elbStJoeMO
06-13-2002, 20:20
Sounds like Canadian Govt. too worrid about PC, Pass this on to everyone you can!
Wait due to 'Canadian protocol'
Michael Smith and Chris Wattie
National Post
) 2002 National Post Online
National Post Online is a Hollinger / CanWest Publication.
Michael Smith, National Post
OTTAWA BLOCKS U.S. EFFORT TO HONOUR OUR SNIPERS: Canadian snipers pose with
their 50-calibre rifle at base camp in Kandahar. Five of the men, whose
names the military withheld for security reasons, were nominated for Bronze
Stars by the U.S. for their prowess in fighting near Gardez. The sixth
joined the unit later in the war.
The United States wants to give two teams of Canadian snipers the Bronze
Star, a decoration for bravery, for their work in rooting out Taliban and
al-Qaeda holdouts in eastern Afghanistan, but Canadian defence officials put
the medals on hold, the National Post has learned.
The five snipers spent 19 days fighting alongside the scout platoon of the
United States Army's 187th "Rakkasan" brigade last month, clearing out
diehard fighters from the mountains near Gardez in eastern Afghanistan.
The Americans were so impressed by the Canadian snipers that they
recommended them for medals after the battle.
Sources told the Post that U.S. General Warren Edwards had already signed
the recommendation for five Bronze Stars for the sniper teams, drawn from
3rd Battalion, Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry, last month. Gen.
Edwards, deputy commanding general of coalition land forces in Afghanistan,
had recommended three Canadians for a Bronze Star and two for a Bronze Star
with distinction.
The night before the troops were to be awarded the medals, about three weeks
ago, Canadian military officials in Ottawa put the decorations on hold,
according to a U.S. Army source in Afghanistan.
The Canadian military told their U.S. counterparts to wait before awarding
the medals for reasons of "Canadian protocol."
Spokesmen for the Department of National Defence would not comment on the
award last night, but a source within the department said the medals are on
hold while the military decides whether or not to award the men a similar
Canadian decoration.
However, Dr. David Bercuson, director of the Centre of Military and
Strategic Studies at the University of Calgary, said the real reason for the
delay was likely official squeamishness.
"Canadians don't kill -- they don't even use the word kill; that's the
problem," he said. "I think the military is not sure that the government is
prepared to accept the fact, let alone celebrate the fact ... that Canadian
soldiers do sometimes end up killing people."
Many of the U.S. scouts who worked directly with the Canadian snipers were
incensed that the Canadians did not get the Bronze Star, the medal for
bravery the U.S. military usually gives foreign soldiers serving alongside
its troops.
The snipers themselves, all of whom spoke on condition their names not be
printed, have said they would prefer to receive a medal from their peers in
the field rather than from National Defence Headquarters in Ottawa.
Dr. Bercuson said there should be no objection to Canadians receiving a U.S.
decoration: As recently as the Gulf War, two Canadian CF-18 pilots were
given the Bronze Star.
He said the medals would be a badly needed boost to the morale of the almost
900 Canadian soldiers on the ground in Afghanistan, especially after four of
their comrades were killed and eight others wounded in last week's friendly
fire incident.
"Absolutely they should get it," Dr. Bercuson said. "It would be good for
the morale of the guys and good for the morale of the whole unit, and they
need a morale boost right now."
Canadian snipers were reportedly outstanding in the fighting around the
mountainous al-Qaeda bastion east of Gardez, code-named Operation Anaconda.
The battle pitted the two Canadian sniper teams against an enemy that
showered the assaulting coalition troops with mortars and machine-gun fire
as soon as they jumped from their helicopters.
One member of the team, a corporal from Newfoundland, said on his first
night in combat he and his partner got an al-Qaeda machine gun in their
sights as it was hailing bullets down on U.S. troops below.
Crawling up into a good position, they set up their .50-calibre rifle -- the
MacMillan Tac-50, a weapon the corporal compares to having superhuman power
in your hands. "Firing it feels like someone slashing you on the back of
your hockey helmet with a hockey stick."
When he hit his first target, an enemy gunman at a distance of 1,700 metres,
he said all that ran through his mind was locating his next target.
"All I thought of was Sept. 11th and all those people who didn't have a
chance and the American reporter who was taken hostage, murdered and his
wife getting the videotape of the execution; that is my justification."
A master corporal from Ontario, the lead sniper of his three-man team, said
when they first landed in the combat zone "our spider senses were
tingling.... It was night and we didn't know what to expect."
