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Joint Task Force 2 (JTF 2) - Canadian Special Forces

Loachman said:
"Attention to detail" It is a sign of professionalism. Lack of attention to detail can lead to varying degrees of failure

You can be right, or you can be wrong. That's your choice. I also think that JTF 2 deserves to be known by its full and proper name, either the full or abbreviated version. That is simple respect.

How would you like it if people misspelled or mispronounced your name, said that getting it right did not matter, and vowed to continue doing the same thing?
I left the 2 out...I am not sure how that can speak to failure of any sort or can lead to a sign of disrespect...but ok.  I spent years with the RCMP...Ive never been insulted when people refer to it as the RC's.

Again, I mean no disrespect by referring to the unit in such a manner(to the forum, the unit, or the Forces as a whole), nor would I suggest or think one who is on the unit would take offense to it...nor think any lack of respect was being given.

I assure you, almost all people misspell and/or mispronounce my name...I read no disrespect from that, nor believe their lack of attention to detail in my writing my name is a sign of their future success.

|I am actually chuckling to myself in amazement that this has become a discussion...anyway.

Sorry if I have offended anyone...again, not intended...perhaps I will stop before I further offend someone...cheers.
 
rogersd902 said:
I left the 2 out...I am not sure how that can speak to failure of any sort or can lead to a sign of disrespect...but ok.  I spent years with the RCMP...Ive never been insulted when people refer to it as the RC's.

Again, I mean no disrespect by referring to the unit in such a manner(to the forum, the unit, or the Forces as a whole), nor would I suggest or think one who is on the unit would take offense to it...nor think any lack of respect was being given.

I assure you, almost all people misspell and/or mispronounce my name...I read no disrespect from that, nor believe their lack of attention to detail in my writing my name is a sign of their future success.

|I am actually chuckling to myself in amazement that this has become a discussion...anyway.

Sorry if I have offended anyone...again, not intended...perhaps I will stop before I further offend someone...cheers.

As a future figure on Canadian currency once said:

“Never explain, never retract, never apologize. Just get the thing done and let them howl.”

― Nellie L. McClung
 
This story from the Toronto Star, reproduced under the fair dealings provision of the Copyright Act, is the result of an interview with MGen Mike Rouleau, the Commander CANSOFCOM.

JTF2 is “jewel in the crown” of Canada’s special forces
Special forces soldiers with Joint Task Force 2 stand ready to tackle domestic terror threats within Canada.


By BRUCE CAMPION-SMITHOttawa Bureau
Sun., June 26, 2016
PETAWAWA, ONT.—They deployed to Vancouver in 2010, ready to intervene if terrorists took aim at the Winter Olympics.

When a gunman murdered a soldier at the National War Memorial and stormed Parliament Hill in 2014, these soldiers readied their gear and helicopters prepared to move the team into action.

They are Canada’s insurance policy against the worst-case scenario when a terror strike proves more than local police forces can handle.

Joint Task Force 2 is the oldest and most skilled of Canada’s special forces units. Its experienced members — the average age is 37 — are known as “assaulters” and if they’re coming in your front window, it’s a bad day for someone.

In April, the Toronto Star and CTV News were given exclusive access to Canada’s special forces mission in northern Iraq, where Canadians are training Kurdish peshmerga soldiers, and later to their training facilities at Garrison Petawawa.

With its counterterrorism mandate, JTF2 is at the heart of what Maj.-Gen. Mike Rouleau calls the “home game” for the Canadian Special Operations Forces Command, which he heads.

JTF2, along with the unit trained to handle chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear threats, make up the “national mission force,” to respond to a domestic terror incident.

“JTF2 is always on a pretty coiled spring to be able to respond,” said Rouleau, himself a former JTF2 member.

“We can see the nature of crises, the Paris attacks, what happened in Brussels. These things happen very quickly. The modus operandi of the terrorist is actually to kill as many people in as short a time as possible,” Rouleau said.

Yet Rouleau cautions that JTF2’s involvement in any crisis would come only after consultations with cabinet ministers and it was clear that the incident was beyond the ability of local law enforcement to manage.

“We’re not first responders,” he said.

