Richard Lawrence — espritdecorps

Social Media Manager

Social Media Manager

CDAI 2025 CONFERENCE ON SECURITY & DEFENCE Chat with the Ambassador of Ukraine

By Richard Lawrence

On February 24th, 2022, Russia, illegally, without reason or provocation, invaded the sovereign country of Ukraine without warning.  I say without warning but Russia had been amassing troops along the border for months (ostensibly for military exercises) and President Biden did publically warn the world that this was going to happen days before.  Notwithstanding, Russia again became aggressive to the European family of nations and has dominated world headlines for the last three years.  Yuliya Kovaliv arrived in Canada one month after the invasion as Ambassador of Ukraine to Canada and it is fitting that the CDAI 2025 Conference ended with a chat between Kevin Newman and her.

At first, Mr. Newman asked her to speak as to how Ukraine would move forward given that the USA had just stopped the flow of equipment, money, and the sharing of intelligence. Amb. Kovaliv reflected back to when the war started three years ago when Ukraine was in a much weaker position with fewer weapons, a small, relatively untrained, army, and not much intelligence at all.  She noted that even in this relatively poor position, the people of Ukraine stopped the much larger Russian army and made great use of USA Javelin missiles and UK NLAWs (Next-generation Light Anti-armour Weapons).

Ukraine is now in a much stronger position despite the loss of so many soldiers and equipment, thanks largely to the European Union (EU) and the USA. But, going forward, Amb. Kovaliv noted that already 40% of the weapons used by Ukraine are made right in Ukraine, 30% come from EU allies, and the remaining 30% for the USA.  The budget delay in the USA also hurt as the flow of money to buy weapons was stopped. Losing the support of the USA will definitely hurt but there are other things to consider.

As mentioned, Ukraine is now a stronger nation militarily and the people, although exhausted, have a strong resolve to see the battle through.  They also have a much greater understanding of Russian tactics allowing Ukraine to deploy forces more effectively and they still get intelligence from EU/NATO sources.  The EU is still supporting them with money and equipment so although the withdrawal of USA support is hurting, it is not just yet the death knell that Trump indicates.  Amb. Kovaliv also noted that Ukraine is not just fighting Russia but is in fact fighting three nuclear powers: Russia, Iran, and North Korea with the North Koreans taking enormous losses.

She then went on to talk about the new reality of war for all militaries.  For example regarding the North Korean troops, although they are taking losses, they are also gaining valuable battlefield experience with is missing in all the EU/NATO countries.  That experience cannot be taught but gained only by getting into the fray.  The use of artificial intelligence (AI) on the battlefield is ever evolving and Ukraine is known as a world leader in information technology and computer systems.  Ukraine is also the only one of the allies that has AI experience in the ever changing landscape of active battle.

The use of drone technology also figures into the new war sphere in that a $1500 drone can take out a tank costing $10s of millions of dollars.  The increasing use of drones has effectively frozen the current front lines because each side is using them to control their territory and not allowing any enemy movement.  Add to this that Iranian supplied drones to Russia are upgraded with every iteration as they learn what works and what doesn’t makes their drone technology more dangerous and effective.  The sooner that the allies realize that the current EU/Nato plans/doctrine regarding drones is already outdated, more effective decisions can be made about how to combat them in the future.

Mr. Newman then asked if EU/NATO members who have not invested in their traditional/conventional defence capabilities and not currently spending enough on defence can get to an operational stance considering that the Russians are willing to throw whatever they can at it.

Amb. Kovaliv said that she feels it depends a lot on leadership and the courage to make decisions.  Discussions are ongoing about the spending of 2% GDP in all the capitals in Europe and also discussing 5% GDP, cutting red tape in terms of the investment, talking to private sector to get roadmaps and discover obstacles.  Now is the time for actions, to explain the threat to people, and to share openly with the people the risks and the need for urgency.

Many people think about defence spending in the theoretical realm because they don’t see the military, suffer themselves from bombings, and only see the bases.  Rather than see the military as an expense they should think of it as a huge investment in their manufacturing industrial base because defence is a huge industry.  Each country is currently significantly increasing defence investments so the question is where they will spend the money.  Ukraine started to build capacity in defence production and training to NATO standards with NATO assistance but it wasn’t enough at that time.

Now, defence industry currently wants predictability for the next ten years.  This is impossible.  Yet industry won’t do anything without long term contracts.  It does not work that way today.  Those who are quicker, those who are willing to take a risk, those who are ready to compete are the ones who will get the contracts.  As an example, she used Roshel of Canada who makes the Senator APC/MRAP for the Ukrainian military.

Roshel started around the same time as the war and has currently delivered over 1500 Senator APC/MRAP vehicles to Ukraine and have gone so far as to open a manufacturing plant in Ukraine.  Every 2nd vehicle made in Canada goes to Ukraine and 1/3 of workforce is Ukrainian refugees. To make sure they got the vehicle right, Roshel sent operators to the field to collect data, take pictures, and send home real-life usage reports. They have established in-country partnerships for overhaul/repair.  Roshel (Canada) always keep 100 vehicles in inventory so that when Ukraine sends in an order, they can be delivered within a month.  This is the future.  Those who wait for 10 year contracts will be out of the completion.  And the expenditure of military hardware will be huge.

She then alluded to cyber and information defence which started 2014 with the Crimean invasion. Ukraine has one of the best IT sectors in the world and now all the cyber and drones are being programmed by former IT engineers. Now it takes Ukraine two weeks from the initial testing of drone/missile prototypes to the battlefield.

Mr. Newman then posed the question, “ Understanding that there is a threat to the homeland mobilizes the people, the army and industries.  Canada is now suffering through disinformation, misinformation and essentially many of the tools Russia used against Ukraine for a very long time and Canada is essentially defenseless.  We’re blind, no units to watch it, counter it.  What lessons can be learned from Ukraine’s experience with information operations”.

Amb. Kovaliv answered very quickly speaking to the need to learn history, as the current generation is most at risk because they use social media for information and don’t have a lot of historical learning as background, they don’t understand the history,  lessons learned, or the truth about what they are digesting as news/information.  They don’t understand the path used to get to peace and the benefits from the peace.  So, she laid out some points to help counter misinformation and disinformation as:

·       It is crucially important for society to respect the people in the military for they have given their lives to better and protect that society. This respect exists in Ukraine but that cannot be said of other countries.

·       Supporting NGOs who will provide fact checks, independently verify, understand, and explain in a simple manner what is correct and what are lies.  They need to show the 10% that is the grain of truth and show the 90% that is disinformation.  If you understand your history, the disinformation is easier to dismiss.

·       There needs to be a task force which understands where the info originally came from and how it was distributed and the social media.  Without attribution to a source there is no responsibility for the lies.

·       And importantly, there needs to be a free and independent media which can present an unbiased view of news and events, both at a local level as well as global level.

Mr. Newman wondered how Ukrainians were viewing the rapprochement between the USA and Russia.  The Ambassador said that it was hard enduring the destruction of her country, drone attacks missile attacks but there was a simple message, “Was it hard for me – Yes.  Are we exhausted – Yes.  But ready to sacrifice for family and future generations. “.

Talking about a long and lasting peace, “We understand that … we had since 2014 over 200 different types of negotiations with Russia.  There were cease fires … different types of different levels of communications.  It didn’t work.  It didn’t work with Russia that way.  So they invaded.  So today there is a unity in the society that this peace needs to be lasting and there needs to be really solid guarantees to the lasting peace for Ukrainians.”

In terms of Russia she thinks Canadians and Canadian business were so much more forward leaning than many European and American businesses.  Since 2014 Canadian companies were leaving the Russian market. Since 2022 after the invasion, the Canadian companies suffered probably the least because they understood that there is not so much that can be done safely in Russia. Russia will now move forward by offering what seems, on the surface, to be good business opportunities but you are dealing with the same corrupt Russian regime with the same oligarchs, with the same huge enforcement machine (FSB).  It all stays the same.  Any further investment is just a waste of time and money 

When asked if she had any final words before concluding the interview, she spoke to the importance of alliances and that this is the time when building and maintaining the alliances is important but more important are actions.  Both the government and industry need to stop talking and start more doing.  Start with the small things and this will lead to the big things.   This is what Europe is doing.  What Ukraine is offering is the building of partnerships.  They have one of the best technology centers, and building the defence sectors together is a win-win.

CDAI Ottawa Conference on Security and Defence - Overview

By RIchard Lawrence

Last week the Canadian Defence Association Institute (CDAI) hosted the 93rd edition of the Ottawa Conference on Security and Defence which I attended on behalf of Esprit de Corps Military Magazine.  The conference consists of keynote addresses and panel discussions centering round the spectrum of global security and defence matters, through keynote speaker addresses, presentations, and dialogues led by experts in the fields of security and defence from Canada and across the globe.  It’s two days of insight into the world security problems as seen by those who have to defend against them with the overarching theme of taking policy and moving it to action.

If you would like to see pictures of the speakers/presenters, please go to this link:

https://www.richardlawrencephotography.ca/rlpgalleries/2025/cdai2025/

Now, 17 hours of discussion is not something that is going to fit into a simple blog of a couple of paragraphs.  Each one of these topics requires more in-depth review than I can give here so this will be an overview of what was presented over the two days and as I listen to the recordings of each presentation in the future, I will present a summary of that specific topic.

So, briefly, speakers/panelists spanned the globe with the keynote address from the Minister of National Defence, Bill Blair, panel discussions with the First Sea Lord and Chief of the Naval Staff – Royal Navy, Chief of the German Navy, Australian Chief of the Army, D/Chief of Defence for International Relations from France, A/D/Minster for Military Force Policy from South Korea, the Chief of the Indonesian Navy, the Canadian CDS and the Ambassador of Ukraine to Canada as well as a host of civilian experts.

Discussion topics included Challenges to the Laws of War, a chat with NorthCom/Norad Commander, Artificial Intelligence Deployment in Warfare, a chat with the CDS, Protecting NATO’s Northern Flank, Land Readiness, Transatlantic Security, the Indo-Pacific, and Ukraine to name a few.

Now, one would expect that there would be a lot of talk about Russia’s aggression against Ukraine, China’s aggression towards Taiwan and in the Indo-China area of influence, and the United States aggression against just about everyone else.  In fact, this was not the case, although those things were mentioned in passing and Russia came more to the forefront when the Ukrainian Ambassador was on stage.  Certainly China was mentioned during the Indo-Pacific panel as well. But, on the whole, naming the bad guys was relegated to anonymous references (especially the USA).

I had also heard from several sources, none official, that the Commander of NorthCom/Norad, General Gregory Guillot, had been sent all of his questions in advance with a further list of restricted topics received Wednesday morning by the CDAI and it showed in his presentation.  He spoke at the podium and only briefly raised his head from his prepared words, no adlibbing at all.  I’m sure the moderator, Gen. (ret’d) Tom Lawson, who was his usual bright and engaging self, wanted to question the Commander on several off-limit topics but did not rock the boat out of respect for his word, the CDAI , and international relations.  More on this when I review the session.

The last thing I’d like to mention is the bestowing of the Captain Nichola Goddard Leadership Award to 28 year old Charlotte Duval-Lantoine, Vice-President of Ottawa Operations and a Fellow at the Canadian Global Affairs Institute. Nichola Goddard was the first Canadian female soldier killed in action (May 2006).The selection committed noted that Charlotte has demonstrated a deep commitment to shining a light on areas where advances in social justice and equality can lead to better outcomes for the CAF by amplifying marginalized voices and challenges existing societal norms and policies.  

Speakers prior to the actual award included Ms. Kate Rusk, sister of Nichola Goddard, and Francis Allen, ex-VCDS.  In accepting the award, Charlotte said, “It’s not a personal achievement, it is a testament to what mentorship can do, in particular what the mentorship of men in this community can do to [for] young women”.  She went on to name some of the men who mentored her and treated her as an equal despite her young age and being a female.  She ended by saying, “I’m beyond honoured to have my name linked to the legacy of Captain Nichola Goddard”.

More to come as reviews are completed.

CDAI: Panel 5: Protecting the Northern Flank of NATO: Strategic Implications

By Richard Lawrence

For those who insist that climate change is not real, they should talk to NATO to see if they feel the same way.  In the past, the northern flank of NATO was not given much attention as the main threat, so it was felt, was a land/air threat as Russia came through central Europe.  NATO troops were in place to support a delaying action against overwhelming Russian forces to give time to the NATO allies, and in particular the United States, time to move more men/equipment into position to finally halt and push back any incursion.  The northern flank was only mildly considered in this scenario as it could be used for flanking maneuvers.

