What Changes Should be Made to the DART

[Armymedic]

Heres my take on their suggestions...

Well, first, do we really need the involvement of all three ministries? It was reported that the differing perspectives of these ministries led to a long, drawn-out debate about whether DART should or should not be deployed to Sri Lanka.

CIDA is a large ministry with very long-term goals -- fostering economic development in poorer countries, building toward environmental sustainability, and encouraging sound government practices. This doesn't sound like a 'good fit' for overseeing a military operation, even if that operation is termed 'humanitarian'. By eliminating CIDA from the process, decision-making might be tightened up considerably.

Still, potential conflicts remain. While the military wants to respond as rapidly as possible, it is the many nuances of international politics and the domestic affairs of the stricken country that will determine whether it is safe, desirable, cost-effective, etc., to commit Canadian Forces to a given nation. That makes Foreign Affairs the senior ministry.

Meanwhile, Foreign Affairs could, at the same time, be quickly accumulating whatever intelligence they needed about the area and arrange the requisite contacts with their diplomatic counterparts in Canadian consuls and high commissions or embassies overseas.

The final decision -- 'Go/Don't Go' -- would be a fully informed choice made by DND and Foreign Affairs, based on all available information.

so now we all know who dropped the ball, eh?

There is a chance for a compromise here. The DART reconnaissance team, numbering only about a dozen or so, could be dispatched to the disaster area immediately, along with some light relief supplies like chlorine tablets, first-aid materials and blankets.

Nothing like doing something to say we are doing something, but accomplishing nothing...NGO's can get there with more faster...Let them, so they can run around like chickens with their heads cut off.
Military effectiveness demands good recce. And when you have 200 tired personnel and tonnes of equipment to move, and a setup that takes 2 days to complete...you might want to go to where you are actually need the first time....not move half way thru the deployment.

Assuming that DART's ministerial wrinkles are ironed out, questions concerning the length of time between deployments remain. It's not as if there has been a shortage of catastrophes, natural or man-made. So why did five years elapse between DART being sent to Turkey and going to Sri Lanka?

Because people at DND are not stupid, and the gov't knows how much it costs and they also know we can't get there.....

The sheer physical size of DART's equipment is one of its main impediments. Dozens of 20-foot-long ISO shipping containers and 200-odd personnel must be delivered. 'Team' is a misnomer. DART is really a collection of 'sub-units' -- water purification, medical, communications, support, and security -- and it is as sub-units that DART should be deployed.

If all DART sub-units are needed (as they were in Turkey), fine. If there is uncertainty (as in the case of Sri Lanka), send the sub-units we are sure are needed first. The other sub-units can follow if, or when, they are required.

Breaking up DART into sub-units may reduce the transportation burdens somewhat, but it doesn't change the scale of equipment itself. Field hospitals and ROWPU water purifiers are big solutions to big problems. Perhaps a better approach is to deploy more, but smaller, units.

Where field hospitals and ROWPUs require 10-tonne trucks to move their containers, modular field-aid stations and lower-output Mini-ROWPUs can be broken down into manageable loads for 1.5- and 2.5-tonne trucks. Such vehicles are much easier to transport by air, and they place less of a burden on local infrastructure (road surfaces, bridges and fuel supplies). The sole downside to using smaller trucks is that more drivers would be required -- although every driver is also a willing pair of hands.

great idea, but you can't modularize capacity...The DART med platoon is modularized down as slim as it can get without compromising their ability to do the lowest acceptable standard of health care. Medical supplies are bulky, and heavy. To take care of 100-250 people per day for 40-90 days takes allot of kit. Also, while at first read, modularizing those components of DART seem a good idea, none of those platoons are mutually exclusive and require one another to complete a mission in a bad environment. Med needs water and security, Eng need security and comms, comms need security, medical, water, and security needs something to secure....

It should be noted that the 1.5- and 2.5-tonne trucks of the Canadian Forces -- the LSVW and MLVW, respectively -- will soon be due for replacement. DND is leaning toward adopting a larger five-tonne vehicle, partly for reasons of commonality with the U.S. Army.

This is a mistake. DND would be 'buying late' into the last generation of pure diesel trucks. The very next generation of military vehicles will be 'parallel' electric-diesel hybrids capable of running off batteries, or having their power boosted by a diesel generator.

How is this relevant to DART? Each hybrid truck in a disaster-relief area would become, in effect, a portable generator. When not needed for other duties, trucks could parked beside any building or tent requiring electrical power.

