Editor’s Corner

Welcome to the 56^th issue of the Canadian Military Journal. Time certainly flies, and to think some said we would not ‘live long and prosper’ when we inaugurated back in 1999. At any rate, more on ‘space, the final frontier’ later under this cover.

And speaking of the cover, we now continue with our frequent commemoration of Canada’s participation in the two global conflicts of the 20^th Century. This time out, and since it is the turn for an ‘air themed cover’ in our truly democratic cycle, we are pleased to showcase Stephen P. Quick’s interpretation of the great Canadian First World War ace William Avery ‘Billy’ Bishop’s dawn raid on a temporary German airfield near Esnes, France during the early morning of 2 June 1917. Readers should note that Stephen based his painting upon the content of Bishop’s combat and reconnaissance reports of the event. More on ‘Billy’ Bishop later in this issue.

With respect to our major articles for Autumn, a mixed team of senior Army officers and Canadian Forces College academics ‘take the point’ with an interesting study of the functions of the operational level of command in the Canadian Army. In the words of Lieutenant-General Stuart Beare, until recently, the Commander of the Canadian Joint Operations Command, the operational level of command “… is not well known, understood, or taught to leaders within and across the CAF.” Many questions pertain here, and General Beare believes, “…that the authors …have done a superb job in describing the operational level of command, and in providing the answers to these questions.”

Moving along, Whole of Government has become a concept of great interest in Canada of late, and in deference to this interest, we offer herein two articles. In the first, Major Patrick Perron, a signals officer and a member of the military academic staff at the Royal Military College of Canada, takes a fresh look at space weather awareness, and how it “…aims at monitoring and predicting adverse conditions on the Sun and in the near-Earth space environment that can degrade and disrupt the performance of technological systems.” He is followed by Lieutenant Brendan Alexander, an artillery officer and a Rhodes Scholar, who sheds light upon the reasons why Canada’s Whole of Government efforts in Afghanistan were somewhat disappointing in the early years of the campaign, but then articulates proposed solutions, and focuses upon “…an identification and explanation of the failures which inspired those solutions.”

Next, Defence, National Security and Strategic Analysts Richard Shimooka and Don Macnamara opine that Canada’s defence needs need to be addressed from first principles, and “…from a Government’s first responsibility to secure the country.” They make a compelling case that our nation’s security is being challenged by the emerging security environment. Specifically, they contend, contrary to recent naysayers: “When it comes to fighter aircraft, the speed, flexibility, accountability, and lethality of a fighter-capable air force is very much in Canada’s national security interest.”

We truly now live in an ‘age of machines.’ In our next major article, Australian Gary Martinic briefly describes recent technological advances in ground-based unmanned weapons and surveillance platforms and systems, as well as outlining their broad capabilities and military applications. Gary also specifically addresses their potential utility for Canada’s armed forces, in particular, “…as this applies to currently available ‘off the shelf’ acquisitions.”

In our historical section, it has often been argued that one’s perception of historical events is frequently dependent upon one’s historical vantage point. That is certainly the case in the next article. The author, Robert-Falcon Ouellette, PhD, a Cree Indian, holder of degrees in music, education, and anthropology, a program director for university Aboriginal focus programs, and a veteran of years of service in Canada’s armed forces, believes this to be the case with respect to Canada’s Second Métis War of 1885, often referred to as the Northwest Rebellion of 1885. Specifically, he challenges the conclusions reached through exercises taught by the Canadian Armed Forces Intermediate Leadership Program course, which “…required participants to explain how the Canadian and British soldiers used the ten principles of war to defeat the Métis and Indians in 1885.” A very thought-provoking perspective on an old campaign offered herein.

We round out the issue with our usual potpourri of opinion pieces, this time dealing with Special Operations Forces and Professional Military Education, as well as a number of reviews of recently-published books. Finally, our own Martin Shadwick tackles equipment and procurement issues, since, in Martin’s own words, they “…continue to dominate much of the public face of defence in Canada.”

Finally, as promised in our last issue to keep our readership apprised of recent defence learning initiatives, Lieutenant-Colonel Debbie Miller, manager of the Performance Innovations section at the Canadian Defence Academy, offers the following invitation to members of the Canadian Armed Forces and the Department of National Defence: “This is an invitation to you, all who presently have a’@forces.gc.ca’ address, to join us in the CAF Learning Portal (beta site). The Learning Portal is an innovative, collaborative, progressive step forward for CAF Training and Education, accessible on both the internet and the intranet. It has discussion boards, wikis, groups, conference feeds, and much more. To create an account, go to: <http://s3.ongarde.net/portal/>, and click on the register link found under the login button.

That’s all for Autumn. Until the next time.

David L. Bashow
Editor-in-Chief
Canadian Military Journal