Critics slam Afghan naval mission

Throwing sailors and air force members into ground combat a mistake, experts say

Alex Dobrota, Globe & Mail, 23 Oct 06

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With a report from Canadian Press

OTTAWA -- Throwing sailors or air force members into ground combat in Afghanistan would be a colossal mistake, military experts said yesterday.

The proposal from the Department of National Defence is an option offered to avoid sending major army units back to Kandahar for a second time. But the plan encountered nothing but hostile fire yesterday.

It could lower troops' morale, would take too long to implement, place too great a strain on navy and air force ranks and generally makes no sense, a variety of critics said.

"I just can't see how you turn a sailor into a soldier without taking as long to do it as it would take for you to take a recruit off the street," said David Bercuson, the University of Calgary professor who is one of Canada's leading military analysts.

"It's an act of desperation, there's no question about that," echoed Scott Taylor, editor of Esprit de Corps military magazine. "It's a whole different mentality, a different role, different everything from being a sailor to a combat arms soldier."

Canada has 2,300 army personnel on the ground in Afghanistan and has made a commitment to keep that presence until 2009. But the army is too small to fulfill that mission without calling some units for a second tour of duty, said Capt. Richard Langlois, a spokesman with DND.

The use of members from other services, known as "re-rolling," is being studied as the Forces seeks ways to avoid sending soldiers to Afghanistan more than once.

"It's just an option that was brought up to alleviate the rotation tempo," Capt. Langlois said.

The proposal came up in discussions between the office of Defence Minister Gordon O'Connor and that of Defence Staff General Rick Hillier some time before last week, Capt. Langlois said.

The idea was quickly dismissed yesterday by Jack Granatstein, professor emeritus of history at York University in Toronto, who said it could limit efficiency.

"Our regiments are close-knit groups and it's tough to put an outsider in," Mr. Granatstein said.

Currently, the Royal Canadian Regiment from Petawawa is almost midway through its rotation, which ends next February.

It will be replaced by a formation composed of several units across the country that is currently assembling at Camp Gagetown in New Brunswick, and then in August, 2007, the Royal 22nd Regiment (Vandoos), is scheduled to take over. That's when the army will have to start second tours if no other plan emerges.

If DND approves the re-rolling policy, the ground force could also draw reinforcements from the 9,900-strong navy and from the 13,600-strong air force.

But one military expert estimated the reassignment could take as long as 12 months, as navy and air force personnel would have to undergo extensive training to qualify for ground service.

For instance, sailors would be hard-pressed to switch their Zodiac patrol boats for a LAV III armoured personnel carrier, said Mr. Bercuson, who is director of the Centre for Military and Strategic Studies at the University of Calgary.

"They have to know not only how to run the bloody beast, but also how to keep it running under the most adverse of circumstances."

All Canadian Forces personnel undergo a 13-week-long boot camp before advancing to specialized training. While all of them receive some weapons training, most sailors and air force members serve for years without using a firearm, Mr. Bercuson said.

In the navy, only sailors that make up a ship's boarding party carry side-arms. And those sailors account for only a small percentage of the force, Mr. Bercuson said.

By contrast, mechanized battalions in Afghanistan operate in 10-strong sections that include a machine gunner, a LAV III driver, a navigator and a radio operator.

One of the most notable examples of sending sailors into ground combat happened during the Second World War, when entire units of the Soviet Red Navy were thrown into the slaughter of the Battle of Stalingrad.

In dire circumstances, even the Canadian army has reassigned some of its troops to different trades, though it seldom called upon the navy or the air force in recent history.

In 1944, many anti-aircraft gunners joined the ground offensive in Europe. And in 1994, several artillery and tank squadrons bolstered the infantry ranks of Canada's peace-keeping contingent in Bosnia.

Resorting to re-rolling to buttress the Afghanistan mission is a short-sighted policy, Mr. Granatstein said. "One of the hazards is that the navy is also short of personnel and that's not going to solve its problem," he said.

Capt. Langlois acknowledged the criticism.

"It has to be studied," he said. "Not everybody would be encouraged to re-roll, because there are some trades that are also desperate for people so you have to take that into account."

If re-rolling becomes a policy, it would happen only on a voluntary basis, he insisted. Sailors and air force members would be fully trained before being sent into combat. Preferably, they would fill administrative positions.

Extending the six-month tour of duty to nine months is also being studied, Capt. Langlois said.

But some sailors showed no reserve at trading their berets for helmets and rifles.

"It doesn't matter if we're in the navy, in the air force or the army -- we all signed the dotted line," said Petty Officer (2nd Class) Derek Speirs, a cook based in Halifax who has done a peacekeeping stint in the Golan Heights and is willing to serve in Afghanistan.

"We're all here to defend our country and that's what we're paid to do."