Not a bad idea, but can they be used in a war zone. Will they work in the Artic, the jungle, Kabul, and Haiti equally effectively? Sure the technology is there, but we can't buy kit solely for humanitarian purposes...its not our primary role.

Any foreign deployment of DART will involve airlift. There's no point supplying gear to a 'rapid-response' team if that gear won't fit into an available aircraft.

The Hercules is ideal for delivering light DART units to unprepared airfields. Indeed, replacing the existing CF Hercules fleet with 'J' models should have been Air Staff's top priority for the last decade.

Right now, DND leases strategic airlifters. Antonov 124s were leased for the DART deployment to Sri Lanka. In general, this arrangement works well. Unfortunately, a natural disaster on the scale of the Indian Ocean tsunamis means that every civilian relief agency is also trying to book airlift services. To get around the bottleneck created by leasing, we could purchase our very own strategic airlifter.

Hello, Are you guys rocket scientists (my polite way of saying "no s***, Sherlock)? This topic has been discussed here and elsewhere. Capability is needed, money and political will is holding it back.
see this thread:
http://army.ca/forums/threads/22920.0.html

Our recommended strategic airlifter is a westernized version of the Ilyushin IL-76. The Canadian Forces prefers the U.S.-made Boeing C-17 but, although they are impressive aircraft, DND just cannot afford them. (Not even the Brits can afford them. They had to lease.)

The only affordable military-style airlifter available today is the Russian-made IL-76. At most, its pricetag is one-quarter that of the C-17. DND has two options: purchase new-production aircraft, or refurbish surplus IL-76s and fit them with western engines.

Option being discussed in another thread on this board... http://army.ca/forums/threads/25207.0.html

Dianne DeMille and Stephen Priestley have good ideas, but it should be remembered that DART comprises of personnel and equipment that is already in service. There is nothing special or elite about DART except for its paper capability to deploy in a rapid fashion.

IMHO the only thing really needed to make DART more effective is if the CF can acquire our own means to get them there faster.

 

[Armymedic]

The latest...

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/ArticleNews/TPStory/LAC/20050131/TEAM31/TPNational/TopStories

Ottawa plans to beef up disaster team

Quicker response to world crises is key to Martin's foreign-policy priorities

By MICHAEL DEN TANDT AND JEFF SALLOT


UPDATED AT 8:59 AM EST  Monday, Jan 31, 2005

OTTAWA -- The Martin government is preparing to significantly expand Canada's capacity to respond to crises abroad with a DART-plus mobile unit combining military, legal, medical, policing and institution-building functions, sources say.

The project, which has been in the works since Foreign Minister Pierre Pettigrew's trip to Haiti last September, will be a showpiece of Ottawa's soon-to-be-released foreign-policy review and of the federal budget in late February, according to sources familiar with the planning.

"It really crystallized after the Boxing Day tsunami, when it became clear that civilian agencies could not get people into the field as quickly as the military for an assessment," a government source said.

Core staff would include people recruited from the Canadian International Development Agency, the Department of Foreign Affairs and the military. The RCMP is also likely to play a role. The team would be trained and equipped to deploy on short notice in order to provide logistical, humanitarian, governmental and diplomatic expertise beyond the scope of traditional military peacekeepers.

Officials in the Prime Minister's Office are still finalizing the unit's name and cost, government sources say. However, it is expected to be larger than the present Disaster Assistance Response Team, which was set up in 1996.

That unit has a regular annual budget of $250,000, and a full-time staff of 15. Currently deployed in Sri Lanka, it has been sent into action only once before -- after the Turkish earthquake in 1999.

The proposal for an integrated team marks a response to the growing international clamour for more muscular and co-ordinated responses to crises in failed or fragile states such as Haiti or Sudan.

It is also intended to be a centrepiece of Prime Minister Paul Martin's effort to recast the Liberal government as Pearsonian and idealistic, after a decade of Chrétienite commercial pragmatism, sources say.

In a speech to the United Nations last September, Mr. Martin issued a clarion call for more robust and timely interventions in international trouble spots.

The speech was received politely abroad but skeptically at home. Critics pointed out that during Mr. Martin's tenure as finance minister, spending on both foreign aid and the military was slashed. And, though Mr. Martin promised in late 2003 to "restore Canada's place in the world," there has been little concrete policy to show for it, beyond the fledgling Canada Corps.

Officials around the Prime Minister are acutely aware of this, sources say. As they begin positioning him for a possible election, which many Ottawa insiders expect early next year, they want Mr. Martin to be seen to deliver on some of the expectations he has raised.

