Any Name But That Name

I thought I'd break away from this talk of international law and the politics of globalization for just a moment. Being formerly of the military, I still have a lot of friends still in the Canadian Army who keep me apprised of goings-on in the Canadian Forces. As we were, and some of my friends still are, in The Calgary Highlanders- the premier infantry Reserve unit in the country- a few people I knew wanted to someday become members of JTF-2. JTF-2, for those who don't know much about things military, is Canada's Special Forces unit. On top of that, JTF-2 is ranked as a Tier One counter-terrorism and special operations group which means it is considered to be of an equal level of ability and prestige as more famous Special Forces units in the world like the British Special Air Service (SAS) or the American Navy SEALs.

Joining the JTF-2 is difficult. Extremely so. And nearly all members of the unit are drawn from infantry regiments, almost exclusively being composed of crack troops from the Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry and The Calgary Highlanders. So having the dream or ambition of being JTF-2 in Canada is a big deal and requires huge amounts of work. It's a pity that becoming an Operator in such a well-trained unit is seen as being somehow "lower" in prestige as becoming a doctor or a lawyer, considering a person would have sacrificed far more to join JTF-2 than they would have getting through law school- and for far less pay.

So it is distressing, given the honour that is attached to Canada's Special Forces, that Defense Minister Gordon O'Connor has been proposing a name change to JTF-2. He is suggesting that the unit be named the First Special Services Regiment. Or, in other words, the 1st SS Regiment. As in the Waffen-SS, the elite troops of the Nazi German war machine who were beholden to the National Socialist Party and not to the German state. Obviously a lot of people in uniform are a bit anxious about this as they're having something they were prepared to sacrifice their entire lives for being turned into a parody.

Now I can understand the reason for a name change. JTF-2 has reached a near legendary status after its actions in Afghanistan. There is a story I heard while doing my infantry training that a JTF-2 sniper, during a sand storm near Kandahar, was able to snipe a driver of a jeep on a mountainside more than a kilometre away with a Heckler and Koch PSG-1 sniper rifle. That's a near impossible shot. Well, allow me to correct myself, that is an impossible shot. But these are the stories being told about our country's special forces not just to Canadian troops training at home, but to American, British and Dutch troops in Afghanistan. The troops from other countries, hearing the stories for the first time, naturally ask "What's JTF-2?" It's a little difficult to explain to someone why it is even called "Joint Task Force 2". What happened to Joint Task Force 1? Why is it "Joint"? No one really knows for sure why it was given the name it was given. There are a lot of theories flying around on the drill hall floors of the country's armouries. It was "Joint" because the original idea was that it would be a unit composed of both American and Canadian soldiers, fighting side-by-side, goes one theory. Another proposes that it is "Joint" because the unit, in theory at least, draws equally from the three branches of the Canadian Forces: Army, Navy and Air Force. But this theory falls flat on its face when you notice that nearly every member is drawn from two infantry units and the members are entirely Army.

The British named their Special Forces unit, after it was originally decimated during the Second World War as Unit 5 Commando, the 22nd Special Air Service Regiment. There were no preceeding units. This is not the 22nd iteration of the unit. It was just given the number. So why couldn't Mr. O'Connor come up with something else? The 16th Special Operations Regiment? The 403rd Elite Canadian Regiment? Seeing as so many members of the unit are drawn from regiments and battalions descending from the 110th Canadian Rifles, they could always name the unit "The Gallant Canadians" after the old poem written about that unit's heroic actions during the First World War.

On the fly, I've suggested three other things which JTF-2 could be named which would be more appropriate than having the Nazi connotations or the confusing "Joint Task Force" misnomer. But, for some reason, General Hillier had his mind switched off when he proposed this on the Defense Minister's behalf. Something quite out-of-character for the man as he's usually been well-put-together in the past. Maybe he just had a lapse in judgement.

If that's the case, however, he had better get a hold of himself soon. The men and women who have the guts to go after the glory of being in one of the world's most elite Special Forces units deserve better than a General who doesn't pay attention to what he names his units and the bad reputation that would go with being given a name similar to that which one of the most evil organization in the world was named. The job of JTF-2 is to worry about catching war criminals, not to be concerned with being associated with war criminals.