However, recent events have caused the northern flank to be re-examined for defence purposes.  Firstly, one must define what makes the northern flank.  It used to be the land masses of the Baltic States and the Baltic Sea with the Gulf of Finland (Finland-Estonia) and the Gulf of Bothnia (Sweden-Finland) as interconnected waterways.  With Sweden and Finland neutral, the two gulfs would not be breached in a NATO-Russia conflict for fear of bringing those two states into the conflict on NATO’s side which would be disastrous for Russia as both Sweden and Finland have large, modern conventional forces and good military industrial complexes.  The Arctic was never an issue as it was frozen most of the year and unnavigable.  Therefore, the northern flank was largely the Baltic states and the Baltic Sea.

Global warming has changed some of this.  The Arctic is now opening up and is open to bordering countries which include Canada, the United States, and Russia, to name the main contenders.  Russia clearly has an advantage in this area as they have had northern population centers for centuries and have built up a substantial infrastructure capable of handling ships.  Canada and the USA continue to maintain sovereignty over their Arctic lands but have so far ignored building any infrastructure on these lands which remain, for all intents and purposes, barren and unpopulated.  Russia is therefore ready to conduct trade and military operations in the Arctic while NATO can only respond by sending in an aircraft or deploying single naval vessels from far away locations should an incursion happen.

Along with the opening of the Arctic, the Ukraine invasion by Russia along with Russia’s aggressive nature has caused the previously neutral countries of Finland and Sweden to join NATO which gives NATO greater control of the northern waters as well as puts NATO right on Russia’s border (Finland).  While this increases NATO’s capability in northern Europe, it also expands the extent of the northern border which NATO must be ready to defend.  Russia’s new search for her old Imperial glory is also cause concern for the Baltic states and Poland in the north and I dare say the Balkan states should consider how safe they are.

These are the parameters which the Conference on Security and Defence empanelled four admirals to discuss the northern flank and NATO.  The panel moderator was VAdm. (ret’d) Robert Davidson with speakers VAdm. Angus Topshee (Commander Royal Canadian Navy), Adm. Sir Ben Key (First Sea Lord and Chief of Naval Staff – Royal Navy), and VAdm. Jan Kaack (Chief of the German Navy).  Each panel member gave an opening address of five to seven minutes and then they were questioned by the moderator about some specific areas.

Adm. Key started off by stating that the Atlantic Ocean was always a means of trade where, occasionally, wars were fought.  So, combat on the northern Atlantic is “not about destroying the enemy fleet but more about preserving your freedom of maneuver”.  And although the UK still gets about 90% of trade goods by sea, he was more concerned about the 99% of economic data that moves through cables along the sea bed along with threats to energy provided by sea-based windfarms and sea oil/gas rigs. 

Unlike land-based facilities, which can be protected and access controlled by virtue of being on sovereign territory, sea-based facilities are located in international water, which are declared free and accessible and, therefore, are harder to secure.  It’s harder to secure as anybody can get at it and the threat is not geographically bounded by land borders.  The only way to protect these installations is for a deterrent narrative to be so strong that the fear of invoking NATO’s Article 5 causes bad state-actors to pause 

Article 5 of the of the NATO Treaty states, in part, that if a NATO country is the victim of an armed attack, each Alliance member will consider this act of violence as an armed attack against all members and will take such measures as it deems necessary, "including the use of armed force," to come to the aid of the attacked country.

VAdm. Kaack shared some interesting points about Germany’s preparations with regard to consideration of a hybrid fleet including more unmanned naval vehicles (UNV), more use of artificial intelligence and doing multiples activities at once rather than in a serial manner (especially procurement).  Some of this is geared to the future in the 35+ planning actions.  As for the existing fleet, he noted that there needed to be more availability as there has been occasions when the entire German fleet has been in dry-dock at the same time which, he says, “Is not good”.  Also, there are plans to use smaller unmanned systems closer to shore.

But then he started talking about taking more responsibility for certain areas and the need for enhanced co-operation.  He suggested that the eight nations that border the Baltic overly their plans and integrate command structures.  Perhaps greater co-operation could mean common procurement, common training, etc., and the inherent savings in money, reduced duplication of effort as well as higher availability of trained sailors. Also, some nations may be geared to better handle their specific geography and relieving other nations of that responsibility is a win for everyone.

VAdm. Kaack then elaborated on what he meant by referring to the current German-Norwegian Submarine Co-operation where Germany and Norway have agreed to not only a joint procurement of submarines, but have agreed to not only inter-operability of the submarine fleets but all the way to inter-changeability of ships and sailors.  They will purchase the new U212CD (common design) submarines from  thyssenkrupp Marine System (thMS) and will share facilities and training with the Lifetime Management Program Office based at Haakonsvern Naval Base in Norway and the Building Program Office in Keil, Germany. Haakonsvern is ideally located near what may be a major theatre of operations as it is close to the Greenland-Iceland-UK Gap (GIUK) which Russian submarines would have to transit to get out into the greater Atlantic Ocean.  Sailors will all receive the same training with the possibility that ships will put to sea with mixed nationalities.

Again, higher availability, synergy with NATO countries, cost savings through shared facilities, greater volumes of purchase, and spare parts are only some of the benefits.  There is also an increase in the fleet resilience in that ammunition, spare parts, and maintenance are all in dispersed facilities.

It should be noted that Canada has been invited to participate in this program for its new submarine program.

VAdm. Topshee finally got the spotlight and started with a brief overview of how the Convention on the Law of the Sea provides the legal framework for all marine and maritime activities having 169 sovereign states and the European Union as signatories.  In short, all waters beyond national boundaries are considered international water.  National boundaries used to be limited to three nautical miles (known as the “Cannon Shot Rule” which was the range a shore battery was considered effective) but were increased to 12 nautical miles and out to 200 nautical miles for economic exclusions zones (areas uses for fishing, resources, etc) 

It used to be that NATO had a plan to defeat the Soviets and everyone knew what to do.  What Kuwait and Iraq showed the world is that one military could destroy another military that was not at the same level.  This became a clear signal to adversaries that direct confrontation would not work and that they must go to asymmetric warfare (insurgency, guerilla warfare, rebellion, terrorism – irregular warfare) or nuclear.

He also noted that we used to be protected by the widths of the oceans surrounding us but this is no longer the case.  Submarines can park off our shores waiting to launch missiles negating the space provided by the ocean.  Some countries can launch land-based missiles that can hit the North American continent.  In short, threats can no longer be seen coming in time to react sufficiently.

Canada needs new ships to protect sea lanes, cables, the Arctic, and anti-submarine duties and these are in the procurement cycle.  Canada is also asking for 12 submarines which is a drastic increase over the four we had at any time in our country.  VAdm. Topshee explained the need for greater numbers of submarines as, previously, “Our submarines have never been for offensive roles or defensive roles but for anti-submarine warfare training”. But now we have threats in three oceans and Canada needs to put submarines in each ocean to control those waters because if you don’t control the waters, they’re not yours.  Canada could also use the submarines offensively in that they could stealthily approach another coast and hold them at risk, as well as deter attack and/or retaliate.

When the panel was asked what capabilities they felt they were currently lacking, VAdm. Topshee was the first to take the microphone.  He feels Canada and NATO lacks domain awareness which could be alleviated by newer/better over the horizon/polar radars, NORAD modernization will help and sub-surface surveillance, either by manned or autonomous means.  Autonomous means is attractive as it allows a vehicle to stay on station longer for a more persistent surveillance and persistence is key in the surveillance. He would also like to see a better communications system in place so that the best weapon for the job can be brought to bear.

For example, he suggested that should an enemy ship come into the Arctic littoral (littorals are shallower coastline areas and, as explained by VAdm. Topshee, “Is where ships come to die”.), it is probably more expedient and cost effective to send in a fighter and drop a bomb on it than it is to try to get a ship into the area to engage the hostile.

VAdm. Kaack suggested that some legal framework needs to be in place to respond the means to do so.  NATO also needs resilience, backups, and time to repair.

The next question put to the panel questioned the preparedness for high intensity conflict.  Adm. Key started by noting that the Royal Navy had not lost a ship since 1982 when the HMS Sheffield went down in the Falklands.  What is lacking since that time is real combat experience for the navy and preparing sailors mentally for the loss of a ship and all hands.  They need to understand “The loss of a ship at sea … is not a strategic endgame.  That is a tactical outcome of war on the waves.”, and prepare for that eventuality.

There must also be a new communications with industry and government procurement as the current processes take too long as every I must be dotted and T crossed.  What both industry and government must be able to do is adapt and work without the safeguards for contractual certainty and not account for every $ spent but to spend it faster.  Both must be able to work and adapt not as in peacetime, but as if they were under imminent threat.

VAdm. Topshee added that “It’s not about necessarily having the best ships.  It’s about having the best combination of sailors, ships and technology and exploiting those and learning rapidly” 

I’ll end my review here as it’s long enough.  If you go over to the CPAC website, you can watch the entire discussion under the CDAI 2025 – Day 2 video.

Aero Gatineau-Ottawa 2024

To see all the pictures, go to:

https://www.richardlawrencephotography.ca/rlpgalleries/aircraft/ago2024

An airshow is an airshow with airplanes flying and usually one headline act to draw the folks in.  Well, that wasn’t good enough for the Aero Gatineau-Ottawa 2024 organizers as they spent the last three years co-ordinating three air demonstration teams to meet and entertain aero aficionados this past weekend (6-8 September, 2024), at the Gatineau Executive Airport.  Headlining this year were the U.S. Air Force Thunderbirds, the Red Arrows from the U.K., and the perennial Canadian favourites, the Snowbirds, along with the CF-18 Air Demonstration Team, The GhostWriter with a nighttime flying pyro show, and a drone show with 150 drones also in a night show.

The weekend started on the Friday with the Media Day event which is really nothing more than the press and those paying for prime photography spots getting into the site Friday morning before the public is allowed in at 5 p.m. The purpose of media day is for the media to talk to the performers/pilots/crew prior to everyone being enveloped by running a safe show with thousands of people on site. As well, many of the performers and teams take to the air for one final practice before the weekend starts, hence the photographers showing up on this day.

Now, Friday was originally forecast to be the best day of the weekend with sun and cloud all day.  It certainly started out that way with clear skies from 9 a.m. until the clouds rolled in by noon.  It remained overcast for the remainder of the day and by the middle of the night show, started raining heavily.  Saturday was a horrid day with heavy rain all day but, as the airshow was not cancelled, thousands showed up anyways hoping that the weather would break.  It finally broke about 4 p.m. and the Red Arrows and the Snowbirds got in a late afternoon show in but the day was such a bust that the organizers agreed that those holding Saturday tickets would have them honoured on Sunday if they chose to come back.  Unfortunately, the rain was so bad that the parking lots, which were in grass fields, flooded and many people got stuck trying to get out to go home.  Sunday, the fields were still bad so parking was directed to alternate distant fields (one man estimated a kilometer and a half) and people were shuttled in.  Not really handy if you have chairs, food, and other weather paraphernalia, or paid for the premium parking.  I can’t really complain as I left a little early Friday night (just as the rain was starting) and by the time I got to my car, packed the camera gear, exited, got into the traffic line, and finally to the highway was under 15 minutes.  On Sunday, I left early again (I’ve seen the Snowbirds way too many times) and was on the highway home in eight minutes and missed a later accident on highway 50 that locked up traffic for a while after the airshow.

So, to the show itself.  We were pleasantly surprised that at 10 a.m. on Friday two of the six Thunderbirds were on station to perform a small practice show.  Their F-16s are fast and loud and the pilots can really handle the machines so it was really a good show and the weather excellent for photography as the sky was clear and blue.  They were followed by the Vintage Wings of Canada Warbirds (a Spitfire, a P-51 Mustang, and a Hawker Hurricane) flying in formation as well as doing passes as single birds.  Again, a great show and everyone loves the roar of the Merlin engines. 