By daylight, after coming under enemy machine-gun fire, he managed to ease
his rifle barrel between two rocks and quickly located an enemy sniper
hiding behind a small piece of corrugated steel between two trees. He
guessed the distance at 1,700 metres and fired one shot through the metal,
killing the man instantly.
He said afterward he remembered thinking: "That's one less bullet that's
gonna be coming at us, one less person we have to think about."
During the next four days of fighting, the Newfoundland corporal set what is
believed to be a record for a long-distance shot under combat conditions,
hitting an enemy gunman at a distance of 2,430 metres.
The days of crawling, shooting and long hours waiting in cover left the
Canadian snipers exhausted. "You don't realize what you've done to your body
and how tired you are till it's all done. I think we slept 14 or 15 hours
when we got back," the master corporal said.
Three of them, along with U.S. special forces soldiers, also rescued a
company of the U.S. 101st Airborne Division that was pinned down by enemy
fire on the first day of Operation Anaconda.
They also participated in Operation Harpoon, with Canadian troops on "the
whale," a mountain overlooking the Shah-e-Kot valley where al-Qaeda fighters
were putting up stiff resistance.
Operation Harpoon, carried out in conjunction with Operation Anaconda,
consisted of 500 Canadian and 100 U.S. troops under the command of
Lieutenant-Colonel Pat Stogran, who leads Canadian Forces in Afghanistan in
the biggest ground offensive since the Korean War.
Lieutenant Justin Overbaugh, of the American scout platoon to which the
Canadian snipers were attached, said it was a pleasure to work with the
Canadian troops.
"Their professionalism was amazing," Lieut. Overbaugh said. "The Canadians
were a very large asset to the mission. I would have loved to have 12
Canadian sniper teams out there. I'd have no problems fighting alongside of
them again."
He said the Canadian snipers had equipment far superior to theirs. Their
rifles had longer range than the U.S. weapons and better high-tech sights.
Lieut. Overbaugh said if another mission comes up, he will request the
Canadian sniper teams be sent with his unit.
Senior military officials in Ottawa made a point of praising their work at
the time. "The sniper teams suppressed enemy mortars and heavy machine-gun
positions with deadly accuracy," Vice-Admiral Greg Maddison said after
Operation Harpoon ended. "Their skills are credited with likely having saved
many allied lives."
Wait due to 'Canadian protocol'
Michael Smith and Chris Wattie
National Post
) 2002 National Post Online
National Post Online is a Hollinger / CanWest Publication.
Michael Smith, National Post
OTTAWA BLOCKS U.S. EFFORT TO HONOUR OUR SNIPERS: Canadian snipers pose with
their 50-calibre rifle at base camp in Kandahar. Five of the men, whose
names the military withheld for security reasons, were nominated for Bronze
Stars by the U.S. for their prowess in fighting near Gardez. The sixth
joined the unit later in the war.
The United States wants to give two teams of Canadian snipers the Bronze
Star, a decoration for bravery, for their work in rooting out Taliban and
al-Qaeda holdouts in eastern Afghanistan, but Canadian defence officials put
the medals on hold, the National Post has learned.
The five snipers spent 19 days fighting alongside the scout platoon of the
United States Army's 187th "Rakkasan" brigade last month, clearing out
diehard fighters from the mountains near Gardez in eastern Afghanistan.
The Americans were so impressed by the Canadian snipers that they
recommended them for medals after the battle.
Sources told the Post that U.S. General Warren Edwards had already signed
the recommendation for five Bronze Stars for the sniper teams, drawn from
3rd Battalion, Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry, last month. Gen.
Edwards, deputy commanding general of coalition land forces in Afghanistan,
had recommended three Canadians for a Bronze Star and two for a Bronze Star
with distinction.
The night before the troops were to be awarded the medals, about three weeks
ago, Canadian military officials in Ottawa put the decorations on hold,
according to a U.S. Army source in Afghanistan.
The Canadian military told their U.S. counterparts to wait before awarding
the medals for reasons of "Canadian protocol."
Spokesmen for the Department of National Defence would not comment on the
award last night, but a source within the department said the medals are on
hold while the military decides whether or not to award the men a similar
Canadian decoration.
However, Dr. David Bercuson, director of the Centre of Military and
Strategic Studies at the University of Calgary, said the real reason for the
delay was likely official squeamishness.
"Canadians don't kill -- they don't even use the word kill; that's the
problem," he said. "I think the military is not sure that the government is
prepared to accept the fact, let alone celebrate the fact ... that Canadian
soldiers do sometimes end up killing people."