Liberal polling has shown the internationalist, humanitarian cant of Mr. Martin's foreign policy to be particularly popular with Canadians. It's also unlikely to draw significant opposition from the other three parties in the House of Commons, all of which have hammered the Liberals for years for presiding over a long decline in this country's global influence.

The push for a special nation-building contingent gathered further momentum in early December, sources say, when a UN-mandated, international wise-persons' panel called for urgent increases in peacekeeping resources.

The final push came later that month, sources say, after the federal government drew harsh criticism for the relatively long delay in sending the DART into the tsunami zone. By the time Canada's relief team finally reached Sri Lanka, the disaster was three weeks old.

A main reason for the delay, government sources now say, was the complexity of integrating the work of the three branches of the government -- Foreign Affairs, CIDA and the military -- that were needed to get the DART on the ground and working effectively. "Thus, the idea of an integrated team . . ." a government source said.

A spokesman in the Prime Minister's Office would neither confirm nor deny the existence of the project yesterday.

 

[Meridian]

OTTAWA -- The Martin government is preparing to significantly expand Canada's capacity to respond to crises abroad with a DART-plus mobile unit combining military, legal, medical, policing and institution-building functions, sources say.

Core staff would include people recruited from the Canadian International Development Agency, the Department of Foreign Affairs and the military. The RCMP is also likely to play a role. The team would be trained and equipped to deploy on short notice in order to provide logistical, humanitarian, governmental and diplomatic expertise beyond the scope of traditional military peacekeepers.


A main reason for the delay, government sources now say, was the complexity of integrating the work of the three branches of the government -- Foreign Affairs, CIDA and the military -- that were needed to get the DART on the ground and working effectively. "Thus, the idea of an integrated team . . ." a government source said.

So basically it wont be the Canadian Forces DART team, it will be the Canadian Government's DART Team... and will be such a jumble of bureaucratic mess.... Hopefully Im wrong... 

Also, I was under the impression that lack of Strategic Lift was a big problem here... Is not making the team larger without figuring out how to rapidly deploy kinda moving against what everyone's suggesting, or am I missing something?

 

[FSTO]

Your're not missing a thing.

This will be another program of the government hoping that nothing happens again to cause them to deploy DART+. When the inevitable happens, they will do what they always do, get a scape goat (Hello Gen Baril) promise to do better and then hope Canadians forget.

This strategy has worked for them so far, why quit?

 

[McG]

The reference to Sudan & failed states makes me think this may also fill a secondary role as some kind of canned PRT.

 

[big_johnson1]

What surprises me is that the DART team isn't run by an Engineering (Army) or Airfield Engineering (Air,duh) Officer, similar in structure to an ACT or AEF. These units are designed to be first into an area, set up a CP/living quarters and be completely self-sufficient. If you combine this with Urban Search and Rescue training similar to what Naval Construction Troop Esquimalt currently does, with each member trained to operate a team, then this unit could easily become the C&C for anyone around available to be grunts. Tack on a few medics and some log support, and you'd have an efficient crew that could live on their own off the grid and help out local law and government more effectively. I'm not going to get into the airlift capability (dead horse anyone? we're not getting Globemasters, so we'd better deal with it), but if equipment was kept down to the fairly essential stuff then there should be no reason why a unit of less than a 100 pers couldn't pick up quickly, deploy, and get things running in 24-48 hours depending on where the disaster is. Engineers are great for this because most of them are cross-trained to the point of being able to do their jobs well and help other trades with theirs.

Anyone agree, disagree? Improvements?

 

[used-to-be-EGS]

What surprises me is that the DART team isn't run by an Engineering (Army) or Airfield Engineering (Air,duh) Officer, similar in structure to an ACT or AEF. These units are designed to be first into an area, set up a CP/living quarters and be completely self-sufficient. If you combine this with Urban Search and Rescue training similar to what Naval Construction Troop Esquimalt currently does, with each member trained to operate a team, then this unit could easily become the C&C for anyone around available to be grunts. Tack on a few medics and some log support, and you'd have an efficient crew that could live on their own off the grid and help out local law and government more effectively. I'm not going to get into the airlift capability (dead horse anyone? we're not getting Globemasters, so we'd better deal with it), but if equipment was kept down to the fairly essential stuff then there should be no reason why a unit of less than a 100 pers couldn't pick up quickly, deploy, and get things running in 24-48 hours depending on where the disaster is. Engineers are great for this because most of them are cross-trained to the point of being able to do their jobs well and help other trades with their.

Ignorance is bliss

Have you ever been on a mission of any substantial size; it requires many support staff?  To keep it to 100 pers is almost out of the question..........you cannot have the req'd pers to sustain the mission.  This is not for a mere press release, it is to actually do good for mankind....

