Deploying the DART to Asia

[Teddy Ruxpin]

I think the point is moot, as the DART cannot possibly deploy in the timeframe required to do the most good.  The ROWPUs are useful, but the Field Hospital is needed immediately after a disaster, not within a few weeks.

Lew Mackenzie hit the nail on the head.  The problem, in the end, is with transport.  With ATHENA, the number of serviceable Hercs (and, just as important, available crews) is tiny - despite the number in the inventory.  We've run into the charter aircraft problem before - there are only so many Ukrainian and Russian Antonovs around.  Besides, as others have pointed out - you need permission to enter another country with assets - and a proper assessment of what's required.

I agree the DART is a waste of resources.  We tried to spring some crosscountry vehicles (can't remember the name) out of Kingston/Trenton storage for OP APOLLO and for PEREGRINE, but were told the DART was a higher priority... ???

 

[KevinB]

Teddy, the ARGO like vehicle?
  Some clown in Trenton was probably golfing with them...

 

 

[Teddy Ruxpin]

KevinB:

Yeah that's the vehicle!  I saw photos of them all palletized for air movement in Trenton during the APOLLO ramp-up and just snapped!  Best they sit in a hanger awaiting events than be deployed on an operation... :

 

[pbi]

Hmmmmm. I have had an attack of conscience about what I said. Let me try again.

I don't like DART: no change.  But, I do like humanity. (OK-well...most of the time....)

I don't mean we should never help in an emergency: that would be stupid and selfish and would probably go against our traditions in several ways. The scale of human suffering we are seeing in SE Asia demands that we act. But, IMHO, act intelligently and appropriately.

What I DO mean is that if we are really needed, we can help out as a "military force", using military assets that we fund, retain and maintain for the other 97% of the time that we are not responsing to catastrophes. We should NOT keep any asset around as a purely humanitarian response, and I challenge the statement by one poster that "every country has a DART".  IMHO what is needed in a disaster like this one, which has in fact damged only a limited portion of each country's infrastructure, are money, materiel and competent aid, medical and technical people from civil organizations such as ICRC, MSF, etc whose job it is to do these things. The HUSAR team, formed by the heavy rescue squads of some big-city fire depts across Canada, comes to mind.

I have no quarrel with flying or sea-lifting these civil resources to the affected country, or to provide a Combat Engineer Sqn (which can have a ROWPU att to it...) or some other existing tactical element to assist if that is what the country says it needs. Fine. What I do not like nor agree with is keeping a "fenced -off" pile of expensive kit and dedicated task positions, as well as using scarce funds (better sent overseas in cash form) to create a small element that will have, truth be told, a pretty limited impact when it is deployed, then do nothing the rest of the year. Help, yes: DART, no. Cheers.

 

[bossi]

Taking into account the size of the disaster, our DART would be less than a drop in the bucket (pun intended).  And, as pointed out already, we don't even have the airlift to get it "there" (wherever that is).

Ironically, the advantage of being thusly hamstrung is that it's a failsafe mechanism preventing fools from rushing in ... (i.e. it's the biggest earthquake in 40 years, the death toll is rising daily ... maybe, just maybe, it might be a good idea to do a proper "estimate of the situation" ... and coordinate any and all international response ... ?)

I particularly like pbi's additional comments - purely on a philosophical level, it would make sense for the military to respond with military assets (e.g. engineer or medical).

Lastly, I can't help but snicker at this:

The PM seems to be very quit at this moment. He said he wanted to be known for his interest in international affairs so were is he ...

Canada's Prime Minister decided to spend his Christmas vacation in ... Morocco.
Also conspicuous by their absence from Canada are Pierre Pettigrew (Foreign Affairs) and the International Development minister.
Whankers.
Thus, the Minister of National Defence (formerly Foreign Affairs) is stuck fielding all the questions.

 

[bossi]

Hot off the press ...
("... recognizance team ..." - as reported by the "B" team, I'd venture to say)

$36M more in aid
FEDS CHANGE MIND AND ORDER ADVANCE DISASTER TEAM TO SRI LANKA
By Maris McClintock and Brodie Fenlon, Toronto Sun, Thu, December 30, 2004


AFTER DAYS of being called "stingy," the federal government pledged $36 million more in relief money yesterday for the devastated areas hit by the earthquake and tsunami. That brings the federal government's cash commitment to $40 million.

The news of more cash relief was cautiously welcomed by Toronto's Tamil community, which is troubled by reports international aid is not reaching Tamil regions in northeast Sri Lanka due to government corruption.

