Editor’s Corner

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Welcome to the Winter 2015 edition of the Canadian Military Journal, our 61st iteration of the quarterly, if anybody is keeping track.

With respect to our cover image, a bit of background is warranted. In February 2014, a devastating fire destroyed the Royal Canadian Navy’s Auxiliary Oiler Replenishment ship, HMCS Protecteur. As a result, Project Resolve was established to provide a fast track, fully compliant and affordable interim solution in order to keep our navy fully operational until a permanent solution can be launched. After more than a year of design, engineering, and planning, Davie Shipyards and its partners, Aecon, NavTech, and V.Ships, reached an agreement with the Government of Canada in August 2015 to provide At-Sea Support Services to the Royal Canadian Navy. This resulted in the purchase of a modern container ship, the MV Asterix, which will be converted into a modern replenishment vessel and delivered for service in the summer of 2017. The cover image is an artist’s conception of how Asterix will appear after the planned transformation.

Taking the point this time out, strategic analyst David Rudd examines the renewal initiatives dedicated towards the Royal Canadian Navy’s surface combatant fleet, particularly as they apply to the Canadian Surface Combatant (CSC) Program, which is intended to replace the current fleet of frigates and destroyers. Rudd’s intent is to “…contribute to a broader understanding of naval procurement by defining and discussing military-off-the-shelf (MOTS) as a procurement option for a major naval platform. A non-exhaustive list of advantages and disadvantages will be examined, along with a brief exploration of allied experiences, all with a view to enhancing the ability of decision-makers to assess the suitability of this option for the CSC program.” However, while Rudd contends that this option holds many attractions, the pursuit of such an option is not risk-free.

Next, Major-General Éric Tremblay, Commander of MILPERSGEN, and his Senior Staff Officer Professional Concepts, Dr. Bill Bentley, explore the elusive quality of Institutional Excellence (IE), and how it relates to the Department of National Defence (DND) and the Canadian Armed Forces (CAF). The authors contend that through the CAF’s profession, that is, the profession of arms, it is, along with other government agencies, “…responsible for the national security of Canadians and the protection and promotion of Canadian values and interests.” Further, this profound and demanding responsibility, which must prevail in the unstable and dangerous external environments of our time, must “…not only achieve excellence, but needs to be perceived as excellent by all stakeholders, above all, the elected government, other national security partners, international partners, and most importantly, by Canadian society.”

Defence scientist Anna Ebel-Lam then takes a fresh look at the personnel requirements of individual occupational professions in the CAF, due to dynamic and ongoing changes in the service’s operating environment, coupled with the introduction of new operating capabilities. Dr. Ebel-Lam contends that some of the changes to the selection and training standards that result from the environmental and enhanced capabilities perspectives “…are significant enough to completely alter the nature of an existing occupation, or to warrant the development of a new one. Given the importance of such activities to the operational effectiveness of the CAF, there is clearly a need to adopt a rigorous approach to identifying the attributes that CAF personnel may require in the future.”

Professor Dave Blackburn, a highly-experienced social worker within the CAF, and now a professional academic in the field in the civilian sector, chronicles the history of social work within Canada’s armed forces. Blackburn contends that today’s military social workers practice their profession as members of multidisciplinary teams, and while they are aimed at helping members to improve their well-being, because they are exclusive only to helping CAF members, “…the ‘formal’ practice of social work in a military context is restrictive and limits the inclusion of family, social, and community components. With that in mind, how is it possible for social work in a military context to fully meet the current needs of soldiers and their families, and offer solutions to social problems in the community?”

In the last of our major articles for the issue, US Army strategist Major Daniel Sukman opines that while autonomous systems and robotics have, and will continue to have a place in modern society, he believes they will inevitably play an ever-increasing role on the battlefields of the future. Therefore, Sukman’s stated intent is to “…examine the history, domestic and international policy trends, and the ethics of lethal autonomous systems on the battlefield of the future.”

This brings us to our two very different Views and Opinion pieces this time out. In the first, Captain Christopher Hartwick, an infantry officer, offers that an amphibious capability for Canada’s armed forces, given the massive extent of our coastlines and today’s chaotic and uncertain security environment, “… is not something that Canada wants, but something that Canada needs.” He further argues that while “… there is no denying the current fiscal restraints, there is also no denying the fact that so many of Canada’s allies agree that an amphibious capability brings with it enhanced flexibility to conduct Canada’s military operations and the ability to further collaborate with allied nations on matters of global importance.”

Next, Padres Yvon Pichette and Derick Marshall review the traditional role and responsibilities accorded to Canadian military chaplains, including the provision of advice to the Chain of Command. However, they have noted that when the Defence Ethics Program (DEP) was created in 1994, for whatever reasons, it was decided that military chaplains would not be active participants with respect to delivery of this new initiative. Pichette and Marshall maintain that “… that decision was unfortunate… [and] chaplains must be involved in Canadian Armed Forces ethics training, even more so now than ever before, particularly given the increasingly new and complex ethical issues that face our military. However, [as chaplains], our role is unique in that it involves ethics at a deeper level than is possible in the DEP alone.”

Then, our own resident commentator Martin Shadwick recounts some of the Defence-related issues as they applied to Canada’s recent federal election campaign.

Finally, as is our wont, we close with a number of book reviews that hopefully will pique the interest of our readership during those cold winter months by the fire.

Until the next time.

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

The Canadian Press/Justin Tang

Canada’s new Minister of National Defence, The Honourable Harjit Sajjan, OMM, MSM, CD, reacts after being sworn in during a ceremony at Rideau Hall, Wednesday 4 November 2015, in Ottawa.

The Canadian Press/Adrian Wyld.

Chief of the Defence Staff General Jonathan Vance, CMM, MSC, CD, in an animated presentation at a recent change of command ceremony in Ottawa.