The Red Arrows weren’t slated until after 1 p.m. so the space was taken by the GhostWriter in his Super Chipmonk and Rick Volker in his Super Marchetti SF260 doing their aerobatic routines and let me tell you, both are fast and execute their routines flawlessly.  And you have no time between passes as they climb and turn back with such a short turn radius that you don’t even have time to check the pictures you just took.  The really nice thing is they come in low and fast making it that much more exciting.  Now, I expected that Vintage Wings would take up some of the dead time before the Red Arrows by sending their Yellow Birds (Tiger Moth, Cornell, etc) or some other part of their collection, but they didn’t this year.  Oh well 

The Red Arrows finally went up and did their practice in their Hawks and by this time the sky was fully overcast.  They were only able to field eight of their nine airplanes as the two spares were broken and another bit the dust before showtime.  The Red Arrows are celebrating their 60th anniversary as a team and have been doing a North American tour to celebrate.  Again, the team is disciplined and the program moved quickly and smoothly from one maneuver to another with lots of white, blue, and red smoke all over the sky.  There were a couple of special maneuvers with the Arrows writing a “60” in the sky to mark their anniversary and they also, at the end of the show, sky wrote a “100” in the sky as a salute to the RCAF’s 100th anniversary.

Next up were the Snowbirds who did their standard show to their usual high standard.  However, from my perspective, photographing white airplanes against a gray sky filled with white smoke is next to impossible so I didn’t take many pictures.  The same was true with the Thunderbirds who came next with all six F-16s.

Now, the Thunderbirds’ F-16s are amongst the loudest aircraft I’ve heard at an airshow.  And they make it worse by pulling a maneuver called a “sneak pass” which was a new term for me.  In short, what happens is the Thunderbirds do something on center stage like a solo-to-sole pass and draw everyone’s attention to the showline while, unbeknownst to the crowd, a third F-16 comes screaming in from behind everyone.  Now this third F-16 is low and doing about 600 knots and it comes as a surprise and shock when this thing come screaming by without any warning at all.  It made me jump, not just once, but on each of the three occasions that they did it.  They also had one F-16 do a high alpha pass where they stand the F-16 on its tail close to the ground and balance it while moving slowly forward relying on raw power of the engines because there is no airflow over the wings.  Remember that if that nose starts to come down, there is no time or altitude to get forward momentum for airflow over the wings to generate any lift.  Also, this is an older aircraft and the engines don’t have vectored thrust so this is a true balancing act.  Again, white aircraft against a gray sky with a horrendous amount of white smoke that didn’t leave the show area make a difficult picture taking moment.

This show ended about 4 p.m. and now we waited for the gates to open at 5 p.m. for the public to come for the night show which was the actual start of the airshow weekend.  There was  another chance to get takeoff pictures of the Red Arrows as they decided to relocate to the Ottawa airport due to the incoming threat of rain and a similar limitation on landing distances as the Thunderbirds who were already located at Ottawa.  As it turns out, both of these aircraft, the F-16 and the Hawk, are able to use a 6,000 foot long runway as they can land in that distance if they are without brakes but once there’s water on the runway, they need more space. Gatineau is just 6,000 feet and rain was coming in so they made the decision to relocate. 

The first performer to go up at 7 p.m. (a half hour late) was the Snowbirds who did their standard show, minus the solo performers, which makes sense as who wants to fly directly at another airplane in low light.  The half hour delay, however, meant that the sun was down by the time the CF-18 Demo airplane went up for its night display so the only thing you could really see was the afterburners.  It was totally dark by the time he landed but that was good for the GhostWriter who was going up to do his pyro show to be followed by the drone show.  It was starting to rain so I headed out as I didn’t feel like having my camera equipment exposed to the elements so didn’t see either show.

I did not attend the Saturday show but did make it back for Sunday and it turned out to be another overcast day.  I already mentioned the parking issues and again was surprised that there were no aircraft flying between the opening of the gates at 10 a.m. and the start of the airshow proper at 11:30 a.m.  In past years, Vintage Wings or some of the smaller performers have used this time to go up but there was nothing but dead time this year.  The nice thing is that I got to meet the people next to me in the photo pit and they all turned out to be really nice people (thanks Claude, Mike, and Charles for putting up with me).

The Sunday show was much the same as Friday, which was expected, but there were a couple of variations that should be noted.  The CF-18 Demo Team did their routine and I must say they do the CAF proud.  They are fast, execute precisely, and move from maneuver to maneuver so very quickly.  It’s amazing how fast the CF-18 returns for the next pass in the program so you’re never waiting.  At the end, the CF-18 disappeared for a while and everyone thought he’d gone out to setup for landing but that wasn’t so.  The Red Arrows came down the showline in a “V” formation, at height, but the CF-18 was also in the mix as it trailed the formation signifying the closeness of the UK and Canada as well as acknowledging the RCAF’s 100th anniversary.  After this pass, the CF-18 landed and the Red Arrows started their show.  So that’s where I left the show as I’ve hundreds of pictures of the Snowbirds on good days so I didn’t need any on a bad day.   

My congratulations to the AGO organizers for putting on a show despite the poor weather conditions.  It is disappointing to have good weather on either side of the airshow weekend and then all the problems with the parking fields and everything.  I know the photographers/media had a good time regardless and I’m sure the general public enjoyed seeing the three air demo teams all in the same place.

Highlanders Ride for Wounded Warriors

Not everyone who experiences trauma comes through it unscathed.  It’s no surprise that those that actually experience the trauma have both physical and mental battles that sometimes last their entire lives. It affects them but it also affects their families, some to the point of disintegration and suicide.

To see all the pictures from the reception, go to this link:

https://www.richardlawrencephotography.ca/rlpgalleries/2024/ride2024/

But there is another group that maybe doesn’t make the news as much and that group consists of military, police, fire fighters, paramedics, correction officers, search and rescue personnel, nurses/doctors, and any others who fall into a category known as Trauma Exposed Professionals or TExP.  A Trauma Exposed Professional is an individual who, through the course of their regular job duties is continually exposed to traumatic events involving actual or threatened death, serious injury, and/or sexual violence.  Their trauma experience is every bit as devastating to them as the people they saw go through the actual trauma and affects them and their families in the exactly same manner.

Wounded Warriors Canada is a national mental health service provider dedicated to serving trauma exposed organizations, trauma exposed professionals and their families.  They provide Trauma Resiliency programs, couples support, family support and other services through a network of mental health providers, and even have programs aimed at supporting children.  All in all, they are trying to fill gaps left in other various support systems but their ability to do so relies on donations and fund raising.

This is where the Highlanders Ride for Wounded Warriors plays its role as it’s an alliance between the Cameron Highlanders (Ottawa) and the Stormont, Dundas, and Glengarry Highlanders (SD&G) Tactical Group who raise money for Wounded Warriors by undertaking to ride bicycles from Ottawa to Cornwall on one day and then back to Ottawa the next: an approximately 240 kilometer round trip taking about 10 hours cycling time.  This year, the ride was completed by nine riders who rolled into the Cartier Square Drill Hall about 1630 hours, August 25th, 2024, to a reception to thank them for a job well done.

One of the first to take the podium to thank them was Ottawa City Councillor David Hill (en-military himself) followed by Senator Rebecca Patterson (also ex-military and former registered nurse).  Both talked about the need for mental health support and the good groups like Wounded Warriors do for the community.  Senator Patterson seemed more passionate about the subject than I’ve seen her at other events noting that on top of the 158 service members lost in Afghanistan, 500 more have been lost to suicide since they’ve come home.

Next up to thank the riders, who still hadn’t sat down yet after arriving from Cornwall, was the Mayor of Cornwall, Justin Towndale, who also is a Captain in the SD&G Highlanders.  To the delight of Mr. Towndale, the next speaker, the Commanding Officer of the Cameron Highlanders and SD&G Highlanders Tactical Group, LCol. Ryan Hendy, referred to Mr. Towndale as Your Worship (correct form of address for a Mayor) even though Mr. Townsend, as a Captain in the Tactical Group, is under the command of LCol. Hendy.

LCol.Hendy started by thanking the guests for taking the time to come out on a weekend and thanked a few members of the defence attaché community for coming out as well (Mexico and France).  He noted that this was the fifth year of the ride which has raised about $35,000 over the five years and over $7,000 this year (just over $7,900 as of August 27th).  Of the ride he said, “The Highlanders Ride for Wounded Warriors is not merely a test of endurance but a powerful symbol of our unwavering commitment to those that have served our nation with valour and continue to serve our nation with valour. …Let us continue to ride, not just the distance but for the difference we make in our communities and for our veterans”. After his remarks, LCol. Hendy presented the riders with certificates of thanks and achievement signed by the Prime Minister, Justin Trudeau. 

The final presentation was an award of the RSM and Command Team Coin to Cpl. Matthew Don Trapp, who heard about the ride and came forward with entire business plan to raise the profile of the event, including this reception with which he only had a month to plan and obtain sponsors.  Some of the sponsors were Sandstone Group, Vimy Brewing Company, Kiln Vineyards, First Lake Solutions, Wounded Warriors.  Unfortunately, I did not get the name of the business that supplied the catering but my understanding is they did it for free including time, effort, and food. 

RSM CWO lan Port finished the speakers with making sure that everyone knew that although he was very involved in this, special mention should be made of Cpl. David Sutcliffe whose idea the ride was originally and all he did was jump in to add his talents.  He also recognized the work done by Mr. Trapp in putting together this reception and says that with his plans, the ride should be bigger and better next year.

 

Remembering “C” Force

On a beautiful sunny day on August 10th, 2024, a small group gathered at the “C” Force Memorial Wall (a.k.a. The Defence of Hong Kong Memorial Wall) at King Edward Drive and Sussex Drive to commemorate the 79th anniversary of the end of fighting in the Far East during World War II and also to remember the brave Canadians, who, undertrained, understrength, and sent to a spot in the world that Winston Churchill had deemed undefendable, fought for 17 days against overwhelming odds before surrendering to the Japanese Imperial Army on December 25th, 1941. Of 1975 Canadians (known as “C” Force), 290 had been killed, some murdered by Japanese soldiers during or after the surrender.  If you include the wounded (around 500), those who died of wounds, and those missing in action, “C” Force sustained a casualty rate of over 50%. These numbers do not include those of the Chinese and Indian armed forces also involved in the battle. 

To see all the pictures, please go to this link: https://www.richardlawrencephotography.ca/rlpgalleries/2024/hkvca2024/

The rest would spend the remainder of the war, three years and 10 months, in captivity where another 260 would die from the cruelty and deprivation of the Japanese. They would toil as slave labourers and suffer cruel and tortuous punishments. This is the 83rd anniversary of the Battle of Hong Kong and is the legacy of Canada’s first combat in World War II. 

 

No mention of “C” Force is complete without remembering Gander, the Newfoundland dog that was the mascot of Royal Rifles of Canada who died in combat and was awarded the Dickin Medal (Victoria Cross for animals).  Gander fought the Japanese three times and on his last foray took a live grenade from the ground and charged the Japanese lines.  Unfortunately he died in the ensuing explosion but his actions and sacrifice saved the lives of several wounded Canadians.  It is this level of affection that drove the Hong Kong veterans to insist that Gander’s name be placed on the “C” Force Memorial Wall with all the others.

 

This is the first ceremony to take place where there are no longer any surviving  Hong Kong veterans as the last surviving member of “C” Force, Mr. Hormidas Fredette, died last November 29th (2023) at 106 years old.  Mr. Fredette was a member of the Royal Rifles of Canada and survived 44 months of hellish confinement by the Japanese after the surrender of “C” Force.  With the passing of Mr. Fredette, the Hong Kong Veterans Association also passed into history with remembrances now the province of the Hong Kong Veterans COMMEMORATIVE Association.

 

The ceremony was mc’d by Mr. Ian Englehart who’s first introduction was of the MP for Ottawa West – Nepean and the Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of International Development, The Honourable Anita Vandenbeld, who was speaking today and representing the Government of Canada. Ms. Vandenbeld covered the better known WWII contributions of the Canadians in the European Theatre before mentioning the lesser known contribution of over 10,000 Canadians to the Pacific/Asian Theatres.  She covered the Battle of Hong Kong and the statistics but said that the numbers didn’t represent the horrors afterwards.  She quoted Frank E. Christensen, a member of the Queen’s Own Cameron Highlanders, who said about his captivity after the battle, “I thought I’d gone through hell but during the following months and years I found that I’d only entered the gates …”. After her remarks the Last Post was played by Marion Lajoie followed by the silence, the Lament and the Rouse.  Bagpipers were supplied by the Sons of Scotland Pipe Band.