“You don’t use military force of that description unless you’ve exhausted what’s available in the law enforcement portfolio. Clearly, using JTF2 in a counterterrorism sense means that the situation has gotten to the point where you need that level of tool for the problem,” Rouleau said.

He offered the example of a hijacked aircraft at Toronto’s Pearson International Airport as one scenario that might call for an intervention by JTF2.

“That is a very, very complex problem to go and rescue hostages in a structure like that. . . We train for that rigorously,” Rouleau said.

“We are capable of assaulting what we call any stronghold in Canada, whether it’s a train, an airplane, a ship, a building, moving vehicles,” Rouleau said.

“That’s the domestic counterterrorism mandate for that worst-case scenario, should it ever happen,” he said.

Even as Rouleau took the wraps off some elements of special forces capabilities and personnel, JTF2 was kept firmly in the shadows. But in an interview, he offered some details about the unit, which he calls the “jewel in the crown” of the special forces command.

“It is the one that has the most highly specialized and precise skill sets in CANSOFCOM (the acronym for Canadian Special Operations Forces Command). Precision shooting, moving, communicating, intelligence support, sustainment. All of it is extremely precise. It has enormous value added in a non-lethal sense as much as a lethal sense,” Rouleau said.

“It’s a unit that can be deployed against a wide spectrum of issues or crises. It can be very low signature. It can be very clandestine in the way that it is used,” he said.

One source familiar with JTF2 said the skills of the unit’s members come from the time devoted to training.

“What makes JTF2 good is the training. The missions are demanding and the intensity in planning is much more demanding,” the source said. “When you’re not on mission, you train.”

Operating from their base in Dwyer Hill, just outside Ottawa, JTF2 dates back to the early 1990s, when the military took over the role that had been done by the RCMP’s special emergency response team.

In those early days, JTF2 had fewer than 100 people. By 2006, its capabilities and manpower had significantly expanded, primarily as a response to the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks in the United States.

Today, Rouleau describes it as a “very big unit” though he doesn’t disclose numbers. It’s organized into squadrons — several of them assault squadrons — while others provide support in areas such as technology.

From its original domestic mission, JTF2 has done missions abroad in places such as the Balkans and Rwanda. Its members protect the prime minister and other high-level VIPs when they visit hot spots such as Iraq.

JTF2 soldiers have also readied for potential rescue missions when Canadian citizens have been taken hostage abroad. Yet JTF2’s role, if any, in the release of kidnapped Canadians has never been publicly disclosed. Nor will the military discuss whether JTF2 troops were in the Philippines, where two Canadians were recently killed by their captors.

Rouleau says it was in Afghanistan that JTF2 proved its mettle and earned the respect of allies. JTF2 first deployed there in the immediate aftermath of the 2001 terror attacks and remained for almost a year. During that first tour, the unit was largely unknown among other allied soldiers. “At the beginning, people said, ‘Who the f--- is JTF2?’ ” one soldier recounted to the Star’s Allan Woods in a 2010 interview.

JTF2 returned to Afghanistan in 2005. Their task was often what Rouleau describes as “kill and capture” missions.

“We would work essentially only at night, basically doing raiding on specific targets of interest, bomb makers, commander and control facilitators, key commanders with a few to capturing them so that they could be exploited for their intelligence value,” Rouleau said.

Similar raids by American special forces soldiers proved controversial at times when Afghan leaders complained that innocent civilians were being caught in the crosshairs.

Rouleau, who commanded Canadian missions in Afghanistan, said the work of special forces troops saved many Canadian lives by “chipping away at the IED networks and the command and control structure of the Taliban and Al Qaeda.”

“There’s no question about it that JTF2 really earned its international bona fides after 9/11,” Rouleau said.
 
I'm considering enlisting in the CAF, but I'd like to have a better understanding of a few things, and I'm hoping this forum will help to answer them.

Age: 34 (likely 35 by the time I've enlisted)
Physical: Fairly good shape (6' ft, 140 lbs) - Realize mentality/attitude/aptitude, far outweigh physical capabilities
Mental: Possibly above average IQ
Education: Diploma

What I'm hoping to have answered is this;

At this age, is getting into the Special Forces/JTF2 a realistic possibility? (Read extensively on how difficult it would actually be, but more concerned if I'd ever be considered due to being this age)

What would be the best option in order to "expediate" the process, if possible (Infantry, Air Force)?

