Canadian Forces Prepare For Most Important Mission In Canadian History

[Squeeky]

Wednesday, December 24, 2003
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KABUL (CP) - Two Canadian soldiers have been given one of the most important jobs available at Camp Julien in Afghanistan - searching the skies with a high-tech radar device for a sleigh and eight tiny reindeer.

The job of tracking Santa as he crosses the globe is normally left to Norad, the North American Aerospace Defence Command. But with Canadian troops spending Christmas in a time zone that's hours ahead of Canada, the first sightings will be done using a military unit at Camp Julien near Kabul.

``I think we'll see a few reindeer, and maybe a man in a red suit with a big beard,'' said Bombardier Wayne Pardy of Marystown, Nfld. as he readied his radar screens for the duty.

``Hopefully we will see him. That'll make Christmas a bit better here in Kabul.''

Pardy, and Bombardier Jeff Hinch of Guelph, Ont., operate a mobile unit known as ARTHUR - a weapons locating system that hunts rockets that could potentially be fired at the Canadian Forces base and areas surrounding it.

``It hunts artillery rounds, mortars, that kind of calibre weapon,'' said Pardy.

Within seconds of detection, soldiers are able to pinpoint a weapon launching system's location, and fire back.

For ARTHUR, everything is a target. However, on Christmas Eve, the soldiers have to be extra careful not to aim their guns at any ``friendly'' objects.

``We're going to be keeping an eye out because we wouldn't want anything to happen to that kind of a target,'' said Hinch.

``We can probably identify (a sleigh) and probably identify that as friendly.''

The rest of the nearly 2,000 Canadian soldiers in Kabul are planning to keep a close ear to their radios on Christmas Eve, hoping to hear whether the radar has spotted anything unusual.

``We'll radio it in, to let everybody know that `Ho Ho Ho' is on the way,'' said Pardy.

``We won't consider him a target. We'll consider him a friendly.''

Pardy and Hinch have wives back home in Canada, and while they'll miss them, both know their missions in Afghanistan are important ones - even more so on Christmas Eve.

``I'm sure my wife misses me a lot .n.. but I just got back off leave so I'm feeling pretty good about it,'' said Hinch.

``I got married a month before I came here,'' added Pardy.

``So that's probably the biggest heartache. It's the first Christmas away from home with my newlywed.''

http://www.canada.com/news/world/sto...0-A19141844762

Canadian forces at work

[Hamma]

[MuNsTeR]

Originally Posted by Hamma

[firecrackerNC]

The rest of the nearly 2,000 Canadian soldiers in Kabul

wow that must be Canadas entire military right there,I didn't even know that many people lived up there.

[Spider]

Originally Posted by firecrackerNC

wow that must be Canadas entire military right there,I didn't even know that many people lived up there.

*cough*

We have at least 50 thousand soldiers. I'd start to shut the up fuck if I were you, as I will soon be one of the proud soldiers in that army.

[Setari]

canadians have a good army dont make fun of something if you dont know what the fuck ur talkin about...

EDIT: btw what is the Canadian Army's weapon of choice? Hopefully not like the damn french with the stupid FAMAS

[Mr1337Duck]

Yup, 50k soldiers, three bi-planes, and a few tanks. Canada's money at work.

[Squeeky]

[Insert picture of rowboat with .50 cal here]

^^Canada's naval fleet

[Spider]

Originally Posted by Mr1337Duck

Yup, 50k soldiers, three bi-planes, and a few tanks. Canada's money at work.

Few tanks? Our fleet is proportionate to our needs... we don't need a tank for every soldier like in the USA mainly because we don't have the war mongering syndrom.

Our forces are very capable of achieving the same thing as yours with as much or less men. We have 30 million people living in Canada and you guys have what? 300 million? Of course you need a bigger army. Fact is we don't. We have plenty of planes tanks, we have 3 destroyers and it's plenty.

[Squeeky]

3 destroyers. I think we have half a dozen atleast in San Diego harbor.

[Smaug]

So wait are you guys saying santa is fake?

[Squeeky]

No, we are just laughing at the canadians. I mean seriously, who goes halfway around the world on christmas to track some ficticious character with military radar.

[Setari]

think about it tho it wouldnt be that hard.....just give whatever ppl see some predetermined path and make it look as if its moving but anyway my question about Canada's army hasnt been answered yet... see above post...

[Spider]

Ahhh hmk! The Canadian weapon of choice is the C-7 Assault rifle.

It's the M16's brother. It's more efficient in cold conditions and more reliable as well as more accurate. The americans have been thinking about adopting it but it costs more to make so that's the main barrier stopping the US from mass-producing it.



Crappy picture but there you have it.

[Derfud]

http://www.noradsanta.org/english/radar/index.html