 

The wreath laying was next on the programme with MP Anita Vandenbeld leading the procession on behalf of the Government of Canada followed by Mr. Dawolu Saul representing Veteran Affairs Canada.  The Royal Canadian Legion’s Larry Murray laid a wreath on behalf of the Royal Canadian Legion, Mr. Jeff Noakes for the Canadian War Museum, and the Canadian Armed Forces was represented by W.O. Kenneth Doyle.  As usual, Ms. Mitzi Ross laid the wreath for the HKVCA and this year there was a new wreath as Ms. Julie Carver placed one on behalf of Indigenous Veterans for the first time. Concluding the official wreaths was Mr. Stéphane Ouellette of the Merchant Navy Commemorative Theme Project and the young and diminutive Megan Mantha handling the wreath for The War Amps. 

 

Following the official wreaths there were a number of wreaths laid representing families such as Robert Blanchard (Julie Carver), Edwin Rodrigues (Maureen Rodrigues), Lancelot Ross (Mitzi Ross), Stewart Henderson (Jo-Anne Scaffidi), Harold and Rupert Englehard (Gwen Englehart), and Albert and Robert Russell with William Allen (Lillian Gauvin and Maj. (ret’d) John Russell) and, of course, Gander (Gail Angel).  There were more families represented and then the guests were asked if anyone else wished to lay a wreath.

 

With all the wreaths laid, the Benediction was given by Derrill Henderson and the ceremony concluded.  Guests were advised that there would be a luncheon at the Lord Elgin Hotel but many seemed to stay awhile and enjoy talking to each other and enjoying the fine day.

B-17 Sentimental Journey

To see the pictures, go to:

https://www.richardlawrencephotography.ca/rlpgalleries/aircraft/B-17/

The Flying Legends of Victory Tour made a stop at the Gatineau Executive Airport this weekend in conjunction with Vintage Wings of Canada.  The tour is part of the Commemorative Air Force – Arizona Wing, based in Mesa, Arizona, which has a similar mission to Vintage Wings in that they take vintage aircraft, many of them military, restore them to flying condition, and then use them to travel the continent as part of an educational program.  In past years they have come with a B-25 (Maid in the Shade) and a B-29 (FiFi) but this year we were visited by a B-17 name Sentimental Journey.  They provide tours of the aircraft as well as the opportunity to go up for flights.  In the B-17, the mid-fuselage gun positions can hold six people at $475 USD per person and the navigator and bombardier (nose) positions cost $850 per person for about a 25 minute flight. Tours of the B-17 once returned to static display are $15 CDN per person.

The B-17 is one of the great bombers of WWII and helped destroy much of the German industrial strength.  Britain had tried doing bombing raids in the daytime but found that without fighter cover, their losses were too great so resorted to nighttime bombing raids of formations up to and over 1,000 aircraft at once.  Losses were still great and for a bomb to be considered a hit, it had to land within 3 miles of its intended target.  Now, I’m no explosives expert but my guess would be that a 500 pound bomb doesn’t do much damage from miles away.

Enter the Americans into the European Theatre and the VIII Bomber Command with the 97th Bombardment Group flying twelve B-17Es.  On August 17th, 1942, the Group flew a mission against the Rouen-Sotteville marshalling yards with the mission commander being Paul Tibbets who, four years later, would drop the atomic bomb on Hiroshima from a B-29.

In Europe, the United States Army Air Force (USAAF) was divided into tactical and strategic groups with the VIII Bombardment Group becoming the first strategic group as the 8th Air Force.  The USAAF decided that the B-17s had enough defensive guns that, when flying in formation and supporting each other, they could do daylight bombing runs to Germany without fighter escort and guarantee bombing accuracy using the Norden bombsight.  To that end the 8th Air Force carried out many daylight strategic missions into Germany putting pressure on German fighters and ground defences both day and night in conjunction with the British air forces.  By the end of the war, the 8th Air Force did, on occasion, manage to send up 2,000+ four engine bombers supported by 1,000 plus fighters on a single mission.

After Germany surrendered, plans were made to transfer heavy bomber groups to the Pacific and refit them with B-29 Superfortresses.  However, the atomic bombs and the subsequent Japanese surrender made this plan moot as the war ended before any of the transfers happened.  The B-17 was the third most produced bomber of all time and dropped more bombs than any other aircraft in WWII.

This particular B-17G, Sentimental Journey, was built by Douglas Aircraft (under licence) in late 1944, and accepted by the USAAF in March, 1945. It served in the Pacific Theatre for the duration of the war and then was put in storage in Japan after the war ended. In 1947 it was configured for photo-mapping and used in the Philippines until 1950 when it was transferred to Florida for air-sea rescue operations.  In January, 1959, Sentimental Journey was transferred to storage in Arizona where, after a couple of months, it was purchased by Aero Union Corporation and put to use as a forest fire suppression bomber for 18 years.  On January 14th, 1978, Sentimental Journey was purchased and donated to the newly formed Arizona Wing of the Commemorative Air Force and, although it was airworthy, it no longer represented a WWII B-17G.  In December, 1981, the aircraft started restoration and by 1985 had four operational turrets, an operating bomb bay, navigator and radio operator positions, machines guns, and a Norden bombsight.  She is one of 10 still flying of almost 13,000 that were built. 

The nose art on Sentimental Journey is the world famous Betty Grable pin-up from WWII and the name Sentiment Journey comes from the song of the same name made popular by Doris Day in 1945.  It has also appeared in the movie “1941” in 1979 directed by Steven Spielberg and the engine sounds were recorded and used in the series “Masters of the Air”.

Statistically, the B-17 has a wingspan of 103’9” and length of 74’4” weighing in at 36,000 lb empty up a gross weight of 54,000 lb with a max takeoff weight of 65,000 lbs.  It’s powered by four Wright R1820-97 Cyclone turbocharged radial engines giving it max. speed of 287 mph, cruise speed of 187 mph, and a range of 2,000 miles with a 6,000 lb bombload at up to 35,600 feet altitude.  On short missions (<less than 400 miles) the bombload could be increased up to 8,000 lbs but on longer missions (> 800 miles) the load would be decreased to 4,500 lbs.  For protection, the B-17 bristled with thirteen 0.50 calibre machine guns in nine positions including doubling up in the turrets.

My thanks to all the people involved in getting me closer than normal photographic shooting positions to photograph this iconic aircraft.  I won’t mention specific names so they are not inundated with requests from people for future events but I do need to thank the Commemorative Air Force for allowing me to take the pictures, Vintage Wings of Canada for airfield access and acting as my Commemorative Air Force liaison, the Gatineau Executive Airport for their assistance for airfield access and for putting through my request to Nav Canada, and lastly to Nav Canada for approving the request.

Chief of the Defence Staff Change of Command Ceremony

To see all the pictures from the ceremony, go to:

https://www.richardlawrencephotography.ca/rlpgalleries/2024/cds_coc/

In the Lebreton Gallery of the Canadian War Museum in Ottawa, amid the tanks and other implements of war, history was made with the appointment of General Jennie Carignan as the first woman Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) for Canada on July 18th, 2024.  In fact, she is the first woman CDS in the countries that make up the G7 and G20. 

The ceremony and signing of documents was held in front of an invitation only crowd of several hundred and included former Governors-General (the Right Honorable Adrienne Clarkson and David Johnston), Ambassadors from several countries, the Nato Chair of the Military Committee, Adm. Rob Bauer, Chief of Staff for Jamaica, RAdm. Atonette Wemyss Gorman, and the Commander of NORAD and U.S. Northern Command, Gen. Greg Guillot to name a few.  Participating in the ceremony was the Governor-General of Canada, the Right Honorable Mary Simon, the Prime Minister of Canada, the Right Honorable Justin Trudeau, the Minister of National Defence, the Honorable Bill Blair, along with the outgoing CDS, Gen. Wayne Eyre, and the new CDS, Gen. Jennie Carignan.

First up to deliver remarks to the assembled host, and I think the most interesting speaker today, was outgoing CDS, Gen. Wayne Eyre.  His address was broken down into three parts: thanking people, a bit of history, and his perspective on the current world situation.

He started by thanking everyone for coming to his favourite location in the city and noted that “You know it’s time to go when the majority of platforms that you’ve served on are here in a museum.”.  As is usual, he started with thanking those with which he worked in his three and a half years as CDS, starting with the Governor-General for her consideration and insight.  He then moved on to the Prime Minister and was reminded of a conversation they had when the PM offered him the CDS position in not ideal circumstances coming on the heels of three scandals with three previous CDSs in short order.  The PM said, “ … [I’ve]given you a turd sandwich” to which Gen. Eyre replied, “Yes sir, but you forgot the bread”.  I think that sums up what Gen. Eyre inherited pretty well.

He then thanked the three defence ministers that he’s worked with noting that on 24th Feb, 2021, Minister Sajjan offered him the temporary job as Acting CDS and exactly one year later, 24th Feb, 2022, after the start of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, he introduced New Defence Minister Anand to Carl Gustaf (he then explained to the audience that the Carl Gustaf is an anti-armour, anti-personnel weapon in case someone missed the joke).  He also thanked current Defence Minister Blair for his focus on delivering for the Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) and not just making announcements. To him, he wished good luck.

As to the world situation, Gen. Eyre noted that, “… The security situation out there is not getting any better.” and that the world must increase its deterrence to match the risk from international bad actors and that the deterrence must be implemented with a sense of urgency.  “It will take a whole of government and, in cases, a whole of society to support it.”.  He spoke of Canada’s history of unpreparedness for war citing, 1914, 1939, 1950, and 2001, as periods where Canada showed up wholly unprepared yet managed to make herself known and respected on the world stage.  The problem now is making Canadians realize that future conflicts will not give us the time to enter a war and then gear up for it.  We must be prepared now and we have to convince Canadians to invest which is hard given the long lead time of procurement of any capital defence project.  He said that we need to answer the question, “Why should we invest in defence when they can’t spend the money, to, for the good of the nation, what can we do to help convert funding to the capabilities and readiness with alacrity?”.

Turning to Ukraine, Gen. Eyre put it succinctly when he said, “The implications of the outcome of this war are momentous for our global future.  EVIL WALKS THE FACE OF THE EARTH AND IT MUST BE STOPPED!”.  No equivocating there.

After mentioning the effects of disinformation attacks on societies where he states that good disinformation allows the enemy to win without fighting, he moved on to a more personal level to thank his family.  He thanked his wife, Jennifer, for sharing his stress and keeping him grounded.  He thanked her for putting the CAF front and center for almost four decades and said, “Now is the time for us – I love you.” 

The ceremony then moved forward as Gen. Eyre presented the CAF ensign to the Governor-General who in turn presented it to the new CDS, Gen. Carignan.  The documents of transfer of command were then signed by the three followed by handshakes all around. And then the presentation to Gen. Eyre of the personal pennant which flew on his car was made by his two drivers.

More addresses followed, starting with the Governor-General who thanked Gen. Eyre and his advocating for the modernization of the CAF.  She also recapped and congratulated Gen. Carignan on her career and the ascension to her new position.  The Prime Minister followed and recapped Gen. Eyre’s career noting that he was the first non-U.S. Deputy Commander of the U.N. Command in Korea.  He also did a recap of Gen. Carignan’s career to date noting that she was the first woman to command a combat arms unit.  MDN Blair addressed everyone next citing the changing world situation and those risks which are further compounded by climate change and the change in the face of the melting Arctic.  All those things need to be assessed when trying to identify the changing risk.  He thanked Gen. Eyre for being “… a champion for the men and women of the CAF”.

Gen. Carignan ended the addresses as she took the stage to provide her vision for the future, new equipment, and to thank everyone who has helped make this transition and to those which she will work with in the future.  A lot of her speech was in French so I didn’t understand it but I feel that she was keeping more of the substance for the media scrum after the ceremony.

Following the ceremony, Gen. Carignan took the floor to address questions from the media.  When asked what here first priority would be, she quickly answered “recruiting”, noting that it’s fine to have all the most modern equipment in the world but without the people to use it, it’s worthless.  People need time to be recruited, indoctrinated, and trained before they can use the new equipment and as the equipment won’t be here for a few years, now is the time to get the people.

There was some a question as to when the CAF would be “at strength” again and Gen. Carignan stated that she was looking at a five year timeframe.  She noted that in the past we had safety from a big ocean between our enemies whose conventional weapons weren’t a threat and we had a great friend to the south.  She then alluded to the fact that we’re not so safe anymore as weapons can hit us from across the world and the north is thawing, opening that up to new risks.  She pointed out that if we’re not ready then we won’t be able to act appropriately in defence when the time comes. So, her desire that in five years is to, “… get us close enough to be ready to conquer those long range type of [conventional] threats.”.

When asked what being CDS meant to her personally, she became a little emotional – no tears or anything just a little quiver in her voice for a moment.  She said that the CAF has been her entire adult life and that she loves it and the people and is now so proud to get to lead it.  I can only wish her good luck.