If I were to join, and it is the ultimate reason for doing so, with all else considered (Age, Survival), am I being naive?

If it isn't possible, I'm not sure I'd be interested in joining the CAF, but I'd be willing to spend a decade getting there.

Thank you. 
 
phoenix44 said:
Physical: Fairly good shape (6", 140 lbs)

Age may be okay, but you’re too short for selection.  Sorry.
 
phoenix44 said:
Interesting and a bit heartbreaking, what is the rationale behind it?

Welcome to army.ca. Have a closer look at your post indicating your stature. We like to have a bit of fun sometimes...
 
phoenix44 said:
Interesting and a bit heartbreaking, what is the rationale behind it?


You're only six inches tall.
 
Ha, thanks everyone, realized after responding to Good2Golf, might have to change my comment on mental ability after that gaff. Any feedback in regards to the questions is greatly appreciated though.
 
https://www.cfmws.com/en/AboutUs/PSP/DFIT/Fitness/Pages/CANSOFCOM.aspx

Find out for yourself how you stack up physically. If you join you'll find out it's a competition, there is no singular bar to pass and you're in. To be blunt, you'd better be a damned fit 140lbs at 6' tall because the ability to move significantly more weight than that will be tested.

As per their "ready" strength numbers, 165lbs for 17+ reps on the bench press and 200lbs for 15+ in the squat. I can tell you for certain that the latter of which is an extremely conservative number.
 
phoenix44 said:
I'm considering enlisting in the CAF, but I'd like to have a better understanding of a few things, and I'm hoping this forum will help to answer them.

Age: 34 (likely 35 by the time I've enlisted)
Physical: Fairly good shape (6' ft, 140 lbs) - Realize mentality/attitude/aptitude, far outweigh physical capabilities
Mental: Possibly above average IQ
Education: Diploma

What I'm hoping to have answered is this;

At this age, is getting into the Special Forces/JTF2 a realistic possibility? (Read extensively on how difficult it would actually be, but more concerned if I'd ever be considered due to being this age)

What would be the best option in order to "expediate" the process, if possible (Infantry, Air Force)?

If I were to join, and it is the ultimate reason for doing so, with all else considered (Age, Survival), am I being naive?

If it isn't possible, I'm not sure I'd be interested in joining the CAF, but I'd be willing to spend a decade getting there.

Thank you.

Pack some serious muscle mass on. At six foot and 140 I would be concerned. Lean is good, but skinny is not your friend.
 
Thanks cld617/BriHard, I will begin focusing on that. Any other thoughts or insight?
 
phoenix44 said:
What would be the best option in order to "expediate" the process, if possible (Infantry, Air Force)?

By joining. The time in requirement is operational function point, so go supply tech for a short QL3 and ask for Air element, offers you the most time at home to prepare. Going infantry at this stage of the game is likely just going to create more exposure to injury and gatekeeping by those who don't think you're cutout for it. Combat Arms offers advantage to some, but if you're serious at this stage in the game you need to take a shot.

If I were to join, and it is the ultimate reason for doing so, with all else considered (Age, Survival), am I being naive?

Given that you're not in, yes you probably are a bit naive as to what's expected. Not a slight against you, it's just reality.

If it isn't possible, I'm not sure I'd be interested in joining the CAF, but I'd be willing to spend a decade getting there.

At 34 you either already possess the mental fortitude for the job or you don't, every year you delay is hurting more than helping at your age.
 
It also depends (a bit) on whether you want to be an assaulter or a supporter.  That will change the calculus a bit, but probably not by much.
 
phoenix44 said:
Thanks cld617/BriHard, I will begin focusing on that. Any other thoughts or insight?

Have s solid Plan B. Failure rates are astronomical.
 
And never forget the wise words of the Steven Seagal pep Talk:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MFdxUAztPGs  :nod:
 
phoenix44 said:
Thanks cld617/BriHard, I will begin focusing on that. Any other thoughts or insight?

Join the Infantry. If you make it, but find out that you don't like that particular kind of suffering, SOF is not for you.
 
daftandbarmy said:
Join the Infantry. If you make it, but find out that you don't like that particular kind of suffering, SOF is not for you.

Embrace the suck.  :cold:
 
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