As chalk commander, it was Scott’s job to make sure all personnel and weapons arrived safely in Africa. The short drive to Trenton was flawless and everyone was looking forward to an early departure.

Scott said problem No. 1 occurred when it was realized that the combination of military cargo, weapons and personal kit weighed more than what the plane could carry. The solution was to prioritize the cargo and then off-load the less important items. Problem No. 2 was the flight delay. The plane, said Scott, was slated to depart at 6:45 a.m., but by 9:45 a.m. it was still on the tarmac awaiting the requisite approval to land in Asmara, the capital of Eritrea.

Scott said for the flight crew to have enough flying time to complete the first leg of the trip, the plane had to leave Trenton before 10 a.m. Scott directed the plane to proceed to Greece and, if necessary, await approval there, but just as he made that decision, the tower cleared the plane for takeoff with 15 seconds to spare.

To fully understand why TAT exists and why it represents a major shift in thinking when it comes to Canadian Forces operations overseas, it is necessary to look at the developments that led to a larger change within the CF in June 2000. That is when a new formation–the Canadian Forces Joint Operations Group, CFJOG–was launched.

A background paper prepared for the media by the Department of National Defence states the need for a joint operations group became clear during the 1990s when the pace of complex military operations quickened worldwide. Those years also saw a lot more emphasis placed on high-risk enforcement and peace building operations.

Military analysts say the need for a joint operations group has existed since the early 1970s when Canada had military personnel in the Middle East as part of United Nations Emergency Force II. “In 1974–during the early stages of UNEF II in the Sinai–significant problems arose over communications between the Chief of Defence Staff in Ottawa, and the commander of the Canadian contingent in the UN force,” said Sean Henry of the Conference of Defence Associations. “This was serious since Canada was providing the core of the UN logistics capability, but could not even support itself–and the headquarters in Ottawa had difficulty in responding because it did not know what was happening.”

Henry said more difficulties arose during the Persian Gulf War in 1991 when a Canadian commodore was placed in command of all Canadian assets in that theatre. “He did not have a proper joint staff or a proper joint headquarters from which to operate. Moreover, the problems persisted in National Defence Headquarters which still did not have the capability to properly direct joint operations overseas.”

Similar problems occurred when Canadian UN operations in the Balkans became much more than “merely blue beret peacekeeping,” added Henry. “In addition to the normal command and control problems, there were once again significant logistics and other support shortfalls.”

However, Henry suspects the catalytic event that led to the creation of a Canadian joint headquarters was the dismal performance of Canada in its attempts to become the lead nation in organizing a UN operation in Zaire in 1996. “This pointed out clearly that Canada was in over its head when it came to controlling joint ops–let alone combined ops which is the operational control of contingents from more than one nation.”

Directives from NDHQ in the mid-1990s provided a temporary fix by including a small cadre to provide that function within 1st Canadian Division Headquarters at Kingston. In 1997–after hearing more calls for change–a working group was formed to examine the issue. Two years later it was agreed that the creation of a rapidly deployable organization, capable of commanding and controlling joint operations, was in the best interests of the CF.

And so on June 1, 2000, a new formation known as the Canadian Forces Joint Operations Group was created. Located in Kingston, CFJOG was built largely upon the former 1st Canadian Division Headquarters and Signal Regiment, 1 CDHSR, and 79 Communication Regt. The formation is staffed with navy, army and air force personnel and includes two assigned units, namely the Canadian Forces Joint Headquarters, CFJHQ, and the Canadian Forces Joint Signal Regt., CFJSR. Both former units–1 CDHSR and 79 Communication Regt.–were officially stood down on the same day CFJOG was created.

In an interview with Legion Magazine last June, CFJOG’s commanding officer, Colonel Jim Calvin, said the time had definitely come for the formation. He said with its “high readiness and depth of capability” the CFJOG will become “an indispensable tool” when it comes to commanding forces abroad. Indeed, before becoming Canada’s Chief of Defence Staff, General Ray Henault, referred to the new formation as the “911 organization” for deployed operations.

“The group must be capable of commanding air, land or sea units in operations from low-level humanitarian operations–in the case of natural disasters–right on up to the more complex operations, including combat situations. So what we are is a command and control organization that must be prepared to operate in a broad range of missions…”.

The headquarters unit has a deployable core staff of 128 military personnel and three civilians. Its job is to provide that operational level command and control capability Calvin talks about. Roughly 18 per cent of the CFJHQ’s staff is navy, while 30 per cent is air force and roughly 50 per cent army. Within the signals regiment, Calvin has approximately 675 men and women from all three services. Its job is to handle the highly technical communications equipment.

“I have a huge spread of trades people and the challenge is to bring all those smart people with the right skill to the right place and time,” explained Lt.-Col. Dave Neasmith, the commanding officer of CFJSR.