Coding for Veterans and Atlético FC Host Military Appreciation Night

To see all the images from this event, go to:

https://www.richardlawrencephotography.ca/rlpgalleries/2024/c4v2024/

 

In today’s world, it’s common fact that technology, specifically computers, is required to run almost every aspect of our lives from personal information, infrastructure management, finance and economics, medical, military and anything else you can think of. Because of this, the security of these systems absorbs more and more resources to the point where there are no longer enough individuals with the requisite skills to keep everything safe and develop the software and systems needed to move into the future. It’s projected that in Canada, in the next 12 – 18 months, there may be as many as 147,000 unfilled information technology (IT) jobs. These jobs can’t be filled through immigration alone but also require a significant move in reskilling and retraining existing workforces.

 

This is where the Coding for Veterans (C4V) organization tries to fill a gap. Their mission is to take military members who are leaving the CAF, and help them transition to civilian life by providing support and training in the IT field, specifically cyber security and software development. Their program started in 2019 with five students and now has put between 600-650 students through the course. Participants, including some international students, come from all across Canada (as the program is 100% virtual/online). All-in-all, students get a university education and write industry certification exams making the transition from military to civilian life much easier. “From Deployment to Employment” as stated by Jeff Musson, Executive Director of C4V.

 

For those veterans who have left the military (since 2006) and have at least six years of service, Veterans Affairs Canada, through the Education Transition Benefit, will fund 100% of the tuition in the program. The C4V program partnership with the University of Ottawa-Professional Development Institute allows for classes to be taken 100% online from anywhere in Canada with C4V providing the academic curriculum in conjunction with the needs of their industry partners.  The curriculum provided by C4V has been created based on consultation with their industry partners (a “key to [C4V’s] success” says Jeff Musson) and is a living entity in that the partners provide ongoing input on changing needs and C4V adjusts the curriculum to fit those changing requirements. This ensures that the graduating students have skills relevant to the current work environment making it easier to obtain employment, which C4V also helps to facilitate with their placement program.

 

Surprisingly, the largest group of students is from the infantry/artillery branches. Jeff Musson explains this from the point of view of civilian job equivalencies in that a military pilot has a civilian counterpart in an airline pilot, but soldiers and gunners do not. As with other military personnel, they bring soft skills, discipline, teamwork, attention to detail, attitude, and the ability to work independently. However, they are also familiar with technologies and machinery, making them highly desirable once trained in IT.

 

C4V is also looking at diversifying its training to include data analytics, artificial intelligence, machine learning, etc., to keep on top of industry needs. Currently, there are three cohorts per year: winter (starts January), spring (starts May), and fall (starts September).   

 

C4V also recognizes that the CAF member is successful because s/he has a support system of family and spouses who could also benefit from retraining in these fields. To that end, C4V has partnered with the Ontario Government, Ministry of Training and Skills Development, which will also supply funding for spouses, family members and reservists to participate in the program.

 

Going forward, C4V wishes to expand the model in Canada and other countries. The model was recently passed by the Veterans Administration in the USA, under their G.I. Bill, (Jan 2024) with a partnership with the University of Southern California.  The first cohort of American students has just begun and, as this is a self-paced course, students could graduate as early as in eight months but more realistically 12-13 months.   C4V, in order to promote the program, had a float in this year’s Rose Bowl Parade, the first Canadian float in this parade in 35 years.  It will also have a float in this year’s Calgary Stampede so look for that if you tune in to the Stampede.

 

At a recent Atlético Ottawa football game, on the 28th June, 2024 C4V hosted a Military Appreciation Night to raise awareness of the contributions of military members and bring attention to its programs. In attendance for C4V was Jeff Musson, Executive Director of C4V, and doing the coin toss for Atlético and Forge FC (Hamilton) was our Parliamentary Secretary for National Defence, the Honourable Marie-France Lalonde. Again this year, the Military Wives Choir sang the national anthem from center field.

 

The game was hard fought between the two teams with Ottawa scoring first at the two minute mark.  I wasn’t even out to the field yet from changing my lenses and I’d already missed a good photo opportunity!  Play moved back and forth for the rest of the half but Atlético went into half-time with the 1-0 lead intact.  However, within three minutes of the second-half starting, Forge got a goal, but not by their own effort as Ottawa scored on themselves.  At 55 minutes, Forge got the go ahead goal but that only lasted seven minutes before Ottawa evened up the score at 2-2. The crowd went crazy when del Campo put in Ottawa’s third at the 70 minute mark which looked like it would be the winning goal until the 88 minute mark when Forge managed to tie it up again.  Things looked like a draw until, in stoppage  time, Ottawa’s Torres got the winner to close the night (4-3).  So people got their money’s worth with an exciting game ending in a win.

Canada Day and RCAF Centennial Flypast Practice

If you were downtown Ottawa or around Petrie Island on Wednesday afternoon, you may have thought Ottawa was the target of an airborne invasion.  Not true however.  What was happening is that the RCAF was doing a practice run of the Canada Day Flypast on Parliament Hill.

To see pictures of the take-offs and landings from the practice, go to:

https://www.richardlawrencephotography.ca/rlpgalleries/2024/flypast_practice/

This year, in conjunction with the RCAF Centennial, the flypast will be much bigger in that the RCAF has got at least one of every type of aircraft set to do the flypast on Canada Day at about 1220 hours. In total, there should be about 45 airplanes with everything from WWII planes (courtesy of Vintage Wings of Canada and the Michael Potter Collection), current aircraft in the RCAF inventory, and even a couple of newer aircraft that are coming to the RCAF (new trainers such as the Pilatus PC-21 and the Grob G120A).  Aircraft will launch from multiple bases such as Petawawa, Trenton, and the Gatineau Executive Airport, form up east of Petrie Island, and then head in to town. 

The air route will use Petrie Island as its initial point to head up the Ottawa River and fly east to west over Parliament Hill and then Lebreton Flats.  I believe they’ll be at about 3,000 feet over Petrie Island and then lowering to about 1,600 feet by the time the hit the Hill.  So, the best places to watch this once-in-a-lifetime train of aircraft is Parliament Hill and Lebreton Flats OR, if you live at the east end, Petrie Island, which should be less congested and have better parking.  The show should start between 1215 and 1230 and last about 20 minutes.

74th Anniversary of the Start of the Korean War

To see all the pictures from this event, go to:

https://www.richardlawrencephotography.ca/rlpgalleries/2024/koreanwar74/

For 35 years Korea had been a Japanese colony and had suffered at the hands of the Japanese all that time and especially during WWII.  After WWII, a line was drawn at the 38th parallel making two occupation zones: the North controlled by Russia and the South by U.S.  There were plans to eventually create one independent state but political disagreements led to the creation of two Korean governments, each claiming to be the sole legitimate government, which stymied the reunification. The North was led by Kim Il Sung and the South by Syngman Rhee.

 

On June 25, 1950, the forces of North Korea, with permission of Russia and supported by China, invaded South Korea and started the Korean War which was to last three years plus a month, involve 19 countries (17 with the South and two with the North) and claim millions of lives, including 519 Canadians.  The North was supported by Russia and China while the South was supported by the U.S.A. and the United Nations Command.

 

To observe this event the Embassy of the Republic of Korea in Canada (a.k.a. South Korea or the RoK) holds an annual commemoration ceremony at the National War Memorial in Ottawa followed by a reception.  However, this year the weather gods did not co-operate and the ceremony was forced indoors to the Chateau Laurier Hotel because of rain.  Just as well as it did rain, in torrents.

 

The ceremony started with seven Korean veterans, led by Mr. Bill Black from the Korea War Veterans Association, Unit #7, marching in front of the assembled audience to their seats. The ceremony followed the standard program of the Act of Remembrance, Commitment to Remember, Last Post, silence, and the Rouse before getting to the laying of the wreaths.  This year, there were a lot of wreaths – I think over 20 in all.

 

The wreaths were laid by Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of International Development, Anita Vandenbeld, for Canada; MGen (ret’d) Seok Jong-gun, Minister of Defence Acquisition Program Administration, along with His Excellency Woongsoon Lim, Ambassador of the Republic of Korea to Canada, for Korea; Senators Yohan Martin and Rebecca Patterson for the Senate of Canada; MP Michael Kram for the House of Commons; Chief of the Defence Staff, Gen. Wayne Eyre on behalf of the Canadian Armed Forces.  At this point I lost track of who was laying wreaths as they started coming up five at a time with embassy representatives, Defence Attachés, and veterans groups until the sole final wreath when Mr. Bill Black, Korean War veteran, came forward with Mr. George Guertin, also a Korean War veteran, to lay the wreath on behalf of Korea Veterans Association of Canada, National Capital Unit 7.

 

This pretty much concluded the wreath laying ceremony which paved the way for the group pictures with the Korean War veterans.  After this, everyone was invited to a reception hosted by the Korean Embassy. This year the walk to the reception was much shorter as it was in the Chateau Laurier Ballroom, just a short walk from the room hosting the ceremony.  Usually it entails a walk up Elgin Street from the National War Memorial.

 

During the reception, Ambassador Lim made remarks thanking all the veterans for their sacrifices, followed by the Honorable Anita Vandenbeld, and Senator Yonah Martin, who came to Canada from Korea with her parents. During Senator Martin’s remarks she noted how she owed her current way of life to the veterans as her parents were in Korea during the war.

 

Upon introduction by Senator Marin, the next to take the stage were two Korean children, dressed in traditional Korean dress, who read and presented letters from Korean children to the Korean veterans. Mr. Bill Black accepted the letters on behalf of the veterans.

 

To give everyone a slight reprieve from the ceremony, the Military Wives Choir - Ottawa came forward to present a musical interlude with music from a contingent of the Central Forces Band of the CAF.  Not to be outdone, the Korean War veterans all got up to the stage and sang a couple of songs with the choir starting with “Pack up your trouble (in your old kit bag)" and “It’s a long way to Tipperary” to the enjoyment of the assembled host.  They ended with a song in Korean. Luckily, I think, the choir drowned out the veterans, who to my knowledge, can’t sing a note.

 

At this point, Mr. Seok Jong-gun took the stage to make remarks through an interpreter to thank all the veterans and to make a toast to them.  The toast was responded to by Mr. Bill Black on behalf of the veterans.

 

To end the formal portion of the reception, Gen. Wayne Eyre was asked to take the stage and was joined by the Ambassador, His Excellency Lim.  Ambassador Lim then presented to Gen. Eyre a folded, encased, Korean Flag “ … in appreciation of your noble service and long-standing friendship”. 

 

After thanking the Ambassador for the gift, Gen. Eyre proceeded with a few remarks, centering mainly on the topic of friends.  He noted that in both WWI and WWII, Canada was wholly unprepared to go to war but yet rose to the occasion and became a world military power by the end of WWII.  But he also noted that there are “dark clouds on the horizon now” and if any lesson was learned from the Korean War, it’s that “… friends matter, allies matter, and partners matter. … Our competitive advantage is being part of a group of like-minded allies, friends, and partners who see the world through the same lense and act together against adventurers, imperialism, and aggression.”.  With that, he ended his remarks and asked everyone to lift their glass and toast “To Friendship”.

 

This ended the formal part of the reception and the food tables were opened up for service. On service was, of course, Kimchi, but also soy/maple glazed salmon (on a bed of rice), mushroom ravioli, and lemon-thyme chicken with roasted potatoes.  Mmm Mmm good.

RCAF 100th Anniversary Gala Ball

By Richard Lawrence

On April 1st, 1924, the air elements of the Canadian military became the Royal Canadian Air Force reporting to the Chief of the General Staff, the head of the Canadian Militia (Army) at the time.  It wouldn’t be until 1930 that the RCAF would become a fully independent element and report directly to the Minister of National Defence.  Although the official 100th Anniversary of the RCAF was the 1st April, 2024, the RCAF 100th Gala Ball was held at the Infinity Centre, Ottawa, on June 1st, 2024, with all the pomp and ceremony one would expect.

Now, the story of the Ball is the purview of the RCAF Centennial Committee so I will not be linking to a gallery of images.  Nor are my 576 images the full story of the Ball as I was committed to the VIP tent for pre-Ball festivities while three other photographers were also assigned specific areas and duties.  The RCAF Centennial Committee will receive the photographs from all of us and then decide what will be shown for public consumption.  Any requests for images should be directed to the Committee.