"Even with the increase in the aid we still will question if the Sri Lankan president is going to give any aid to the northeast," said Canadian Tamil Congress spokesman Tharsi Yoganathan.

The congress met with nine Toronto-area MPs yesterday to press their demands for equal distribution of aid in their native country.

FULL ACCOUNTING

They demanded Ottawa provide a full accounting of how much Canadian aid reaches the northeast and want a bipartisan delegation of MPs to go there to witness first-hand the destruction and aid efforts.

Defence Minister Bill Graham also announced a military recognizance team from the specialized Disaster Assistance Relief Team (DART) will head to Sri Lanka with federal government officials today -- after growing questions over why the government hadn't dispatched it to the area.

The advance team will assess whether the full 200-member DART -- made up of a field hospital and engineers with water purification expertise -- should be deployed. The estimated price tag to move the massive unit is pegged at $15 million to $20 million.

Graham denied the huge cash infusion and change of heart about the DART was due to mounting public pressure. On Tuesday, government officials said sending the squad was unnecessary.

"We do not send it without first ascertaining whether or not it is going to be useful on the ground and that the countries can absorb it and use it," Graham said.

"For the moment we've not been asked to provide the entire DART, and we wouldn't move it without having close co-ordination with those on the ground," he added.

Although there have been reports that 13 Canadians have been killed, Graham said he couldn't confirm that information.

SECOND PLANELOAD

A second planeload of Canadian relief supplies is also being dispatched to Indonesia. A plane of supplies is already making its way to Sri Lanka.

Graham said Prime Minister Paul Martin, who is on a family vacation in Morocco, is coming home early and is expected back on the weekend.

Two other key cabinet ministers who have been absent in Ottawa since the disaster -- CIDA Minister Aileen Carroll and Foreign Affairs Minister Pierre Pettigrew -- are also cutting their vacations short to return to Canada.

"The shocking human toll of the terrible disaster in South and Southeast Asia has moved Canadians across the country to do what they can to help," said Graham, reading a prepared statement from the prime minister.

Martin has also been in touch with the respective heads of state of the affected countries to express his condolences, Graham said.

 

[Edward Campbell]

This is a letter to the editor in to-day's Globe and Mail (see:  http://www.theglobeandmail.com/commentTPLetters/ )

A big dart to DART
--------
By MICHAEL BYERS
Canada Research Chair in Global Politics and International Law, University of British Columbia

Thursday, December 30, 2004 - Page A18

Vancouver -- I'm perplexed that a director of humanitarian affairs at the Department of Foreign Affairs could justify not deploying the Canadian Forces Disaster Response Team to Asia because "we need to make sure that it is the kind of tool that is needed to respond to this particular circumstance" (Critics Question Canada's Reluctance to Dispatch Disaster-Response Unit -- Dec. 29).

DART's suitability for the mission is made abundantly clear in a "backgrounder" on the Department of National Defence website: "The DART: responds rapidly, in conjunction with national and regional governments and non-governmental agencies, to stabilize the primary effects of an emergency or disaster; provides potable water and medical aid to help prevent the rapid onset of secondary effects of a disaster; and gains time for the deployment of national and international humanitarian aid to facilitate long-term recovery in a disaster-struck community."

But what perplexes me most is that Prime Minister Paul Martin and Foreign Affairs Minister Pierre Pettigrew force their bureaucrats to defend the indefensible, while travelling the world espousing a "responsibility to protect."

I agree with Prof. Byers.

This is turning into a PR disaster for the government and, as collateral damage, the Canadian Forces.   Oh what a tangled web we weave, etc ...â ?

 

[gozonuts]

It's disgusting to think that a country as rich as Canada can only afford 4 million dollars in relief funds for the sunami disaster, and yet is not shy to pump in billions of dollars to Quebec to keep them placated. Just my opinion.

 

[RCA]

What is disgusting is the second guessing and political games some play when the death toll is 116,000 and climbing. Come on people, lets keep the priorities straight. Even if the CF had the capability, would troops be on the way. Probably not yet.

DART is not the answer (as said before a drop in the bucket, and where does it go?), but having the Airbuses moving supplies and the money flowing to the region is. And $40 million whether given as a PR ex or genuine gesture is moot as it is the right thing to do as this juncture of the disaster.

 

[Cdn Blackshirt]

Bill Graham got flambeed last night on the CBC trying to defend the "we're just waiting to see if we're really going to be needed" argument.

