Liberation of Kuwait important moment for Canadian Armed Forces, says Oromocto Gulf War veteran
Michael Staples
The Daily Gleaner
03 Mar 2016
The 25th anniversary of the liberation of Kuwait represents an important moment of transition for the Canadian Armed Forces, says a Gulf War veteran living in Oromocto.
Dick Isabelle, a retired colonel and former commander of Base Gagetown and the Combat Training Centre, said the conflict symbolizes a time when Canada became more involved militarily on the world stage.
"At the same time we thought we were going to get the big peace dividend with the end of the Cold War in the early '90s," Isabelle said in an interview. "That peace dividend was actually almost immediately turned around in this peaceful world (as there were) a lot more small conflicts in many different places in the world."
The Gulf War was one of them.
The conflict resulted when armies under the control of then-Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein invaded Kuwait in August 1990.
According to Veterans Affairs Canada, more than 4,000 Canadian Armed Forces members served in the Persian Gulf region in 1990-91 as part of the international Coalition of countries that came together to drive the Iraqis out of Kuwait.
"Twenty five years is an interesting milestone for this," Isabelle said. "It was a real change, I think, in what the Canadian Forces were doing at that time and what they started doing at the same time as the Gulf War."
Isabelle said prior to the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait, Canadian Forces, from the Army perspective, were servicing Germany - with a brigade and two fighter squadrons there. Smaller peacekeeping operations, such as Cyprus, were also going on at the same time.
"The Gulf War was a change from that because Canada participated in that fighting," Isabelle said. "Even the peacekeeping mission afterwards, which was my role in it, was a bit more of a return to the more normal peacekeeping. But, that same year, the Balkans crisis started and then Canadians became very, very focused on that part of the world for a number of years."
In a statement, Chief of Defence Staff Gen. Jonathan Vance and Chief Warrant Officer Kevin West, the Canadian Forces Chief Warrant Officer, said February 1991 proved to be a proud moment for the Canadian Armed Forces when its multi-faceted mission with its coalition partners led to the liberation of Kuwait from Iraqi armed forces.
"While two world wars and more recent operations such as those in Afghanistan may take prominence when we look back at past conflicts involving the CAF, the first Gulf War dominated our thoughts from the summer of 1990 when Iraq first invaded Kuwait to when it was liberated seven months later," the statement said.
"Canada's contribution to this quick and successful outcome was remarkable."
Isabelle said he and Canadian troops under his command went into Kuwait at the end of April.
"We set up the demilitarized zone on the border between Iraq and Kuwait. That was our focus - to provide the separation between the Iraqi aggressors and the Kuwaiti defenders."
Isabelle, who commanded 1 Combat Engineering Regiment while in Kuwait, was decorated in 1993 for his contributions in the cleanup of more than 6,000 dangerous explosive ordnance following the conflict.
The retired colonel said coalition forces did what they had to do in 1991 and that was to give Kuwait back to the Kuwaitis.
Isabelle said the mission at that time was to liberate Kuwait and not to take over Iraq and depose Saddam Hussein, who was still in control of the country at that time.
Isabelle said most of the Canadian soldiers who went into Kuwait at that time found it to be a good professional experience and were proud of the way they were able to go in and do something good.
