VANCOUVER (CP) - Canada's military mission in Afghanistan will be a testing ground for future leaders of the armed forces, entrenching a change that began at the end of the Cold War, says one of Canada's most celebrated soldiers.
Retired major-general Lewis MacKenzie says despite public concern about casualties, the military will come out stronger from the Afghan experience and those who served there "will have a leg up on their colleagues down the road."
Canada has about 2,200 military personnel deployed in its operations to suppress the Taliban in and around Kandahar.
Unless the government does an about-face, thousands more Canadian soldiers will rotate through the mission over the next few years.
Their performance will influence, accelerate or kill their future careers and the Afghan veterans who rise up the ranks will help shape Canada's armed forces.
But a spokeswoman at National Defence headquarters says there's no crush of volunteers looking to burnish their personnel files with a stint in Kandahar.
"There hasn't really been a bunch of people saying 'I want to go to Afghanistan so I can further my promotion possibilities.,'" says Cmdr. Denise Laviolette, chief of public affairs at military personnel, the office that handles promotion and selection boards.
The military wants well-rounded leaders, she says, which means along with overseas deployment, holding staff appointments, serving as training instructors and undertaking academic and language studies.
Only about 400 soldiers in Canada's Kandahar contingent belong to the "sharp end" - the units conducting actual combat patrols. The rest are in crucial logistical and planning positions.
"I would be very, very surprised if there wasn't a long waiting list, or at least a long list they had to choose from, to pick those staff officers and (non-commissioned officers) going over there," says MacKenzie, who rose to fame leading a United Nations force during the Bosnian civil war in 1992.
He says that since the end of the Cold War in 1989, the Canadian military establishment has rediscovered the value of commanders with field experience, especially if it's gained in hot zones such as Kandahar.
"You're damn right it does (make a difference) and it should, too," says MacKenzie.
"We now have a cabal of folks at the top that understand what it's like in the field and understand operational requirements. That wasn't necessarily the case with previous chiefs."
A casual look at the biographies of Canada's 80-odd generals, admirals and commodores shows many now in key positions held operational commands during some of Canada's more dangerous overseas missions such as Bosnia, the Kosovo intervention and Afghanistan.
The trend is epitomized by Gen. Rick Hillier, who went from heading the NATO-led force in Kabul in 2003 to becoming chief of the defence staff last year.
The depth of operational experience isn't suprising, says Laviolette, given the demand for Canada's military in tense parts of the world after the collapse of the Soviet Union.
"These days there's sailors walking around with medals for deployment to Cambodia, to Bosnia, to everywhere else in the world," she says. "That's just an indication of how things have changed since the end of the Cold War."
MacKenzie, whose 36-year career included a stint in military personnel at headquarters, recalls a time the armed forces played down performance in UN missions, which were usually commanded by foreign generals.
"I can tell you that until the end of the Cold War, in actual fact deployment - volunteering for and serving on operational duty - was a detriment to your career primarily because while you were serving in those operational theatres, your assessments were being written by foreigners," he says.
For anyone interested in the top jobs, time spent away from the orbit of National Defence HQ was time wasted.
"Nobody heard about you because there was nothing much happening until the end of the Cold War when it was no longer peacekeeping and things were getting nasty," says MacKenzie.
That changed partly because of MacKenzie's success in the crumbling former Yugoslavia, especially in opening Sarajevo airport to humanitarian aid.
"Because the contingent and the Canadians received such positive press it then became flavour of the month to try and get on an operational tour and get some positive coverage, not just in the media but amongst your colleagues too," says MacKenzie.
http://start.shaw.ca/start/enCA/News/NationalNewsArticle.htm?src=n041613A.xml
Retired major-general Lewis MacKenzie says despite public concern about casualties, the military will come out stronger from the Afghan experience and those who served there "will have a leg up on their colleagues down the road."
Canada has about 2,200 military personnel deployed in its operations to suppress the Taliban in and around Kandahar.
Unless the government does an about-face, thousands more Canadian soldiers will rotate through the mission over the next few years.
Their performance will influence, accelerate or kill their future careers and the Afghan veterans who rise up the ranks will help shape Canada's armed forces.
But a spokeswoman at National Defence headquarters says there's no crush of volunteers looking to burnish their personnel files with a stint in Kandahar.
"There hasn't really been a bunch of people saying 'I want to go to Afghanistan so I can further my promotion possibilities.,'" says Cmdr. Denise Laviolette, chief of public affairs at military personnel, the office that handles promotion and selection boards.
The military wants well-rounded leaders, she says, which means along with overseas deployment, holding staff appointments, serving as training instructors and undertaking academic and language studies.
Only about 400 soldiers in Canada's Kandahar contingent belong to the "sharp end" - the units conducting actual combat patrols. The rest are in crucial logistical and planning positions.
"I would be very, very surprised if there wasn't a long waiting list, or at least a long list they had to choose from, to pick those staff officers and (non-commissioned officers) going over there," says MacKenzie, who rose to fame leading a United Nations force during the Bosnian civil war in 1992.
He says that since the end of the Cold War in 1989, the Canadian military establishment has rediscovered the value of commanders with field experience, especially if it's gained in hot zones such as Kandahar.
"You're damn right it does (make a difference) and it should, too," says MacKenzie.
"We now have a cabal of folks at the top that understand what it's like in the field and understand operational requirements. That wasn't necessarily the case with previous chiefs."
A casual look at the biographies of Canada's 80-odd generals, admirals and commodores shows many now in key positions held operational commands during some of Canada's more dangerous overseas missions such as Bosnia, the Kosovo intervention and Afghanistan.
The trend is epitomized by Gen. Rick Hillier, who went from heading the NATO-led force in Kabul in 2003 to becoming chief of the defence staff last year.
The depth of operational experience isn't suprising, says Laviolette, given the demand for Canada's military in tense parts of the world after the collapse of the Soviet Union.
"These days there's sailors walking around with medals for deployment to Cambodia, to Bosnia, to everywhere else in the world," she says. "That's just an indication of how things have changed since the end of the Cold War."
MacKenzie, whose 36-year career included a stint in military personnel at headquarters, recalls a time the armed forces played down performance in UN missions, which were usually commanded by foreign generals.
"I can tell you that until the end of the Cold War, in actual fact deployment - volunteering for and serving on operational duty - was a detriment to your career primarily because while you were serving in those operational theatres, your assessments were being written by foreigners," he says.
For anyone interested in the top jobs, time spent away from the orbit of National Defence HQ was time wasted.
"Nobody heard about you because there was nothing much happening until the end of the Cold War when it was no longer peacekeeping and things were getting nasty," says MacKenzie.
That changed partly because of MacKenzie's success in the crumbling former Yugoslavia, especially in opening Sarajevo airport to humanitarian aid.
"Because the contingent and the Canadians received such positive press it then became flavour of the month to try and get on an operational tour and get some positive coverage, not just in the media but amongst your colleagues too," says MacKenzie.
http://start.shaw.ca/start/enCA/News/NationalNewsArticle.htm?src=n041613A.xml
