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I searched Simmons' name and couldn't find anything, so you have my apologies if this has been posted about previously... Cdr Simmons won the DSO and DSC for his actions in sinking two different submarines in WWII.  He's a genuine Canadian naval war hero.  Unfortunately, his medals are going up...

I found some interesting information on the Lightweight .50-Caliber machine gun being developed for the U.S. military: It will weigh less than 65lbs, including tripod and traversing and elevation mechanism, which makes it more portable than a normal .50 cal. And because it's designed to absorb...

Dave Perry of Dalhousie University and the Canadian Naval Review has written what I believe to be the first academic paper about DND's use of private logistic support (pdf file): http://www.jmss.org/2007/2007summer/articles/perry.pdf I've commented about the report here...

Martin wrote an op-ed in yesterday's National Post that cherry-picked the facts so blatantly, I had to rebut it.  Which meant doing some research that led to some interesting statistics on the progress being made on Afghan healthcare - some of which surprised even me...

Some of the folks from CANSOFCOM were decorated by the Governor General yesterday in a <a href="http://www.forces.gc.ca/site/newsroom/view_news_e.asp?id=2360">private ceremony</a>: I have more detail than was contained in the press release <a...

A letter from a soldier deployed in Afghanistan to the editors of <a href="http://www.macleans.ca/article.jsp?content=20070618_106194_106194">Maclean's magazine</a> extolling the virtues of the young lady that appeared on their April 2nd, 2007 cover has garned quite a lot of attention.  When the...

The Conference of Defence Associations (CDA) in collaboration with the Canadian Defence & Foreign Affairs Institute (CDFAI) has <a href="http://www.cda-cdai.ca/Munro_%20Award/submission_call_07.htm">invited nominations</a> for this prestigious annual award: <blockquote>Its purpose is to...

I'm sure I'm not alone in my disgust with CTV News and Bob Fife broadcasting news of the Canadian fatalities in Kandahar the other day before next of kin were notified.  It's no secret among reporters when something like this happens, but most have the decency to wait until official word is...

A couple of things I read this week have triggered this post: http://toyoufromfailinghands.blogspot.com/2007/03/forgotten-missions.html First off, Canadian troops come under fire in Kinshasha and get precisely one mention in the mainstream press.  Then, the CF announces the end of Op BOREAS...

Not sure where this should go, so I'll post it here - the mods can shuffle it to another forum if they want. I've put some thoughts up about the latest round of senior promotions and appointments here: http://toyoufromfailinghands.blogspot.com/2007/03/senior-promotions-and-appointments.html I...

A post by The Monarchist - a former naval officer - at The Torch laments the lack of tradition and history in our current Canadian honours system.  Here's the link: http://toyoufromfailinghands.blogspot.com/2006/12/our-soldiers-deserve-more-on-which-to.html And here's an excerpt: I'm of two...

Quoted from an e-mail posted online: Reference here: http://toyoufromfailinghands.blogspot.com/2006/12/scrooge-visits-cf-deployed-in-africa.html Question: is this accurate?  Because if it is, I'm with BBS on this - making it retroactive and pulling the back taxes out of a December paycheque...

An IED strike at 10:15 local time, five soldiers wounded, all minor.  Details here: http://toyoufromfailinghands.blogspot.com/2006/12/soldiers-and-equipment-doing-job.html The LAVIII, at least, seems to be doing its job.

Did you know that since January 16th of this year, 175 journalists from 37 different media outlets have embedded with the CF in Afghanistan? So how many stories have you seen about about anything other than Canadian soldiers killing or being killed by insurgents? I've put up some interesting...

One of my fellow contributors at The Torch attended the Minister's speech at The Albany Club in Toronto this morning, and has put a piece up about it here: http://toyoufromfailinghands.blogspot.com/2006/11/hon-gordon-oconnor-pc-at-albany-club.html

The Ombudsman's report on the 'sniper investigation' was supposed to have been completed this summer, but after perusing the Ombudsman's website last week, I found no trace of it.  So I e-mailed the guy, and his Director of Communications e-mailed me back...

I've written some thoughts on the CF's influence upon and reflection of our national identity: http://toyoufromfailinghands.blogspot.com/2006/08/thoughts-on-national-identity.html I thought it might be interesting to hear some personal viewpoints from army.ca members on how the military has...

A previous thread about an accident involving an American A-10 putting a 500lb bomb all too close to a Canadian unit in Afghanistan was shut down due to speculation.  In keeping with the wishes of the moderators here, I have no desire to see further speculation on that particular incident here...