DART team headed for Pakistan

[COBRA-6]

Canada's DART team headed for Pakistan, PM says
CTV.ca News Staff

Canada's Disaster Assistance Response Team will be deployed to earthquake-shattered areas of Pakistan, Prime Minister Paul Martin announced Friday.

"This deployment will provide added value in response to the current crisis. Canada will act as quickly as possible to deploy the DART to help those in need," Martin said in a statement.

"Co-ordination among relief agencies and with the Government of Pakistan are proceeding smoothly and I join the United Nations Secretary-General in calling on all donors to continue to support these efforts.

"This is a complicated relief operation, and it will be essential that we all ensure we are contributing to an effective overall response."

The 200-member team has the capability to provide clean water and medical care to quake survivors.

A giant Antonov transport plane is expected to arrive Friday at the air base in Trenton, where DART stores its equipment. The jet will be loaded overnight and will depart Saturday for Islamabad.

The main body of the DART unit, comprising medical technicians, logistics experts and engineers, likely won't fly out until early next week.

However, it's not yet clear which part of Pakistan they will set up camp.

According to the Prime Minister's Office, Canada sent an assessment team to Pakistan on Oct. 11, following a request from the government of Pakistan.

They have "the task of working with relevant authorities and international agencies to identify intermediate actions that Canada could take in support of relief and recovery efforts, including the possibility of deploying Canadian Forces assets such as the DART," the statement said.

The team has already visited most of the affected areas in Pakistan by helicopter.

According to The Globe and Mail, a similar DART mission to Sri Lanka after last year's tsunami cost $15 million, and defence officials estimate the Pakistan mission would cost about $10 million.

DART is a military organization designed to deploy rapidly anywhere in the world to crises ranging from natural disasters to complex humanitarian emergencies.

Earlier this week, Ottawa upped its aid contribution for earthquake-ravaged South Asia to $20 million after coming under fire for what some saw as a paltry initial response.

Ottawa has also pledged to match donations made by individuals to qualifying Canadian charities up to and including Oct. 26 -- contributions must be specifically marked for the Southeast Asia earthquake response.


Looks like it's on... it will be interesting to see where they deploy to, and what security messures will be in place...

 

[armyvern]

Looks like it's on... it will be interesting to see where they deploy to, and what security messures will be in place...

Oh it's on. We had topped up our DART boys here back in Feb. They were good to go for this one as per kitlist when required. Thurs brought them all back for 5th set of cadpat, GenIIIs and inserts. They rolled outta here yesterday... they didn't have room for me  :'(

 

[buzgo]

I'm pretty sure that they are headed for Kashmir.

http://www.forces.gc.ca/site/Operations/Plateau/news_e.asp

Its being called OP PLATEAU.

 

[RecDiver]

I wish all the best and success to them.

HOWEVER, I just want to ask out of curiosity, is that the best of using resources (i.e funds and people)? Wouldn't it have been better to send multiple field hospital units with medical staff to treat thousands of people still waiting for basic medical attention.

As a background: My mom was saved from an earthquake after spending almost 24 hours under a building back in 40s. A rumour has it, thats how she met my dad, who was part of the military looking for survivors in that region. In a recent earthquake (1999), my uncle's (85 yo retired colonel) right leg had to be amputated after being saved 18 hours later. He also lost the use of kidneys in the process. His daughter (30 yo) could not be saved from the same house.

PS: On a lighter note, I like the cartoon I saw in today's Sun. People were still watching 'Survivor' after all these recent hurricanes, tsunamis, floods, earth quakes, terrorisms.

A peaceful Sunday to you all...

 

[armyvern]

The deploying DART Team does consist of field hospital capabilities as well as engineers to assist with construction, potable water requirements etc.

It's a pretty diversified group whom I'm sure will be welcomed and able to provide some much required support and aid to these devasted people.

Sorry to hear of your families loses due to incidents such as this. Truley tagic.

 

[RecDiver]

Thank you for that info armyvern. I thought there was more to them then just producing water as claimed in some press. I am sure they will bring much needed help to where ever they are assigned. I believe in that, world becomes a better place by saving and helping one person at a time. Hopefully they will then help others when their turn comes.

 

[armyvern]

DART, it's make-up and previous assitance rendered:

http://www.forces.gc.ca/site/operations/DART/back_e.asp

 

[RecDiver]

I see that, they were also involved in helping Turkey during that devastating 1999 earthquake.

Great info thru that weblink. Thank you.

 

[geo]

given the size and capabilities of both the Indian & Pakistani military, I find it somewhat silly to believe that our DART capabilities will provide much more than international window dressing and an oportunity for us to say "we were there too".

Saw some newsreports last night - showing a french field hospital in operation... and been there for a day or two by now..... while we're still only in the shipping out of our kit stages.....

Given the devastation that has happened in Gualtamala over the same past week.... would have thought our assistance would have meant more on this side of the world....

IMHO

PS I am certain that our people will do their damndest to provide the best possible support once they get there.... just think that some people in our backyard could have used some of that help

 

[old fart]

Seeing how the PAK Army has handled this, I now believe that sending in the DART is appropriate.   The Pakistan Army has not responded very well at all to this event.   The main problem being a total lack of command and control, thus resources are wasted.   They are certainly large enough to take care of this on their own.

Having spent 5+ months in the North West Frontier Province have seen how the PAK Army operate first hand, they are a large army but not overly capable force.   They are a very class oriented society and this manifests itself in a big way in their armed forces, enough said on that.