The primary anchor was all over him in regards to his "inability to deploy".

This public embarrassment of the Liberal Party may be the only way we're ever going to get those C-17's I've been dreaming of....



Matthew.  

 

[pbi]

This public embarrassment of the Liberal Party may be the only way we're ever going to get those C-17's I've been dreaming of....

Roger that. If we are honest, we can probably point to a few good things that have occurred largely because of media embarassment. We may not like the media but their power can help us. Of course, this is not really the time to scheme to get more kit when 100,000 people are dead and more are dying.The 15-20 million to send the DART could be much better spent in other ways that would do more good, more widely. Cheers.

 

[Edward Campbell]

What is disgusting is the second guessing and political games some play when the death toll is 116,000 and climbing. Come on people, lets keep the priorities straight. Even if the CF had the capability, would troops be on the way. Probably not yet.

DART is not the answer (as said before a drop in the bucket, and where does it go?), but having the Airbuses moving supplies and the money flowing to the region is. And $40 million whether given as a PR ex or genuine gesture is moot as it is the right thing to do as this juncture of the disaster.

Then please address Prof. Byers' point, and mine, too - if the DART's capabilities, as set out by DND (see: http://www.forces.gc.ca/site/Newsroom/view_news_e.asp?id=301 ) are not tailored for this situation then when in the name of all that holy could the thing be used?

It may be a drop in the bucket but it is a huge bucket and there are too few drops.

The simple fact is that DND created this thing as a PR exercise â “ to deflect public attention from real defence issues and that's all it is: useless, expensive window dressing.   NDHQ is lying to the Canadian public and they will get caught out and the CF â “ not the Minister and PM â “ will bear the brunt of the criticism.

 

[Edward Campbell]

Further to the above: I'll   bet some poor sad sack staff officer was tasked to rewrite that Backgrounder, just after ADM Communications (propaganda) read his morning paper.

 

[ArmyRick]

This is a slap in the face for the CF. I can see how the DART idea is back firing. Even if we wanted to deploy them, how would we move them? Disband DART and spend the $$$ on usefull military projects..

 

[Acorn]

While I agree with pbi and others on DART, I'd like to point out that "drop in the bucket" is not an excuse for not deploying.

"We can only save about 10000 people with our hospital and water purification capability. The scale of this disaster is so far beyond that level that it isn't worth going and saving those 10000."

Like the "Brigade of 5000," DART is looking to be yet another hollow gov't gesture, offered by the Party that can certainly "talk the talk" but has yet to even take the first baby steps of "the walk."

Acorn

 

[Bograt]

Former MND Pratt is on CFRA now speaking about Canada's relief effort. 12:30 EST

www.cfra.com

 

[bossi]

Roger that. If we are honest, we can probably point to a few good things that have occurred largely because of media embarassment. We may not like the media but their power can help us.

We'll soon see cabinet erupting like a hornet's nest ...
Now that more and more vacationing Canadians are returning to work and asking "who was on duty while the PM and certain cabinet ministers were vacationing outside the continent?" (hmmm ... wouldn't it be amusing to ask if cabinet had a "leave plan" like most Army units ... ?)

And once again, from the perspective of civilian emergency management, there's nothing like a slap in the face from the media to galvanise government into action (and remember - the Liberals only have a minority government, thus they can't afford to lose the votes of all those Canadian voters recently arrived from this corner of the globe ...).  Cynical?  No.  It's the hard reality of politics - very few politicians are trained or educated to deal with real disasters (kinda analogous to wars ...).

Ministers' absence draws fire
By Gloria Galloway, Thursday, December 30, 2004 - The Globe and Mail

OTTAWA -- The two federal ministers in charge of co-ordinating Canada's response to the devastation caused by Sunday's tsunamis had their vacations cut short yesterday after questions were raised about their prolonged absence at a time of crisis.

Foreign Affairs Minister Pierre Pettigrew and International Co-operation Minister Aileen Carroll continued their holidays outside Canada after tsunamis smashed into 12 nations and left as many as 70 Canadians missing.

Their aides would not disclose their vacation destinations, but Mr. Pettigrew is believed to have been in Paris while Ms. Carroll is believed to have been on a trip to South America with her family.

Both trips ended after members of the news media placed calls yesterday morning to the office of Prime Minister Paul Martin, who is on vacation in Morocco, to ask who was handling the crisis.

