Canada's Commandoes in Afghanistan

[sa226]

I have always been fascinated with military special ops. Being Canadian, the ultra secretive JTF2 is one of the most fascinating units in the history of the Canadian military.

Here is a great article on their role in the first deployments to afghanistan

http://www.thestar.com/news/canada/a...ghanistan?bn=1

It is a little long but well worth the read.

[T@T]

One of my best friends was an instructor for that unit, it took till he retired for anyone to know about it.

Very secret group indeed.

[wooohooo]

Originally Posted by T@T

One of my best friends was an instructor for that unit, it took till he retired for anyone to know about it.

Very secret group indeed.

Dayyumm.... don't piss him off. He's probably Jack Bauer but Canadian. Instead of chasing people in cars, he uses horses. And instead of guns, a lasso.

[sa226]

I read part of the book by that Pugliese fellow. He wrote that one of more significant differences between elite soldiers and the regular forces is the budget per person on live ammo for training. It seems so simple.

There is nothing secret about urban environment tactics and physical fitness but when you can fire live ammo all day everyday from all positions and in all environments you are probably going to be a better marksman then anybody else.

Obviously there is a ton of attributes that make an elite soldier "elite" but some of the more simple reasons are the most significant.

[CaptainCrunch]

Its quite funny, I have several books on special forces world wide and one specifically on JTF.

Our special forces unit is very highly regarded when it deploys and have been involved in every major conflict since their founding including rumored deployments to Iraq, where they rescued British and Canadian Christian peacekeepers. Of course the government denied their involvement.

In terms of training budgets in 2001 the unit was allocated 120 million over 6 years for a unit with 600 members so their budget isn't exactly generous.

They do train on nearly every weapon known to mankind, infiltration and surveillance, small unit tactics, use of explosives and demolition devices etc. Whenever you see one of our government members walking around in Afghanistan, chances are you can see JTF-2 members in the background as one of their jobs is bodyguard services.

Originally staffed mainly with surviving members of the Airborne, the government made great efforts to hide JTF-2, but recently have embraced them in a lot of ways.

http://www.jtf2.forces.gc.ca/index-eng.asp

http://www.specialoperations.com/For...nada/JTF2.html

[Mean Mr. Mustard]

Originally Posted by sa226

I read part of the book by that Pugliese fellow. He wrote that one of more significant differences between elite soldiers and the regular forces is the budget per person on live ammo for training. It seems so simple.

That and the men who are selected for JTF are generally in fantastic shape, have superior shooting/physical skills and are tough as nails. Having talked to some members unofficially - they are generally the cream of the crop for lack of a better term... and generally as intimidating as someone can be... which I guess is just part of their job.

[CaptainCrunch]

Thats one thing I desperately wanted to try when I was in. At the time, Canada's airborne was considered to be the elite unit in the Canadian Forces. I took my airborne qualification course in Edmonton, did a bunch of jumps, unfortunately civilian life took over and I left before I could follow it up.

It wasn't long after that the Somolia incident came to life causing the airborne to come to an end.