“I went to Eritrea just before Christmas and I am very proud of what they did to help activate the theatre,” said Neasmith. “In the past when the contingent commander landed on the ground he usually had all sorts of chaos going on…. When Colonel Jim Simms arrived in Eritrea with his large group of peacekeepers he had an office, a telephone and a computer waiting for him. We had all that and a lot more up and running in short order.”

The Theatre Activation Team is just one of CFJHQ’s tasks and some observers believe its creation is largely in response to the traumatic events that occurred during peacekeeping missions in Somalia, Croatia and Rwanda.

Theatre activation, explained Young, supports the quick and efficient deployment and employment of CF personnel into a new area or theatre of operations. At any one time–day or night–TAT personnel could be on short notice to move to any location in the world to set up shop. The team that went to Eritrea was comprised of personnel trained in engineering, communications, logistics, combat arms, medicine and law and administration.

Its activities include dealing with non-governmental organizations, aid organizations and any allied forces that may be in theatre. It involves site reconnaissance, contract negotiations as well as establishing a reception and dispatch centre for the Canadian contingent. “The guys who arrived on the 23rd of December–as part of the national command element–were absolutely awed by how well established the camp was,” added Young.

The camp’s readiness enabled the peacekeepers to get on with the job of monitoring the implementation of a cessation of hostilities agreement signed by Ethiopia and Eritrean forces in June 2000. The two sides had been involved in a vicious border dispute that had claimed many lives. Major tasks for members of the Canadian contingent included conducting patrols and manning observation posts and checkpoints.

Young said the team removed a lot of the risk associated with deploying a large group of soldiers in an area known for its hostilities.

Besides the TAT, the Canadian Forces Joint Headquarters and Joint Signal Regt. maintains the headquarters for the Disaster Assistance Response Team, DART. This team is comprised of 195 personnel stationed at CFB Petawawa and includes an engineer troop of about 40, as well as medical, defence and security, and logistics platoons.

“Our response time for the DART is 48 hours,” explained the team’s former commanding officer, Lt.-Col. J.C. Juneau. “The team is really a package of individuals, equipment, vehicles and specific capabilities that can be deployed anywhere. When we go into these places we bring a fairly robust capability in terms of medical, water purification, some level of engineering support and also a fairly robust suite of communications.”

Team members went to Honduras in 1998 following a devastating hurricane that triggered deadly floods and mud slides. In 1999 it was in Turkey.

Bombardier Patricia Grondin, who is based at Petawawa, was with the team in Turkey shortly after the quake. “I can tell you the destruction was incredible. There were seven- and eight-storey buildings reduced to rubble. We did things like ensure the supply of fresh water. We gave medical aid and made note of the buildings that were still standing. Another huge task involved setting up tent cities….”

Grondin’s only criticism is she believes the team could have been there sooner. “We were there about two to three weeks after the quake. If we had been there earlier we could have helped a lot more people…. This–as far as I know–wasn’t a military problem. It was higher up. We were under the impression at the time that the government said we had to wait because there were supply issues to deal with.” In Honduras the team established a medical centre and treated everything from minor cuts to more serious cases involving injury and disease.

The concept for the DART crystalized in 1994 after the CF deployed 2 Field Ambulance to Rwanda to help refugees suffering from the ravages of war. Despite all good intentions, the relief effort arrived too late–after a cholera epidemic had peaked. As a result, the Canadian government recognized the need for a rapid-response team that could provide humanitarian aid.

Sean Henry believes the CFJOG is a positive development that is long overdue, but he is concerned about what effect the CF’s manpower shortages will have. “The question I would ask is whether or not the CFJOG has all the right people it needs to do its job all the time? It is, after all, a high-powered organization and if it deploys people overseas on short notice it better have the personnel and it better know what it is doing. Similarly, it will have little opportunity to conduct live exercises due to personnel shortages throughout the Canadian Forces, especially in the army.”

Young believes the Theatre Activation Team’s achievement in Eritrea is a strong indication of the quality of CFJOG’s units and personnel. “I went back for the mission close-out planning last March and the best comment I heard came from the chief administrative officer of the UN–a Russian ex-army officer. He said the Canadians have done in three weeks what the UN could do in two years.”

Speaking for Canadian Forces Joint Signal Regt., Neasmith said people like working for his unit. “But even with that the attrition and the recruiting don’t balance. We have far more attrition than we have recruiting and so a lot of my positions are at the younger ranks…. Recruiting is a huge challenge and if it doesn’t get fixed in the next year or two there won’t be many people left and it will be an old working force.”

Henry agrees and said last September that the attrition rate reflects the general malaise across the forces. He and others also remind us of another problem in that the army, for instance, does not have a fully-equipped, fully-trained and fully-manned brigade group that could be deployed within a short period of time to fight. Henry, for one, also says even the ability to depoly a fully-equipped battalion group is in doubt.