Early in the day, France Bureau, a spokeswoman for Ms. Carroll, explained the minister had been in regular contact with members of her department and that there were no plans at that time for her to return.

"We discussed [an early return] yesterday, we discussed it the day before," she said. "For now we have been able to bring her up to speed and inform her of what's going on . . . as well as what her counterparts are able to do."

Ms. Carroll understands the magnitude of the situation, Ms. Bureau said, and "she wants to come back when the time is appropriate if there is a need here."

The Prime Minister's Office called reporters a short time later to say that Ms. Carroll and Mr. Pettigrew would be returning to Canada.

Mr. Pettigrew's spokesman, Sébastien Théberge, said the Foreign Affairs Minister decided to return on his own. "Due to the current situation in South and Southeast Asia, Minister Pettigrew has cancelled his holidays," Mr. Théberge said in an e-mail. "Minister Pettigrew has been involved from the first hour on how Canada [will] respond to the current disaster and relief efforts," Mr. Théberge wrote.

Conservative Leader Stephen Harper was critical of the ministers' absence. "Here we have the single biggest humanitarian disaster of our lifetimes and the government has basically been AWOL. And it's not any particular person being on vacation. It's that nobody seems to have been really engaged. And that's a concern," he said.

"This is a huge international humanitarian disaster but there also are a significant number of Canadians involved. It isn't just something going on in foreign countries."

Defence Minister Bill Graham has been on hand to act as government spokesman. He announced yesterday, on behalf of the Prime Minister, an increase in funding for the affected regions. He was asked several times about his missing colleagues.

"They have been in constant contact with their offices through their officials throughout this," Mr. Graham said. "They have decided it's appropriate to come back now . . . as we continue our efforts.

Mr. Martin, who issued a statement about the crisis yesterday, will return to Canada Saturday -- two days sooner than planned.

 

[bossi]

...The 15-20 million to send the DART could be much better spent in other ways that would do more good, more widely. Cheers.

There's another thread on the topic of this disaster, and in it there's a link to a CTV news item about a Canadian pilot who took some pix of the shock wave.

Buried in the article is mention that the Hilton and other resorts in the Maldives are self-sufficient, and functioning reasonably well - he also mentions picking up VIPs ...

So, if there's already some small oasis functioning in the disaster area, but catering only to rich, foreign tourists ... wouldn't it make more sense for the host nation governments to ask them for their cooperation first, before flying junk from halfway around the world ... ?  Hotels and resorts already have lots of beds, just like hospitals ... and they're already in situ - why on Earth would Canada waste money flying cots and blankets over there, if medicine were a higher priority ... ? (an arbitrary example, but trying to get everybody to focus on the logistical considerations vice visceral reactions ...)

 

[Cdn Blackshirt]

Just a cut & paste of the DART backgrounder.....before they rewrite it.    ;D

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Backgrounder
Canadian Forces Disaster Assistance Response Team
BG-99-051E - September 10, 2004

Background
The Canadian government has consistently demonstrated strong support for humanitarian assistance and disaster-relief operations throughout the world. Nationally and internationally, the Canadian Forces (CF) has deployed to disaster-struck regions to conduct humanitarian relief operations. International missions since 1990 include relief operations in Rwanda, Haiti, Honduras and Turkey.

In 1994, the CF deployed 2 Field Ambulance to Rwanda to provide medical relief to the refugees suffering from the many ill effects of the conflict in that country. Despite the best efforts of all concerned, the relief effort arrived after the peak of a cholera epidemic that brought great suffering. This experience convinced the Canadian government of the need to create a rapid-response capability to provide effective humanitarian aid. The concept of the CF Disaster Assistance Response Team (DART) was born.

Operational criteria
The DART is a military organization designed to deploy rapidly anywhere in the world to crises ranging from natural disasters to complex humanitarian emergencies. The DART:

responds rapidly, in conjunction with national and regional governments and non-governmental agencies, to stabilize the primary effects of an emergency or disaster;

provides potable water and medical aid to help prevent the rapid onset of secondary effects of a disaster; and

gains time for the deployment of national and international humanitarian aid to facilitate long-term recovery in a disaster-struck community.

Mission capabilities
Comprising about 200 CF personnel ready to deploy quickly to conduct emergency relief operations for up to 40 days, the DART can bridge the gap until members of the international community arrive to provide long-term help. The DART is designed to deploy only to permissive environments â ” that is, locations where it will not encounter any organized resistance or threat.