There were a few notes of interest for me during the event.  First was the appearance of the RCAF Honorary Colonel, Loreena McKennitt, world renowned Canadian singer, which was a treat as I’ve been taking pictures of her since she became Honorary Colonel almost ten years ago (I think).  I was disappointed when she came up to sing the national anthem and just as she started, the lighting changed from normal to completely red.  To me, she looked like the sister of Hellboy (DC comic book reference) and made getting good photos difficult.  I’ve tried to colour balance as best I could to get back to skin tones but then discovered they had lesser lights of mauve on her left side and yellow on her right.  This lighting was to haunt me for the rest of the evening

Another note of interest was David Arrigo, who paints pictures in real time at events.  He was painting a collage of the RCAF history and the plan was to finish during the meal at the Ball and present the painting to LGen. Kenny, Commander of the RCAF.  I had met him previously at the 2019(?) Ottawa-Gatineau Airshow when he was doing a similar creation relating to the F-35.

 Also making appearances were three WWII veterans, most distinguished being MGen (ret’d) Richard Rohmer, Honorary LGen of the Canadian Armed Forces, who showed up in mess kit (formal dress) wearing at least 30 medals, no doubt some with clasps/bars.  He flew fighter/recon missions and was active over the beaches of Normandy on D-Day.  Oh, by the way, he’s 100 years old!  The Governor-General, Her Excellency the Honourable Mary Simon, was in attendance and provided remarks after HLGen. Kenny.  At the end of her remarks, she awarded the King Charles III Coronation Medal to LGen Rohmer for his lifetime of dedication and commitment to Canada.  As if his chest had room for another medal! 

Mr. Ron “Shorty” Moyes (98 years old) was very engaging and, at one time, served in Four-Five Squadron (I believe this refers to 405 Squadron).  Anyway, later in the evening, I was able to get a picture of Mr. Moyes with four COs of Four-Five Squadron which seemed to tickle him no end.  Mr. Moyes served 30 missions as a tail gunner in Halifax bombers and then Lancasters as part of the Pathfinder Squadron. Near the end of the war, Mr. Moyes took part in a bombing raid on Hitler’s mountain retreat of Berchtesgaden and also participated in Operation Manna, the air dropping of food to starving Dutch civilians in the still German occupied Netherlands.

One significant event was the awarding of a Guinness World Record to the RCAF which read “the most landmarks illuminated in 24 hours is 56 and was achieved by the Royal Canadian Air Force (Canada) in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, on 1 April, 2024”.  To achieve this, the RCAF got 56 landmarks to illuminate themselves in blue light on the actual 100th anniversary of the RCAF.

Details of dignitaries present, details of the speeches, the music (supplied by the Central Band of the Canadian Armed Forces, Jet Stream (Royal Canadian Air Force show band), and the Ottawa/Uplands chapter of the Canadian Military Wives Choir) I will leave to the RCAF Centennial Committee and the full complement of photographs will, I’m sure, be made available once they’ve been vetted.

80th Anniversary of D-Day

To see the pictures from the ceremony, go to:

https://www.richardlawrencephotography.ca/rlpgalleries/2024/dday80/

 

D-Day.  The 6th of June, 1944. The Day that was the start of the end of WWII.  Eighty years ago this mass undertaking, the largest seaborne invasion in history, known as Operation Neptune (the entire Normandy Campaign was known as Operation Overlord), started in Northern France on the beaches designated as Gold, Sword, Juno, Omaha, and Utah and involved the militaries of 13 countries (14 if you count the Germans).  The Canadians of the 3rd Canadian Infantry Division were assigned Juno Beach close to the villages of Courseulles and Bernières which were defended by the two battalions of the German 716th Infantry Division and elements of the 21st Panzer Division held in reserve.  In all, about 14,000 troops landed with 961 becoming casualties - 340 dead.

Today there are countless commemorations taking place to remember this day.  In Canada, Moncton, N.B., has a week of events and most politicians are in France at Juno Beach along with the few veterans left that could make the trip.  In Ottawa, however, a commemoration ceremony was held with the few people who could make it out on the hot and humid day in the middle of the week which featured rain throughout the ceremony.  Luckily, Veterans Affairs Canada had the presence of mind to move the ceremony from the National War Memorial to the inside venue of Cartier Drill Hall. Cartier Drill Hall is home to the Cameron Highlanders who, coincidentally, took part in the D-Day Landings.

It was a normal remembrance ceremony with the standard Act of Remembrance, Commitment to Remember, and wreaths laid, the Last Post, 2 minutes silence and the Rouse following the Guide to Commemorative Ceremonies.  In attendance and laying wreaths were the United States Ambassador, the High Commissioner of the UK, representation from France, along with Veterans Affairs Canada, The Minister of National Defence, the CAF, Royal Canadian Legion, Indigenous and youth representatives. 

When all wreaths were in place and the guests were asked if anyone else would like to lay a wreath,  two ladies came forward with a wreath with a ribbon that said “WWII Russian Veterans Ottawa”. Now, given all the animosity to anything Russian these days that took a lot of courage for those two ladies to come forth in front of everyone. 

Now, I dislike the current Russian government as much as anyone else and wish only bad things upon them.  However, putting everything in context, in 1944 the Russians were our allies and had been doing the bulk of the fighting in the European Theatre for three years.  They had suffered immense losses and deprivation and had been waiting for the Allies to invade Europe to make Hitler move his divisions out of Russia to France, thereby lessening their load.  Notwithstanding the British (and Commonwealth) contributions in Africa along with the United States and the subsequent push up Italy, it was the invasion of France that Russia counted on for relief.  D-Day did that.

So, again, although I dislike the Russian government of the day and think they should be ostracized from any event, social, political, or otherwise, today was not that day.  Russia did not directly contribute to the D-Day successes, but it was their continued fighting that kept Hitler from moving a hundred more divisions from the Eastern Front to France to stem the Allied invasion, so allowing a small concession of the placement of a wreath to remember their war dead seems appropriate.

That said, it was a small ceremony to remember a day in the history of the world of which the importance cannot be overstated and which, if it had failed, could have meant a different world.

CANSEC 2024 - Day 1

By RIchard Lawrence

To see the images from CANSEC – Day 1, please go to:

https://www.richardlawrencephotography.ca/rlpgalleries/2024/cansec2024d1/

CANSEC 2024 is now done for another year after having completed another successful event.  And while there are many conflicts in the world, Ukraine and Gaza foremost amongst them, Ukraine still received most of the commentary from the speakers.  I won’t go into what all the speakers had to say other than Christyn Cianfarani who, in her opening remarks on the first day, said that “… If Russia isn’t stopped now, Russia will not stop.”  Why can’t the world see that this is a repeat of what Hitler did in the mid/late 1930’s and react appropriately and with purpose?  Never again, my ass!

As does everyone else, I feel for the innocents caught in the middle of the Gaza conflict as I do for every civilian caught-up in warfare since the beginning of warfare – and there have always been innocent civilians killed in warfare.  But it used to be that the armed forces took pains to remove civilians from areas of conflict and did not directly target them.  This changed in WWII, of course, with the strategic bombing campaigns of “Bomber” Harris and Goering directly aimed at the civilian population in order to force governments to redirect scarce resources away from the war effort to care for the civilians and worker populations.  But not even Hitler used his own civilians as human shields.

Remember that Hamas started this conflict and they have the ability to stop it by surrendering the remaining hostages and to stop being cowards and using civilians as shields.  The only mention of Gaza that I heard in the entire event was from the protesters at the entrance and as I don’t agree with their methods nor their protest (that is to say I do agree that the killing of civilians should stop but I don’t agree with their blaming Israel as the “bad guy” when that honour goes to Hamas), you will not see any further mention or pictures of them.

So CANSEC didn’t have a lot of big hardware on display other than a few truck based vehicles (Babcock, General Dynamics, Roshel, UTV), Mission Master Autonomous vehicles (Rheinmetall), ATV types (Polaris, Airforce, Podolinsky) but there were still some interesting things to see.  Clearly, there is an impetus to use drone technology as well as defence against drones given their effectiveness in Ukraine.

This is the first year I’ve seen HANWHA at the show (Korea’s 7th largest manufacturer) touting models of tanks, armoured vehicles, submarines, missiles, and a futuristic aircraft carrier launching what appears to be Chinese Sky Hawk or Lockheed Martin Wraith drones, both of which look like baby B2 bombers.

Other big players were present such as Irving and Davie Shipyards, Saab, Rheinmetall, Babcock, General Dynamics (Land and Mission systems), CAE, Boeing, Airbus, Leonardo, etc.  Many of the displays lacked hardware and instead had models of the equipment they’re trying to sell.  I don’t know how else you would do it as you can’t get a ship in the building.

I do remember ARMX being held at Lansdown Park in the 1980s and they had the place filled with tanks and helicopters, low-level air defence (LLAD) systems, and other things you could climb over and into.  Even at this location, in 2019, they had a Typhoon aircraft (probably not the real plane, just a full-size mock-up), and a CAF Cormorant.  In 2022, there was a Blackhawk parked out back so that was fun.  One year, it was held at CFB Uplands airbase and they brought aircraft in and parked on the tarmac.

The two speakers of Day One were Bill Blair (Minister of National Defence) and Dominic LeBlanc (Minister of Public Safety, Democratic Institutions, and Intergovernmental Affairs).  More spending promises and pats on the back about how well we’re doing and how much more we’re going to do.  As a former procurement officer with the CAF myself, I’ll hold off my congratulations until I see equipment in the hands of the soldiers. I hate the fact that “Regional and Industrial Benefits” bloat these contracts all out of proportion to what the actual equipment costs and it’s the military that pays the price in protracted negotiations, long waits for equipment which allows inflation to drive up the costs so the number of equipments purchased has to be cut down, etc.  But I digress.

There were a few notable appearances by people I knew such as LGen Kenny (Commander RCAF), LGen Allen (VCDS), MGen Speiser-Blanchett (DComd RCAF), Marie-France Lalonde (MP), various defence attachés, and even a few other photographers/journalists I hadn’t seen for a while.  Put that together with some of the free stuff you can get at the booths (thanks Babcock for the power bank and the wireless charging pad, NWS for the t-shirt and fancy pens), and the long day becomes quite tolerable.

Aero Gatineau-Ottawa Airshow 2023

By Richard Lawrence

To see all my pictures from Media Day at the Aero Gatineau-Ottawa Airshow 2023, go to:

https://www.richardlawrencephotography.ca/rlpgalleries/aircraft/ago2023/

The annual Aero Gatineau-Ottawa Airshow (AGO2023) came this year to weather that it hasn’t seen in years.  All three days of beautiful fallish temperatures, blue sky on Friday/Saturday and some cloud on Sunday provided the organizers and guests with the perfect aeronautical experience.  As I was there on the Media Day (Friday), I didn’t get a full performance as it was a practice day for the performers and some still had yet to arrive.  Notwithstanding, I took 2700 pictures using three different cameras, some of them even in focus.

There’s really not a lot to say about an airshow other than you get to see aircraft that you don’t normally see, doing things they really shouldn’t be doing, way too close to the ground.  The AGO2023 was not different in that respect.  Those doing the acrobatic portions of the program, such as Pete McLeod in his Zivko Edge 540 and the Third Strike Wingwalking biplane right up to the Snowbirds, makes you wonder why their planes don’t break apart and fall out of the sky. 

Big beasts, like the A400 Atlas from the Luftwaffe, seem to just float down to the runway belying the fact that their landing speed is faster than most of the smaller aircraft.  The CL-415 water bomber was the same in that it lumbered down the runway before getting airborne but then you realized that it’s full of water when it did a pass and dumped it down the showline.

If you need a break, you can always go visit the static aircraft, which you can get quite close to, or wait until the Skyhawks go up to do their multi-jumper formations, which takes a while for them to float down to earth.  It never made sense to me to stand on the top of someone else’s parachute but then I’ve never jumped.  I tried to apply for the tandem jump this year but apparently there’s an age limit of 50 (I’m older – significantly).

If you’re into WWII aircraft, there was lots for you.  Vintage Wings of Canada and the Michael Potter Collection were well represented with the North American P-51D Mustang, the Supermarine Spitfire Mk IX, and the Hawker Hurricane Mk XII, getting together to do a WWII formation.  Speaking of formations, there was also the Heritage Flight with the CF-188 Hornet and the Spitfire Mk IX. And let’s not forget the FG-1D Corsair which is a crowd favourite and a P-40 Warhawk that actually saw WWII combat in the Pacific theatre, claiming a Japanese Zero and Japanese Betty as kills. 

