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CANSOFCOM encounter with a civilian in Port Hawkesbury, N.S.

Not if you have been indoctrinated in an atmosphere of hyper-security, which worked against itself in this situation. A couple of statements of the blindingly obvious, such as "we practice moving on short notice to areas we haven't seen before" would have gone a long way towards turning it into the already described local Timmy's sensation. 
 
Old Sweat said:
Not if you have been indoctrinated in an atmosphere of hyper-security, which worked against itself in this situation ....
Good point - it's all in the balance between "say absolutely nothing to anybody/quiet professionals" and "taxpayers should know something about what their institutions are doing".  Other western democracies are able to share some public info about what their SF troops are up to in battle, even when they get wounded on ops, so it's not as if there are no best practices to be examined/improved on.
 
RoyalDrew said:
Hit the nail on the head D&B, the problem is a lot of people suffer from a severe lack of "people skills" so instead of just standing there and chatting with the guy for a bit in a friendly tone, these guys made it seem like they were trying to hide something.  I think some friendly conversation with this fellow could have gone a long way to de-escalating this situation.

In general yes, with OS' very important caveat taken into account. However having listened to the video several times now, I feel it would not have made too much of a difference in this case. Mr Westbrook comes across as someone wrapped up in his own self importance and self righteous behaviour and who is looking for a windmill to tilt at and finally was granted one.
 
One has to wonder about a person who feels the need to record his conversations with strangers in public.  He probably looking for the truth behind 9/11. Treat him civilly, ask for his media credentials, when he shows none, remain him to stay on public property, bid him good day and carry on with your tasks.
 
This incident does not surprise me. If they are going to hold an exercise they should have cordon off the area, have public relations and civi police available to answer questions. They should also have a cover story. A few years back I was on a military flight into Afghanistan and there was a handful of these guys on the flight. A civilian, PSP staff started asking questions why they were dressed and kitted different. The guys couldn't give a good answer which made the civi ask more and more. 

As an avid photographer and someone who lived in a small town I would have loved to snap some shots of mysterious government agency that stopped in by to play close to home. 
 
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