General Walter Natynczyk confronted the innuendos surrounding his use of Challenger jets in numerous interviews on Sunday. In one, the host prefaced a question on flights to Toronto by saying, “Well, I don’t want to get bogged down in the details …” Unfortunately, it’s precisely the details that count.
Notwithstanding the fact that reports have inflated the real costs of using Challenger jets, the value has been eclipsed by a misunderstanding of what occurs when the Chief of the Defence Staff travels. I was a special adviser to both Rick Hillier and Gen. Natynczyk and had the occasion to often fly on Challengers, both in Canada and overseas.
Some examples come to mind.
After a full day in Ottawa, the CDS boarded a Challenger for Rotterdam, accompanied by minimal personal staff and specialized communications equipment. On arrival, we discussed Afghanistan. We reboarded with the Dutch CDS and, throughout the seven hour flight to Dubai, the entire time was devoted to poring over maps and discussing Afghanistan, bilateral concerns and what the Dutch and Canadians could do to improve NATO’s efforts and to save lives.
On arrival in Dubai, the CDS went off to talk to the Canadian troops stationed there, something he always did; I got to go to sleep. The next morning, we departed for Kandahar.
Ostensibly, the visit was to attend a ceremonial function – a change of command. But aside from the short time spent on the ceremonial function, the next five hours involved the CDS meeting the ISAF commander, the Afghan CDS and the incoming Dutch commander, as well as talking to Canadian troops. At 3 p.m., we left Kandahar for Dubai and, after landing, transferred to a Challenger to fly back to Rotterdam. The CDS continued overnight to Canada for another full day of work in Ottawa the following day. The plane had served as office, bed, conference room and command centre. This is the gruelling pace that Gen. Natynczyk lives unbeknownst to many.
I witnessed many such trips. In the fall of 2006, for example, the briefing for Operation Medusa – the Canadian defence of Kandahar from a possible Taliban rout – was made aboard the airplane and orders issued. Just as Gen. Natynczyk launched the Canadian Forces humanitarian effort in Haiti from a Challenger, these things could not have been accomplished from Seat 3C on an Air Canada flight.
The Challenger is also used to cram activities into a schedule and locations that no commercial airliner can accommodate. To visit our wounded in Landstuhl, Germany, while en route to or from Afghanistan, and to ensure their care, the Challenger can land at military airfields that a commercial schedule also could not accommodate (the nearest civilian airport to Landstuhl is an hour and a half away).
I have also been to hockey games with the CDS. What the public sees is the ceremonial dropping of the puck, the glad-handing and the photo ops. What the public doesn’t see and can’t judge is what happens in the background. Although we started the game in a private booth, the CDS was making the rounds after the first five minutes, meeting business leaders and organizations that have contributed to the well-being of our troops in Kandahar and those who have suffered along the way. The True Patriot Love Foundation, the Military Family Fund, the support for activities such as donations to troops in Kandahar and the wounded back home arose from these outreach efforts behind the scenes. By the end of the third period, when I linked up with the CDS again, his first question was: “What's the score?”
With more than 2,000 soldiers overseas, and troops spread over thousands of miles across Canada, it’s the job of the CDS to see them and for them to speak to him, plus those unforeseen funerals and repatriations he must attend. He also visits a myriad of Canadian communities that support the Canadian Forces to thank them. That’s his job. It can’t be done from Ottawa and it certainly is not personal travel.
So the details are vitally important to understand why the CDS uses a Challenger and what he uses it for. That said, as a servant of the Canadian public, he should always be open to scrutiny. If we who serve and whose lives are often put at risk are willing to trust what the CDS does in our name, perhaps its incumbent on Canadians to extend that same covenant of trust as well.
George Petrolekas has worked directly for two chiefs of the defence staff.