For speed freaks, there were the jets and the other aircraft doing passes down the showline, some slower but mostly fast.  The CF-188 did only a couple of passes as they were late arriving and had just come from Bagotville.  One CF-188 had to go join up with the Spitfire, already airborne, for the Heritage Flight, so the other CF-188 only did a couple of passes before landing.  For me, the star of the show was the MIG-17PF which I had never seen before. It behaved like a standard jet of its era and apparently has a top speed of 715 mph and can reach 30,000 feet in three minutes.  Not to be sneared at for sure.  Also doing high speed passes and photo passes were the WWII aircraft, the CL-415 (not that fast), and just about anything else flying.

While the Snowbirds are usually the draw of the show, they maybe had to share the spotlight a bit with the Nighttime Airshow which started about 1830 hrs on Friday night.  At this time, while there is still some light, the Snowbirds took to the air for the second time and did a show in the waning light.  Not great for pictures but it’s good to see the nose lights against the darkening sky.  The CF-188 Hornet followed them with the afterburner helping to locate the plane.  Again, pictures of a grey airplane against a grey sky are pretty tough so it was best to just enjoy the show.  Lastly for the dusk portion of the show, was the MIG-17PF, which also flew earlier in the afternoon.  Again, a silver aircraft against a dark sky is hard to follow, but its tiny afterburner (compared to the CF-188) made for interesting viewing.

Now came the Nighttime show which needed absolute darkness.  The first to go was the Long EZ pyro flight which had Kyle Fowler in his 1986 Long EZ pusher aircraft take to the sky loaded up with pyro and flares.  Finding him in the darkness was easy because he had this long streak of flame behind him.  After he came down, it was time for the drones.  The Groupe Royal Pyro put together a show combining fireworks and 100 programmed drones.  The drones went up and moved elegantly from one formation to another with a general aviation theme.  They went from an airliner, to a helicopter, to a rocket, to a pilot with helmet and several other formations, then ending with a big fireworks display at the end.  All in all, a gracefull show.

I was prepared to wait awhile to get out of the parking lot but was pleasantly surprised that my being parked by the entrance allowed me fairly easy and quick egress.  It only took 12 minutes from starting the car to being on the highway headed home where I could started culling my pictures.

Coding for Veterans

By Richard Lawrence

For more photos to go: www.richardlawrencephotography.ca/rlpgalleries/sports/atletico_20230913/index.html

In today’s world, it’s common fact that technology, specifically computers, is required to run almost every aspect of our lives from personal information, infrastructure management, finance and economics, medical, military and anything else you can think of. Because of this, the security of these systems absorbs more and more resources to the point where there are no longer enough individuals with the requisite skills to keep everything safe and develop the software and systems needed to move into the future. It’s projected that in Canada, in the next 12 – 18 months, there may be as many as 147,000 unfilled information technology (IT) jobs. These jobs can’t be filled through immigration alone but also require a significant move in reskilling and retraining existing workforces.

This is where the Coding for Veterans (C4V) organization tries to fill a gap. Their mission is to take military members who are leaving the CAF, and help them transition to civilian life by providing support and training in the IT field, specifically cyber security and software development. Their program started in 2019 with five students and is about to enroll its 500th student shortly. Participants, including some international students, come from all across Canada (as the program is 100% virtual/online). All-in-all, students get a university education and write industry certification exams making the transition from military to civilian life much easier. “From Deployment to Employment” as stated by Jeff Musson, Executive Director of C4V.

This program is open to all CAF veterans. The current average age of students in the program is 39.2 years old with some in their mid-50s as well. For those veterans who have left the military (since 2006) and have at least six years of service, Veterans Affairs Canada, through the Education Transition Benefit, will fund 100% of the tuition in the program. The C4V program partnership with the University of Ottawa-Professional Development Institute allows for classes to be taken 100% online from anywhere in Canada with C4V providing the academic curriculum in conjunction with the needs of their industry partners.  The curriculum provided by C4V has been created based on consultation with their industry partners (a “key to [C4V’s] success” says Jeff Musson) and is a living entity in that the partners provide ongoing input on changing needs and C4V adjusts the curriculum to fit those changing requirements. This ensures that the graduating students have skills relevant to the current work environment making it easier to obtain employment, which C4V also helps to facilitate with their placement program.

Surprisingly, the largest group of students is from the infantry/artillery branches. Jeff Musson explains this from the point of view of civilian job equivalencies in that a military pilot has a civilian counterpart in an airline pilot, but soldiers and gunners do not. As with other military personnel, they bring soft skills, discipline, teamwork, attention to detail, attitude, and the ability to work independently. However, they are also familiar with technologies and machinery, making them highly desirable once trained in IT.

Going forward, C4V wishes to expand the model in Canada and other countries. The model was recently picked up by the Veterans Administration in the USA, under their G.I. Bill, with a partnership with the University of Southern California. According to Jeff Musson, “We think this program will have the ability to train veterans throughout NATO by partnering with universities in those NATO countries.” C4V is also looking at diversifying its training to include data analytics, artificial intelligence, machine learning, etc., to keep on top of industry needs. Currently, there are three cohorts per year: winter (starts January), spring (starts May), and fall (starts September).   

C4V also recognizes that the CAF member is successful because s/he has a support system of family and spouses who could also benefit from retraining in these fields. To that end, C4V has partnered with the Ontario Government, Ministry of Training and Skills Development, which will also supply funding for spouses, family members and reservists to participate in the program.

At a recent Atlético Ottawa football (re:soccer) game (13th September), C4V hosted a Military Appreciation Night to raise awareness of the contributions of military members and bring attention to its programs. In attendance for C4V was Jeff Musson, Executive Director of C4V, and doing the coin toss for Atlético and Pacific FC was retired Warrant Officer Corey Bertrand. WO (ret’d) Bertrand had served 25 years with the CAF, having served as a military policeman in Bosnia, Afghanistan and Mexico during his career. He was selected to do the coin toss due to his support of the Atlético team, involvement in the soccer community, and the fact that he had retired only one week prior to the game. Also supporting the coin toss was a representative from the Ottawa Soccer Club – 2010 T1 Bulldogs, who had just won the Kicking in the City soccer championship the previous weekend, and the Military Wives Choir sang the national anthem from center field.

The game was hard fought between the two teams with Pacific FC scoring first around the 29-minute mark in the first half. I’m glad the Pacific team doesn’t play rugby because it seemed that every time there was any incidental contact (and sometimes no contact at all) they took a dive to the ground trying to draw penalties against Atlético. It was embarrassing really. In the second half, Atlético was able to tie up the game at about the 65-minute mark, but that was all the scoring as the game ended 1-1.

So, a hurrah for Coding For Veterans for making the effort to take retiring CAF members and provide them with meaningful training in a quickly changing world which doesn’t wait for that retiring member to get their feet under them as they transition. Congratulations to them in forging partnerships with IT industry players, Veterans Affairs Canada, the University of Ottawa, and for expanding the program past our own borders. Should you have any questions, please visit the Coding For Veterans website at: https://www.codingforveterans.com/

 

The 107th Anniversary of The Battle for Beaumont-Hamel

By Richard Lawrence

The 107th ceremony of remembrance for the Royal Newfoundland Regiment (RNR) and the Battle of Beaumont-Hamel was held on July 1st, 2023, at the National War Memorial in Ottawa, on a somewhat overcast and smoky morning that threatened rain.  Just as the ceremony completed, however, the sun came out for about 10 minutes so everyone could get pictures at the National War Memorial proving that God loves the Newfoundlanders.

To see all of the pictures, follow this link:

https://www.richardlawrencephotography.ca/rlpgalleries/2023/bhamel107/

Any requests for pictures should be sent to Royal Newfoundland Regiment Advisory Council at rnradvisorycouncil@gmail.com to the attention of Col. (ret’d) Gregory Burt.

The 1st of July is a day of remembrance first in Newfoundland and a day to celebrate Canada second. In the First World War, the Dominion of Newfoundland supplied 8,707 men to the three Dominion services including the Royal Newfoundland Regiment, the Royal Newfoundland Naval Reserve, and the Newfoundland Forestry Corps. As well 3,296 men volunteered for the Canadian Expeditionary Force, 21 were known to be in the Royal Flying Corp/Royal Air Force, and 175 women served overseas in nursing and aid stations. In all, 36% of men of military age (19-35) went to war.

Beaumont-Hamel is significant in that the men of the Royal Newfoundland Regiment (RNR) went “over the top” on this day at about 0915 hrs in 1916 and 30 minutes later, only remnants remained. They left from a support trench (St. John’s Trench) which was 200 metres behind the jump off point because the dead and wounded from previous waves clogged the way to the front. After this, it was another 500 metres to the enemy through a no-man’s land criss-crossed with enemy machine gun fire. “It was a magnificent display of trained and disciplined valour and its assault only failed of success because dead men can advance no further.” said LGen Sir Aylmer Gould Hunter-Weston.

While figures vary, the RNR website lists: Killed In Action – 14 officers and 219 other ranks, wounded – 12 officers and 374 other ranks and 91 missing. Out of 721 who were committed to the battle only 68 were able to answer the roll call the next morning (85% casualties). Every officer who went into battle was either killed or wounded. Some of the dead were killed trying to crawl back to their own lines from no-man’s land as they had been made to wear metal triangles on their backs, so command could monitor their forward progress. As they crawled back, the sun reflected off the metal making them easy targets for enemy snipers and many were killed. It would be two weeks before the people in Newfoundland heard of the disaster.

The ceremony was hosted by the Royal Newfoundland Regiment Advisory Council and MC’d by Col (ret’d) Gregory Burt who started the ceremony by welcoming everyone and then retracing Newfoundland’s history and sacrifice during “The Great War”.  Of special note were the facts that 14 sets of brothers perished in the attempt including four members of the Ayre family of St. John’s. 

The Act of Remembrance was spoken by Mr. Bill Black and Col. Burt and the Commitment to Remember was done by Miss Kathleen Mercer in both official languages. Miss Mercer has a rich heritage of military service with one great-great-grandfather in the Royal Newfoundland Regiment, the other in the Merchant Navy in WWII.  Her great-grandfather served in the Royal Navy during WWII and her brother currently attends Royal Military College.  The laying of wreaths was preceded by a prayer delivered by Padre Commander Jennifer Gosse who also had a great-uncle killed at Beaumont-Hamel.  

Seventeen wreaths were laid in total with the first by Senator Rebecca Patterson for Canada, and then Senator Mohamed-Iqbal Ravalia on behalf of the People of Newfoundland and Labrador. The star of the show, however, was Ms. Joan Fisher who laid the wreath on behalf of the Atlantic Voices Choir along with the choir mascot, a seven year old Newfoundland dog named “Margaree”.  Margaree managed a small bow to the wreath during the moment of reflection after the laying.

To end the ceremony, the poem “Only One Tree” was read by Miss Claire Kenny whose head barely reached above the podium.  But she persevered and read the poem without fear or error, much better than some of the adults have done in past years. The Atlantic Voices Choir concluded the ceremony by singing all four verses of “Ode to Newfoundland” and “God Save the King”.

While Newfoundland would not become part of Canada until 1949, as part of Canada now, it is important to remember the sacrifices made on behalf of the allies of this small part of the British Empire.  They mourn Newfoundland in the morning and celebrate Canada in the afternoon.

RCAF Gala Ball

To see all the pictures, go to:

www.richardlawrencephotography.ca/rlpgalleries/2023/rcaf099

Many celebrations are now taking place since the long dry spell inflicted upon us by Covid has relaxed and unlimited group size gatherings are again permitted.  This is the case with the RCAF Gala Ball which was held on June 3rd, 2023, at the Infinity Centre in Ottawa.  This Ball was originally planned for 2020, cancelled and rescheduled, cancelled and rescheduled, etc., five times before finally taking place last Saturday night.

As with most affairs of this type, fancy dress was the order of the day, albeit with a nod to the 1920s for some of the ladies who came in period dress.  Why period dress?  Because the RCAF will celebrate its 100th Anniversary on April 1st, 2024, and people are already in the mood.  Historically, the air element that came out of WWI was the Canadian Air Force which was only two squadrons and didn’t survive much past the armistice.  In 1920, the Canadian Air Force was re-established as part of the Air Board until in 1924 it was granted a royal title and became the Royal Canadian Air Force.

