No saluting for soldiers in theatre of war
By Bill Graveland, THE CANADIAN PRESS
THE CANADIAN PRESS/Bill Graveland
MASUM GHAR, Afghanistan - There's nothing quite like a snappy military salute, but here in Afghanistan you don't see it very often.
In fact, a sign on the boardwalk at Kandahar Air Field proclaims that the base that is home to most Canadian troops in Afghanistan is a "no hat-no salute area."
With the notable exception of U.S. forces, the traditional military greeting is pretty much a non-starter in Afghanistan.
The salute has always been a sign of respect. It's origin is unclear but it is believed by some to go back to the Middle Ages when a knight would raise the visor on his helmet and expose his face to the view of another.
This was always done with the right hand and was a significant gesture of friendship and confidence since it exposed the features and also removed the right hand from the vicinity of a weapon.
The virtual abolishment of the salute in the Afghan theatre has more to do with security.
In previous eras, marksmen would target opposing officers, often easily identified by the different uniforms they wore. Killing one of the leaders was an easy way to demoralize and confuse enemy troops.
The fact is, out in the field, the uniforms for all ranks are pretty much identical these days. Gen. Rick Hillier, chief of defence staff, was clad in full battle gear during a late October visit to troops in the field and was indistinguishable from his subordinates.
That's the reason the salute was removed as well: to prevent the identification of those in charge since non-commissioned soldiers traditionally salute superior officers.
"That's a policy that we've been putting up throughout," said Master Warrant Officer Michel Carriere.
"It's always been a sign of respect, so if a general would show up in a room, in a confined area there's no reason we wouldn't do that (salute)," Carriere said. "But as a safety precaution we wouldn't do that in the theatre."
The same rule applies for most of the other coalition forces, including the Dutch and the British.
"There are so many different countries here it would be too confusing for soldiers to recognize the various uniforms of the officers," said one British officer. "And there is the matter of safety. We don't want the officers identified when we are out beyond the wire."
"It's security for sure. That's the general idea," added Canadian Warrant Officer Gary White. "If I was an officer I wouldn't want anybody saluting me."
There are exceptions of course. It is still permissible indoors and at the recent Remembrance Day ceremony in Kandahar the assembled soldiers saluted the 71 Canadian soldiers killed in the line of duty since the mission began five years ago.
"On the camp or out in the field we don't salute each other. We don't salute other nations," explained Lt.-Cmdr. Pierre Babinsky. "Normally in the field you won't salute in order for enemy observers to establish . . . the commanders and the officers."
And in Afghanistan, there are Taliban spies everywhere. There isn't a military manoeuvre that takes place that isn't being watched by someone, with the information often quickly relayed to the Taliban leadership.
"Snipers can be a threat," Babinsky. "But simply observers gathering intelligence can determine our rank structure to identify possible targets for future times. Those are all possibilities."
"The focus here is on operations. Saluting is a courtesy and entrenched in our culture. But here we agreed we would not salute and remain operationally focused and it's working fine."