Hopefully the DART will be taking a robust D & S element.

Anyway I wish all members of the team the very best, a successful   mission and a safe return.  

But I also wondered about Columbia....

 

[geo]

Ohhhhhkay....
Nice to hear that our contribution has the potential to serve to relieve some pain and suffering.

Not so nice to hear that troops with tactical nukes are hampered in such a fashion.... would have hoped that the two armies together could have "grounded arms", worked on a unified command and thrown some muscle @ helping their people.

 

[enfield]

given the size and capabilities of both the Indian & Pakistani military, I find it somewhat silly to believe that our DART capabilities will provide much more than international window dressing and an oportunity for us to say "we were there too".

Saw some newsreports last night - showing a french field hospital in operation... and been there for a day or two by now..... while we're still only in the shipping out of our kit stages.....

BBC was showing British, French, and German civilian urban SAR crews there within days of the disaster, as well as US forces from the Afghanistan theatre.

I have to agree that in the grand scheme of things, with casualties on this scale, DART will in the end just be 'window dressing' - I think you'd need a lot of Antonovs with a lot of gear to make a real difference unfortunately.
However, it will no doubt help many people and make a significant local difference. Its hard to judge these things, where saving hundreds is just a drop in the bucket.

Seems to be a lot of critique of the Pakistani Army- my guess is that they aren't structured, trained, prepared, or flexible enough to respond effectively to this sort of thing. Too much time preparing for their own 'Fulda Gap' in Kashmir, I guess.

 

[armyvern]

While, I agree that the response seems slow, I recommend that you take a tour of the DART warehouse sometime. It is something else. It is ready to deploy at any time and we are able to pack the whole warehouse up and move it out the door within hours of a major incident.
The problem is that we have to wait for the DARTs owner, the PMO, to give the word. If they take days, it seems like it's the Military taking days, which is not the case. Therefore those of us on the ground at DART sat around feeling useless until the word finally became official. I agree, Antanov's or other large airlift capabilities would make life much easier for the Military all the way around, not just the DART.

 

[Infanteer]

DART is nice; it lets the government mollify the public for a small chunk of CF capability.  However, I hope "DART" doesn't replace "Peacekeeping" as the raison d'etre of the CF for the public, especially as we prepare to head back to warfighting in Afghanistan.

 

[geo]

armyvern,
You're right..... the ability of the forces to "spool up" in short order has been proven more times than I care to think about. The ability of our masters to make use of it's resources in a timely manner is another thing.
If we wanted to be a world player in this kind of business.... buying in on a couple of C17s stratolifters or an older C5Galaxy would be in order. Our clapped out CC130s need some TLC if they are to last for any length of time.

 

[old fart]

DART is nice; it lets the government mollify the public for a small chunk of CF capability.   However, I hope "DART" doesn't replace "Peacekeeping" as the raison d'etre of the CF for the public, especially as we prepare to head back to warfighting in Afghanistan.

I don't buy the raison d'etre comment.   It's about time the myth that our Armed Forces are "peacekeepers first" was put to bed for good.  

Peacekeeping is just one particular mission we undertake, as is disaster response.   The raison d'etre is at the end of the day in simple terms is warfighting.

The DND and CF mission statement is reproduced below:

"Our Mission
The mission of the Department of National Defence and the Canadian Forces is to defend Canada, its interests and its values, while contributing to international peace and security.

Under Canadian defence policy, the Canadian Forces are called upon to fill three major roles:

Protecting Canada

Defending North America in co-operation with the United States of America

Contributing to peace and international security".

Soldiers First

 

[honestyrules]

I agree with armyvern on this:

The problem is that we have to wait for the DARTs owner, the PMO, to give the word. If they take days, it seems like it's the Military taking days, which is not the case.

In fact, the DART got the official call in the morning on friday, and the Gagetown crew was on the bus to Trenton at 1800hrs the same day..

 

[paracowboy]

I don't by the raison d'etre comment.   It's about time the myth that our Armed Forces are "peacekeepers first" was put to bed for good.  

Peacekeeping is just one particular mission we undertake, as is disaster response.   The raison d'etre is at the end of the day in simple terms is warfighting.

Infy (he loves it when you call him that) agrees with this statement, and that's what he's saying:

However, I hope "DART" doesn't replace "Peacekeeping" as the raison d'etre of the CF for the public, especially as we prepare to head back to warfighting in Afghanistan.

He's hoping that the Lie-berals don't try to use DART the way they used "Peace-keeping" as our raison d'etre.

At least, that how I read it.

 

[sheikyerbouti]

2 questions:

1) Isn't the DART structured as a follow on force meant to be deployed within  2 weeks or so?

2)Why do people insist on purchasing overpriced American kit, when we seem to use the highly capable Antonov's that are available for a much fairer price?

 

[geo]

The An-124 entered service in 1986.
some 55 aircraft have been built.
The Russian military operates 28 An-124 aircraft
Antonovs are or were very capable aircraft... built russian/ukranian simple and tough.
I would have somre reservations with a NATO compatability issues.
If you're flying a CC130 into any NATO country, you're fairly certain you can pick up support & parts.... which you won't get from the Antonov.
Of course you don't want or count on your aircraft breaking down.... but what if.

You are correct that DART is more suited for follow on work... no search & rescue teams, dogs & the like.... water purification, field hospital, engineering demolition and stabilisation of situation...