I must say that decorations for the room were resplendent in their colours and effects.  Lots of blue of course, but also reds in the flower arrangements and a rose at every place setting along with a commemorative wine glass.  A nice touch with the flower centerpieces was that they were placed high, some on towers and some on pedestals, which allowed the people at the table to see and talk to each other without having to peer around the flowers.  In the middle of the towers were models of WWI aircraft wired into position to look like they were flying.  Very nice.  Unfortunately, most of the guests didn’t get the full effect as when they came in, the lights were all turned down and the richness of the room was lost.

Outside also had events to be taken in.  There was a vintage fire truck and ambulance where guests could have pictures taken and a performance by the RCAF Pipes and Drums.  There was also a station under the entrance roof where the couples’ pictures were being taken and the line for that wound deep into the parking lot.  My feeling is, however, that many people got into that line thinking it was the line to enter the event and stood there for a while before they realized they could just walk into the event using the door to the right or left of the settee.

For this Gala, the organizing committee had a real coupe for a speaker in that Col Jeremy Hansen was the guest of honour. Leading the speakers was the Commander of the RCAF himself, LGen Eric Kenny, and singing the national anthem at the start of the show was internationally known singer and the Honorary Colonel of the RCAF, Ms. Loreena McKennitt.  Also in attendance was General (ret’d) Richard Rohmer who, at 99 years of age, is a veteran of D-Day, the Liberation of Holland, and the Battle of Normandy.  Another claim to fame for Rohmer is that during a recce mission he spotted what he thought to be a German staff car and radioed in the position.  A Spitfire was sent out to take care of the car and the pilot (another Canadian) shot it up.  In that car was German General Erwin Rommel.

Alas, at the edge of the dance floor was a small table with three chairs and place settings.  This was Table for Missing Aviators.  As explained by the RCAF Association website,

“The table is small symbolizing the frailty of our chosen profession; The tablecloth is white symbolizing the purity of our comrades’ intentions when they answered our country’s call to arms; The single rose displayed in the vase reminds us of their families and loved ones; The red ribbon tied so prominently on the vase is symbolic of the blood they have shed so that we may enjoy freedom; The slice of lemon is set on the bread plate to remind us of their bitter fate; The salt upon the bread plate is symbolic of the family’s tears as they wait for someone who will not return; The glass is inverted for they cannot toast with us this evening; Other chairs are drawn away from the table, for they are not here in body but they are with us in spirit.

LGen Kenny addressed the guests and talked about how proud he was of those present as well as their spouses, who have supported their careers often at the expense of their own.  LGen Kenny was followed by Col Jeremy Hansen who, as all know, is slated to go into space aboard Artemis II in November, 2024, for a 10 day mission 

Col Hansen started out by recognizing those present as a group with whom he identifies but sometimes has trouble explaining who they are. To others he says,

“This is a group of people who exist for the things that [you] can’t do.  The ones that you call on when all of your other support services have been exhausted. … These are the minds that we have trained to create solutions.

To give some examples of what he meant, he launched (no pun intended) into an anecdote about his training years and the Escape and Evasion exercise he went through where he and his buddy encountered numerous challenges and had to come up with creative solutions to get to the end of the exercise successfully

He then spoke of the upcoming Artemis II flight and its purpose.  He spoke mostly of assessing risk in that the first part is 1.5 hours in which they test the capsule and make a go/no go decision based on how things go.  From that point, they move to a higher orbit (60,000 kilometres) for a full day, further testing the vehicle for issues before moving away from their last chance to come home.  Finally, they head to the moon for the eight day trip around and back. 

He lastly spoke of the new space economy and how the line between military and commercial space use was getting very blurry and his hopes that both military and commercial exploration of space will contribute to the knowledge of each other and for the good of everyone on earth.

With Col. Hansen back at his table, I took my leave prior to the Loyal Toast and dancing so I’m afraid you’ll have to look elsewhere for information on the goings on after 2100 hours.

Was the Persian Gulf War a War?

By Richard Lawrence

So, here’s the scenario.  You’re in the military and are sent at the request (read order) of the government to a foreign land to perform active combat operations, both defensive and offensive in nature.  While there, you are bombed, shot at, possibly attacked by chemical weapons, have to breathe contaminated air, and endure physical and mental privation.  While there, you see horrible things that cannot be unseen and do things that cannot be walked back.

So, here’s the question.  Are you a veteran with WARTIME SERVICE (WTS)?

The technically correct answer is NO!!!  According to the Government of Canada, unless war has actually been declared against a foreign entity by the Government at the time of your service, you have not seen wartime service but have been in a SPECIAL DUTY AREA (SDA).  What’s the difference you may ask?  Well, to those carrying out their duty, there is absolutely no difference to the danger they face in a SDA or WTS situation.  According to the Government, however, the benefits that they receive for injuries incurred during service may/will differ depending on the injuries.

Now, you ask, how many people could this possibly affect because we send our soldiers to war, not special duty areas (unless you’re a Peacekeeper).  Well, that’s the rub.  The Korean War, Persian Gulf War, Bosnia, and Afghanistan War don’t qualify as wartime service even though they have “WAR” in the name.  They are all special duty areas. 

The Korean War veterans lobbied hard over the years and in 1980 had their service recognized after 27 years as wartime service and the Merchant Marine finally got wartime service recognition in 1990, forty-five years after the fact. Remember all those convoys that were sunk in WWII?  All those sailors who sailed in under-gunned ships (if gunned at all) travelling at the speed of the slowest ship in the convoy across the Atlantic against the German U-Boats.

In my mind, this sets two precedents for wartime service, neither of which is a declaration of war by the Government.  Firstly, the Korean War was technically a police action but the service of those veterans is rightly recognized as wartime service.  Ergo, war does not have to be declared for soldiers in combat to have recognized wartime service.  Secondly, the Merchant Marine were not members of the military but were civilian sailors fulfilling a military role in a warzone.  Ergo, you don’t actually have to be a member of the military to have recognized wartime service.  These are legal precedents that have legal basis in law.

So, why then after 32 years have the Gulf War veterans (Operation Friction ended Feb, 1991 specifically) not been recognized as having wartime service?  They are members of the military sent to a combat area performing combat duties during a war, although war was not declared.  The last phrase is irrelevant. Precedents have been set.

That was the purpose of the screening of a documentary “Canada Remembers Our Heroes: Operation Friction” on Tuesday evening, the 16th May, 2023.  MP John Brassard has been helping the Persian Gulf Veterans of Canada (PWVC) get a petition signed and pushed through Parliament to get their service recognized as wartime service.  Helping him has been a non-partisan group of Parliamentarians such as Senator Rebecca Patterson (ret’d RAdm and Gulf War veteran herself), MP Anita Vandenbeld, MP Luc Desilets, and MP Alistair MacGregor.  MP Vandenbeld hosted the evening which many Parliamentarians attended with the purpose being to show what the Gulf War veterans did during their service in Operation Friction and how it was no different than any combat in any other theatre at any other time.  The feeling is that if this documentary can get a wide enough audience within Parliament and educate and influence enough people, then it should require a smaller effort to get the Gulf War service recognized as wartime service.

There were actually only a couple speakers before the documentary was shown with the most influential being the Ambassador to Canada of the State of Kuwait (H.E. Reem Alkhaled) who, as a young woman, was in Kuwait when Iraq invaded.  She spoke to her experiences of that time and the gratitude of all Kuwaitis to the coalition forces and Canada specifically for her.  She has conferred Kuwait Liberation Medals on many Canadian Gulf War Veterans and has plans for more because, as she said, Kuwait recognizes the service of Canadian veterans.

Ambassador to Canada for the State of Kuwait, H.E. Reem Alkhaled (center), with presentation hosts MP Anita Vandelbeld (left) and Senator Rebecca Patterson (right)

After the presentation, the hosting Parliamentarians spoke stating their support and need for this initiative to recognize Gulf War service as wartime service.  And while their words are heartfelt and genuine, it was the words of the veterans themselves that held more sway.  As they spoke individually, there seemed to be a common theme, unspoken but looming in the background and that was that they were fiercely proud of their service yet felt unnoticed, not remembered, and not appreciated for their sacrifices.  There were no victory parades welcoming them home, there are no remembrance days just for them.  It actually reminded me of Viet Nam vets when they came home and were jeered and abused rather than supported.  That’s not to say Canadians have gone to those extremes, but if many veterans feel that way, then it’s not a one-of situation but the symptom of a wider phenomenon that needs to be addressed.

One simple way to help address this is to recognize their time in the Persian Gulf as wartime service.  MP Brassard has introduced the petition on behalf of the PGVC before but the Parliament was dissolved for an election and it died.  Not deterred, MP Brassard is taking another run at it with this Parliament and this petition, officially e-4399 (Veterans’ Affairs) at https://petitions.ourcommons.ca/en/Petition/Details?Petition=e-4399 , is still looking for signatures.  If you think that you would like to support this initiative, please electronically support this petition before 28 May, 2023, when it closes.

Parliamentarians and Persian Gulf War Veterans

Special thanks to MP Anita Vandenbeld for hosting the documentary screening at the Valour Building as well as all the other veterans groups that support this initiative such as ANAVETS, CAVUNP, CPVA, and the Korean War Veterans – Unit 7.

To see all the pictures from the documentary screening, please go to the link below:

https://www.richardlawrencephotography.ca/rlpgalleries/2023/gulfwardoc/ .

Candlelight Tribute for Veterans

By Richard Lawrence

To see all the pictures, go to:

https://www.richardlawrencephotography.ca/rlpgalleries/2022/candlelight2022/

One of the stellar events of Veterans Week is the Candlelight Tribute for Veterans held annually at the Canadian War Museum in which veterans pass candles to youth of various organizations who then take the candles forward and place them on a platform in front of wreaths that have already been laid.  This symbolizes the passing of the torch from one generation to another.

Now, in the past, the order of ceremony was that the four or five main wreaths were laid (Canada, Armed Forces, Veterans Affairs, War Museum, etc.) almost as soon as the ceremony started and then the lights were dimmed and the Youth of Canada, represented by navy, air, and sea cadets, Boy Scouts, and other youth organizations, streamed down between the aisles of veterans (one center and one on each side) as veterans passed their candles (battery operated) to the aisle to be handed to one of the Youth.  The Youth then moved down the aisles to the front platform where they placed the candles to rest beside and amongst the wreaths for the remainder of the ceremony.  The lights were then brought back up and speeches and commemoration began.

Not so this year.  It should have been obvious that there were changes in the air right when you walked into Lebreton Gallery as the signage for the event was different.  Traditionally, there is a sign at the entrance and a big projected sign over the stage announcing the “Candlelight Tribute for Veterans”.  This year the signs and projections were there but they only announced “Veterans Week”, nothing specific about this specific event.  Also, the back of the stage is usually replete with flags of the City, Province, Country, Aboriginal, etc., and perhaps sentries, but this year – nothing.  It makes a pretty bleak background for pictures.

Changes were immediately obvious when the ceremony started as well.  This year there were no wreaths laid at all.  There was, in front of the stage, a cannon with a single wreath (Canada) beside it, and two smaller platforms either side to hold the candles.  Rather than at the start of the ceremony, this part now took place three-quarters through and instead of three streams of Youth, there was a single stream down the centre aisle who, pretty much went to the left smaller platform only until it was filled up and then came over to the right platform.  I was told later that there should have been three streams and that both platforms should have been filled with candles at the same time but something went afoul.  Notwithstanding, I preferred the older way of doing it as it set a nicer stage for the rest of the evening  rather than sitting down and just listening to speeches.

Two other parts of the ceremony were just missing altogether. The first was where the Minister of Veterans Affairs presents the Mayor of Ottawa with a framed copy of the Veterans Week poster and in exchange, the Mayor presents the Minister with a framed copy of the City’s Proclamation of Veterans Week.  While seemingly unimportant, it does bring the federal and municipal governments together for this occasion.

Secondly, the most important portion of the event is where a street in a new development is dedicated to the memory of a veteran (usually passed away) in which his family for as many generations as they can find are brought on stage and presented with a street sign with the veterans name.  His story is told to the audience, not only military history but accomplishments after service as well, anecdotes, etc.  It’s a great feature of this event and I missed it.  Mayor Watson did state that a street in Stittsville will be renamed in honour of World War II veteran, Roger Griffiths, and be called Roger Griffiths Avenue, but it’s not the same as having the family all there, on stage, and being presented with the sign.  In my mind, the significance of that part of the event is lost.

Before it’s thought that I do nothing but complain or am against change, I’m not.  It was still a fitting ceremony for the veterans but in my mind it did not have the heart or gravitas of the old ceremony.  I hope they rethink the changes for next year and maybe another year out of Covid restrictions will allow for some of the old traditions to be brought back.