Two helicopters swoop in overhead. They slow to a hover 10 metres off the deck, ropes drop down and other soldiers rappel to the moving boat below.
They hit the deck fast and hard and unclip from the ropes with guns at the ready.
It’s a blazingly quick assault as the soldiers take control of the vessel and take down the would-be suspect onboard in a roughhouse tackle that sends the man sprawling to the deck.
In the blink of an eye, Canada’s elite warriors were out of the shadows.
Canadian special operations forces (SOF) soldiers — including members of Joint Task Force 2 — put on an unprecedented public display of their fighting talents Friday.
Never before have JTF2 soldiers held such a demonstration to show off their skills, highly honed to take on terrorists, end hostage takings or in this case, board a suspicious ship on the high seas.
“I think they are pretty proud of themselves and they ought to be. They’re not in the public eye . . . and they will probably never will be for a number of operational security reasons,” said Brig.-Gen. Denis Thompson, commander of Canadian Special Operations Forces.
“But it’s important for them to be seen to be contributing to Canada’s overall defence because a lot of what we do is in the shadows,” Thompson said.
After years of operations and rehearsals in secret, this coming-out show — apparently done at the behest of the Prime Minister’s office — was carefully calculated to send a public signal of fighting abilities.
Significantly the display was part of OP Nanook, the military’s annual northern exercise and featured Prime Minister Stephen Harper in a front row seat as he capped a week-long tour of the North that featured sovereignty as a key theme.
“We took this opportunity to . . . to demonstrate CANSOF’s capability as a deterrent and reassurance piece. Deterring those who would do harm to us and reassuring the Canadian public,” Thompson said.
Under Friday’s scenario, officials were shadowing an “eco-tourism” vessel in Hudson Bay off Churchill, Man., suspected of carrying “alien” passengers believed to be a threat. That theme combined two recent worries of the Conservative government — so-called “eco-terrorists” and illegal migrants arriving by boat.
The frigate HMCS St. John’s sailed alongside in the waters off Churchill providing a viewing platform for journalists who watched as the special operations forces soldiers attacked from sea and air.
As the soldiers dropped from the helicopters, others climbed on deck from their fast-boats which had moved alongside the suspect vessel from the rear. The soldiers — all sporting balaclavas to mask their identity — moved around the ship in a calm and controlled fashion and with surprising stealth.
Had this been a real operation, the soldiers would have attacked at night to cover their approach and exploit their technological advantage by using night-vision goggles.
Harper and Defence Minister Peter MacKay had front row seats for the action, watching the exercise from near the bridge. As the drill came to an end, one assaulter reported to Harper, “ship secure.”
“Good job,” replied Harper, who later posed for a group photo with the soldiers.
The prime minister later addressed sailors of HMCS St. John’s on the frigate’s helicopter deck and praised the response to the “entirely plausible” threat of ships entering Canadian waters illegally.
“I was deeply impressed, and frankly, as a Canadian, I was unabashedly proud of the skill and precision with which you performed,” Harper said.
“You are part of the determined expansion we are making to our sovereign presence in the Arctic,” he said.
The public display comes as the special operations command has prepared a slick new recruiting video to attract serving soldiers to its ranks.
The video, looking like a promo for a Hollywood action movie, gives a first-person view of special forces soldiers in action — rappelling out of helicopters onto the rooftop of an office; a high-altitude parachute jump from the back of a Hercules transport and roving about in specially-equipped Humvees.
Canada’s special forces units have grown in both size and abilities in recent years.
Now JTF2 — the top-line squad — is backed by other units that include experts in chemical, biological and nuclear incidents, a special operations regiment and a squadron of pilots who fly the Griffon helicopters that deliver the troops precisely on their targets.
The special operations command has 1,700 personnel and an annual budget of about $135 million.
Canadian special operations forces soldiers are among the best in the world, Thompson said, comparing favorably with other similar units like Great Britain’s Special Air Service.
“They’re at the absolute top of the game. This is Tier 1 SOF organization that is on parallel with any other of our global partners around the world,” he said.
“There’s a whole series of skill sets, the unique skill sets that SOF brings to the fight.”
Original Article
Source: the star
Author: Bruce Campion-Smith
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