# Canadian In British Military Wins Flying Honour



## Bruce Monkhouse (25 Dec 2006)

http://www.torontosun.com/News/Canada/2006/12/24/2968595-sun.html
Sun, December 24, 2006
Canadian reject wins coveted Brit military honour
By CP

HALIFAX -- A former Nova Scotia man who was turned down when he tried to join the Canadian air force has won the Distinguished Flying Cross for demonstrating "great courage and composure" while piloting a British military helicopter in Afghanistan. 
Flight Lieut. Christopher Hasler grew up in Bedford, near Halifax, and learned how to fly gliders and Cessnas with the local air cadet squadron. 

After job-shadowing a Sea King helicopter pilot at 12 Wing Shearwater and graduating high school, he turned his eye to the sky with the hope of making a career out of flying military choppers. 
"I applied out of high school to the Canadian Forces and didn't get in, for whatever reason," the 26-year-old said yesterday at his parents' home in Ottawa. 
"These things happen. So I went to university and still really wanted to fly. So I gave the (Royal Air Force) a call and then I was successful." 

After a relatively peaceful stint in Iraq in 2004, Hasler was sent to Afghanistan last summer for two months. 
He was the captain of a Chinook on July 17 when he led a group of helicopters into Sangin, a Taliban stronghold where a soldier had been killed the day before while trying to secure the landing site. 
The mission was to bring desperately needed supplies to British paratroopers. 

According to the Royal Air Force's description of events, Hasler chose a different landing site to surprise the enemy. 
"To give the Chinook more space, he intentionally placed one of the spinning rotors above a single-storey rooftop. Any error could have been fatal. The mission was a complete success," the medal citation says. 
A few days later, Hasler landed in an area taking fire from insurgents armed with rocket-propelled grenades, machineguns and rifles. 

"There was about 1,000 rounds fired that night, but I managed to get it in, get the guys on the ground and get out," he said. 
Hasler, who did another two-month tour of Afghanistan in the fall and is to return again early in the new year, will receive his award in the spring from the Queen. 

A total of 4,460 Distinguished Flying Crosses have been awarded to Canadians.


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## ThatsLife (25 Dec 2006)

Just goes to show...

a friend of mine got turned down because he has a permanently blurry right eye. It's not completely blurry, he can see everything clearly, he just can't read letter from far away.


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## Yrys (27 Dec 2006)

I'm a civy, but if he doesn't want to be a pilot,
can't he get an eyes operaions to get in ?

I read on here that pilots with eyes operation are a no/no,
but for soldiers it may be diferent...

Édith: he sould check with the recruitng center


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## George Wallace (27 Dec 2006)

Yrys said:
			
		

> I'm a civy, but if he doesn't want to be a pilot,
> can't he get an eyes operaions to get in ?
> 
> I read on here that pilots with eyes operation are a no/no,
> ...



SEARCH:

Eye Surgery

Lasik

Vision Requirements


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## Ex-Dragoon (27 Dec 2006)

ThatsLife said:
			
		

> Just goes to show...
> 
> a friend of mine got turned down because he has a permanently blurry right eye. It's not completely blurry, he can see everything clearly, he just can't read letter from far away.



Seeing how the article does not say why he was rejected whats the pont of your post?


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## Dissident (27 Dec 2006)

Audie Murphy anyone?

Good on Christopher Hasler for persevering and achieving his dream. And doing a fine job of it too.


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## niner domestic (24 May 2007)

Here's a follow up on the award ceremonies and an interview with Hasler: 

http://www.cbc.ca/news/background/afghanistan/hasler.html


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## The Bread Guy (24 May 2007)

Makes me feel not so bad for not having made the pilot cut at ACS 

From the citation:

"Flight Lieutenant Christopher Hasler, a Royal Air Force Chinook pilot receives
the Distinguished Flying Cross for 'displaying great courage and composure
in a most demanding and high risk environment' while operating in Helmand
Province in Afghanistan in July 2006.

On 7 July 2006 Flt Lt Hasler while operating in the Sangin area elected
to land in an 'unlikely site' to achieve surprise in an area where the
enemy were operating.  Delivering stores and troops he landed in a site
surrounded on three sides by buildings and to allow another aircraft into
the site was required to position the spinning rotor blades just above a
single story rooftop - any error would have almost certainly resulted in
catastrophic damage to the aircraft.  On 14 July on another sortie Flt Lt
Hasler demonstrated tremendous bravery and commitment when skilfully landing
his aircraft while under small arms and rocket propelled grenade attack thus
allowing troops to disembark and reinforce other ground troops already under
significant threat from Taleban forces."

Congrats!


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## geo (24 May 2007)

Congratulations on a job well done!

CHIMO!



It is evident that, with the small number of airframes the CF has, they do not necessarily have the room to accept all the candidates that are interested in flying for them.... 

It's not a case of our loss being the RAFs gain, this gent is just as likely to carry some of our troops while in theatre - pending delivery of our new Chinooks.....  Should he be interested, he can always request a "transfer" to the CF once we get our CHs on the ground.... and this time, there is a good chance the CF will look favorably on his application.


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## gaspasser (24 May 2007)

"Local Boy does Good"
Looks good on him, the Air Cadet organization, but not for our Air Force.  
From the looks of it, he was in my old Squadron in Bedford. 342  
I wonder why he was not accepted into into the CAF  ???
Oh well, our loss, thier gain.  
_Astra par Ardua_


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## Bruce Monkhouse (24 May 2007)

BYT Driver said:
			
		

> "Local Boy does Good"
> Looks good on him, the Air Cadet organization, but not for our Air Force.



I disagree, its like Geo said............only so many vehicles/spots to go around.
Lots of hockey players didn't make in the old 6 team NHL but would be stars today with that same talent. [ surely everything makes sense when used as a hockey anology]


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## Yrys (24 May 2007)

http://www.cbc.ca/news/background/afghanistan/hasler.html

I liked that part of the article   



> HF: How did you get the news you were being awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross?
> 
> CH: Just before Christmas Eve _I was dragged into the boss's office, which is never good_. Fortunately, this was better news than what I'm used to.
> 
> ...


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## Mike Baker (24 May 2007)

Yrys said:
			
		

> http://www.cbc.ca/news/background/afghanistan/hasler.html
> 
> I liked that part of the article


It is a good part isn't it  ;D


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