Many of the U.S. scouts who worked directly with the Canadian snipers were
incensed that the Canadians did not get the Bronze Star, the medal for
bravery the U.S. military usually gives foreign soldiers serving alongside
its troops.
The snipers themselves, all of whom spoke on condition their names not be
printed, have said they would prefer to receive a medal from their peers in
the field rather than from National Defence Headquarters in Ottawa.
Dr. Bercuson said there should be no objection to Canadians receiving a U.S.
decoration: As recently as the Gulf War, two Canadian CF-18 pilots were
given the Bronze Star.
He said the medals would be a badly needed boost to the morale of the almost
900 Canadian soldiers on the ground in Afghanistan, especially after four of
their comrades were killed and eight others wounded in last week's friendly
fire incident.
"Absolutely they should get it," Dr. Bercuson said. "It would be good for
the morale of the guys and good for the morale of the whole unit, and they
need a morale boost right now."
Canadian snipers were reportedly outstanding in the fighting around the
mountainous al-Qaeda bastion east of Gardez, code-named Operation Anaconda.
The battle pitted the two Canadian sniper teams against an enemy that
showered the assaulting coalition troops with mortars and machine-gun fire
as soon as they jumped from their helicopters.
One member of the team, a corporal from Newfoundland, said on his first
night in combat he and his partner got an al-Qaeda machine gun in their
sights as it was hailing bullets down on U.S. troops below.
Crawling up into a good position, they set up their .50-calibre rifle -- the
MacMillan Tac-50, a weapon the corporal compares to having superhuman power
in your hands. "Firing it feels like someone slashing you on the back of
your hockey helmet with a hockey stick."
When he hit his first target, an enemy gunman at a distance of 1,700 metres,
he said all that ran through his mind was locating his next target.
"All I thought of was Sept. 11th and all those people who didn't have a
chance and the American reporter who was taken hostage, murdered and his
wife getting the videotape of the execution; that is my justification."
A master corporal from Ontario, the lead sniper of his three-man team, said
when they first landed in the combat zone "our spider senses were
tingling.... It was night and we didn't know what to expect."
By daylight, after coming under enemy machine-gun fire, he managed to ease
his rifle barrel between two rocks and quickly located an enemy sniper
hiding behind a small piece of corrugated steel between two trees. He
guessed the distance at 1,700 metres and fired one shot through the metal,
killing the man instantly.
He said afterward he remembered thinking: "That's one less bullet that's
gonna be coming at us, one less person we have to think about."
During the next four days of fighting, the Newfoundland corporal set what is
believed to be a record for a long-distance shot under combat conditions,
hitting an enemy gunman at a distance of 2,430 metres.
The days of crawling, shooting and long hours waiting in cover left the
Canadian snipers exhausted. "You don't realize what you've done to your body
and how tired you are till it's all done. I think we slept 14 or 15 hours
when we got back," the master corporal said.
Three of them, along with U.S. special forces soldiers, also rescued a
company of the U.S. 101st Airborne Division that was pinned down by enemy
fire on the first day of Operation Anaconda.
They also participated in Operation Harpoon, with Canadian troops on "the
whale," a mountain overlooking the Shah-e-Kot valley where al-Qaeda fighters
were putting up stiff resistance.
Operation Harpoon, carried out in conjunction with Operation Anaconda,
consisted of 500 Canadian and 100 U.S. troops under the command of
Lieutenant-Colonel Pat Stogran, who leads Canadian Forces in Afghanistan in
the biggest ground offensive since the Korean War.
Lieutenant Justin Overbaugh, of the American scout platoon to which the
Canadian snipers were attached, said it was a pleasure to work with the
Canadian troops.
"Their professionalism was amazing," Lieut. Overbaugh said. "The Canadians
were a very large asset to the mission. I would have loved to have 12
Canadian sniper teams out there. I'd have no problems fighting alongside of
them again."
He said the Canadian snipers had equipment far superior to theirs. Their
rifles had longer range than the U.S. weapons and better high-tech sights.
Lieut. Overbaugh said if another mission comes up, he will request the
Canadian sniper teams be sent with his unit.
Senior military officials in Ottawa made a point of praising their work at
the time. "The sniper teams suppressed enemy mortars and heavy machine-gun
positions with deadly accuracy," Vice-Admiral Greg Maddison said after
Operation Harpoon ended. "Their skills are credited with likely having saved
many allied lives."