I suppose it is easier to count the number of "deployments" and pers involved when every fart and butt scratch is assigned an op name and a database is kept with each individual as a line item. But looking back at my own career (especially when I was a lowly jr. rank), I recall the times that I was sent on "taskings" - if they had been a named op, I either didn't know it (or been told) or quickly forgot. I do know that I fought forest fires, helped in ground searches for lost individuals, provided medical services at international level sports events, and among other miscellaneous doings, kept RCMP (and the ground they were searching) warm and dry while they were doing a forensic examination of a possible murder scene. I don't think there was ever a paper trail that could prove my involvement other than notations in my UER.
When I deploy to wildfires there is an assigned fire number - naming conventions vary by province - and usually there is a resource order for sustained large scale events. Local small scale stuff is still tracked by fire but the majority of work is "other duties as assigned". There is no award for deploying as that is part of my job...same as there is no award for a member of the CAF attending training or a battalion exercise in Canada. If I go outside of Canada - like some of my peers have - then its' the same deal as in Canada normally. The Canadian Honours system though seems to only recognize service outside of Canada - the SSM for NATO, Humanitarian work and/or the General Service Medal for EXPITITION work outside of Canada.
I struggle in some regards because there seems to be domestic operations initiated by the CAF and then operations that the CAF mobilizes for based upon provincial/territory emergency assistance. For some, especially reservists, this may be the only deployment they do in their enlistment. For others they may be deployed on domestic operations and then as a result not deploy outside of Canada. And while I like to think evaluations would capture all the positive work done it's not always the case so then how to do you compare CAF member X who was serving overseas vs. member Y who served equally honorably here in Canada on domestic operations?
Operation NANOOK is a good example for the annual exercise for mobilizing different elements of the CAF in harsh conditions with a wide range of manpower needs depending on the year....but we're also doing multi-national exercises as part of the operation, multi-agency (not just CAF), and has changing objectives by year. When I see CAF Reserve units deploying as formed units that is when I mentally start including the operation.
Operation LENTUS is the opposite story. The CAF is deploying to respond to civilian response emergency as requested by the Premier of a Province. Many have had large reserve force contributions depending on the nature.
Then there are the federal government civil assistance type missions - LASER (COVID Pandemic), Cadence (G7 Summit Security) and ELEMENT (Asylum Seekers) which are a unique type of tasking outside of what I, as a civilian, view as the CAF mandate.
I grouped by categories just for my own interest and comprehension. If there is a Domestic Operations award then maybe some current awards like "Rangers" "Alert" get absorbed or depending on the argument get moved from the SSM - which is primarily overseas criteria - to something else.
All I know is there have been a ton of CAF members supporting Domestic Operations and just adding them up has been worth the time to better understand the contributions the CAF has made.
foresterab