For international missions, the DART can be activated by a request from either an individual country or from the United Nations (UN). Regardless of the source of the request, the final decision to deploy the DART rests with the Canadian government, based on advice from Foreign Affairs Canada, the Department of National Defence, and the Canadian International Development Agency.

In a UN operation, the DART is required to co-ordinate its work with the UN-appointed humanitarian co-ordinator. The DART also co-operates with international agencies on site to achieve the maximum positive impact.

The DART serves four critical needs in emergencies, namely:

primary medical care;

production of safe drinking water;

a limited specialist engineer capability; and

a command and control structure that allows for effective communications between the DART, the host nation, and the other agencies involved in the relief effort, including international 0rganizations, non-governmental organizations and UN aid agencies.

Many domestic and international organizations are committed full-time to the relief of pain and suffering. The DART complements these organizations; it does not compete with them.

DART composition
The DART is composed of highly trained military personnel drawn mostly from Land Force units. It comprises the following main elements:

DART Headquarters , consisting of about 45 personnel drawn mainly from the Canadian Forces Joint Headquarters and the Canadian Forces Joint Signal Regiment, both based in Kingston, Ontario. DART Headquarters is responsible for command and control in theatre, and for the strategic-level liaison required to determine and co-ordinate the DART's humanitarian response with the governments of Canada and the host nation, and officials of international organizations and non-government organizations operating in theatre.

A logistics platoon of about 20 personnel, responsible for the logistical support services essential to the sustainment of the DART, such as maintenance, transport and movements control, supply, procurement and contracting, and food services.

The headquarters of the various DART sub-units deployed on the mission, each comprising about nine personnel, to co-ordinate on-site tasking priorities and provide a command capability for split operations when required. These headquarters provide the day-to-day command and control of the following DART sub-units:

An engineer troop of about 37 personnel, including both field and construction engineers. The field engineer element consists of a water supply section, a field engineer section and a heavy equipment section. The construction engineer element provides limited construction and utility services. The engineer troop produces bulk and bagged water from its Canadian-built Reverse Osmosis Water Purification Unit (ROWPU), which can produce up to 50,000 litres of potable water per day for use by the medical aid station and for distribution to disaster victims. Once it has completed the DART camp â ” an austere facility â ” the engineer troop can take on other tasks in support of the host nation and humanitarian aid agencies.

A medical platoon of approximately 40 personnel to operate a small medical aid station, a tented facility capable of providing care for 200 to 250 out-patients and 10 in-patients per day, depending on the their needs. The medical aid station currently includes a laboratory, a pharmacy, limited obstetrics services, and rehydration and preventive medicine sections; it has no surgical or trauma-care capabilities. The medical platoon provides treatment of minor injuries, disease control and routine health care services to relieve the host nation's medical facilities of these responsibilities.

A defence and security platoon of about 45 personnel to provide camp security and general support for DART operations.

Conclusion
Canada is an important provider of international humanitarian assistance and emergency relief. The creation of the DART enhanced the federal government's ability to meet both domestic and international requests for aid, and it demonstrates Canada's resolve to support disaster victims anywhere in the world.


------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

[Shec]

Of course Critics question Canada's reluctance to dispatch disaster-response unit , thats why they are critics.    But really how meaningful is their criticism?   And just how uncontrollably are their knees jerking?    Canada has pledged $40MM to date, Ontario $5MM + BC $8MM.   That's $53MM in public funds to date + whatever else is raised in the way of private donations from individual Canadians.   We are hardly sitting idly by.   And aren't the aid agencies saying cash is best?   So we as Canadians have nothing to be ashamed of relative to our response to this disaster.  

Furthermore, as pbi, George Wallace, and others point out DART has not been requested yet.   Isn't it even a little racist of us to presume that 200 troops are going to race across half the globe to rescue those millions of victims who are suffering in countries like India, Thailand, and Indonesia with their dynamic economies and larger (and probably better equipped) armed forces?

So for our purposes the real issue here,   as already referenced,   is the need for strategic airlift capability so we can get troops from A to B, whether they are members of an expeditionary force, a DART or any other unit.  

Forgive my rant but I for one am getting a little tired of the media laying this sensationalist, negative, collective guilt trip on us.   Besides, this is just the beginning of the relief, reconstruction, and rehabilitation effort.   So perhaps a little more constructive forward thinking and planning should be the order of the day rather than expecting Cabinet to react from the gut.  And that might not happen effectively if media fatigue sets in as the critics persist in flogging this horse.