 

[used-to-be-EGS]

Just out of curiousity; how many respondants have actually been overses, and of those, how many have actually deployed with DART?

 

[old medic]

What surprises me is that the DART team isn't run by an Engineering (Army) or Airfield Engineering (Air,duh) Officer

If an army runs on it's stomach, why doesn't the cook lead the infantry regiment?

Since the DART is a small scale medical facility with supporting security and engineer elements, what could possibly suprise you?

 

[big_johnson1]

Ignorance is bliss

Have you ever been on a mission of any substantial size; it requires many support staff?   To keep it to 100 pers is almost out of the question..........you cannot have the req'd pers to sustain the mission.   This is not for a mere press release, it is to actually do good for mankind....

If ignorance is bliss you must be pretty happy. I don't need to justify my experience to you but for an initial setup you would require far less than 100 pers. Yes, support staff is required, but how much support staff do you need for a beddown? Not much. Once you get set up, sure, send more pers in, but a SMALL unit can deploy faster with less kit than a large one, and can have things up and running before the main body arrives, if there even needs to be a main body.


EDIT: Just for the record, I'm not on the DART team, and I was just throwing a suggestion. Build on it or come up with something better. But try to be constructive.

 

[McG]

What surprises me is that the DART team isn't run by an Engineering (Army) or Airfield Engineering (Air,duh) Officer, similar in structure to an ACT or AEF.

The DART is both an Engr and a Medical unit.  Why would you assume that one of the functions should automatically override the others?  The function of the DART is not to be a TAT and it should not be organized with that goal in mind.  The DART should contain the elements to provide its own TAT but that is only an element of the whole organization.

 

[Armymedic]

Whats a TAT?

DART is an organization of sub units designed to support each other, as I mentioned earlier.

If your looking for experience, I have been on DART tng, no overseas missions. Really luck of the draw (mostly me being in the wrong places at the right times), cause many coworkers have gone on all three now....

 

[McG]

TAT = Theater Activation Team

 

[Slim]

Happy Homecoming

Cable-Pulse 24. Toronto

After spending over a month in Sri Lanka helping tsunami survivors get back on their feet by providing clean water and medical aid, the last 115 members of Canada's Disaster Assistance Response Team returned home Saturday.

The soldiers received warm hugs from their husbands, wives and little ones at C.F.B. Petawawa. They also received praise from Canada's new Chief of Defence Staff, Lt.-Gen. Rick Hillier, who declared the mission was an overwhelming success.

Some members of the specialized unit left for the region of Ampara, Sri Lanka on Jan. 6 and the rest of the team followed days later.

D.A.R.T. has more than 200 members and it offered the tsunami survivors water purification services and it set up a makeshift hospital. About 3.5 million litres of clean water were dispersed and more than 7,500 people received medical treatment thanks to the Canuck operation.

The soldiers said the local people were extremely appreciative, and noted the devastation they witnessed first hand was much worse than the damage they'd seen on television.

The mission also highlighted the need for upgraded military equipment, Hillier said he'd like to see Canada's fleet of CC-130 Hercules transport aircraft replaced or refurbished.

http://www.pulse24.com/News/Top_Story/20050226-007/page.asp

 

[ghazise]

The capabilities of the a Brigade Combat Service Support (Service Battalion???) should parrellel the Dart Capabilities,

Does each Brigade (PPLCI, RCR, Vandoos) have these capabilities?

And if they do why can't the DART continguency rotate throughout the Brigades and money for DART would be spent more effectively on the standing Service Support?

Example While the Brigade is stood down from combat deployments the Servce Element could stand up for DART?

 

[OnTrack]

Just out of curiousity; how many respondants have actually been overses, and of those, how many have actually deployed with DART?

OP CENTRAL - Honduras 1998

 

[MadNad]

Hey all,

Majorly, there as been a lot of changes in the DART in the last fiew years, Dart was, up to last year, made for oversea deployment. Now, it could be used for homeland deployment also. As for the time reaction for deployment. The Tsunami delay was not caused by the military but by the political. If i remember good, the DART recce is on 12Hrs NTM. and the DART members 72Hrs NTM. The delay was caused by the fact that a political decision had to be made and that some members of NGO and Government agency went with the recce team. And basically those Org are not at the same state of readiness as the DART.

Creating a DART combined with NGO and other Org would probably slow down deployment and would create a nightmare in operating procedures. We all know(from past experience (UN military and UNHCR)) that would create some drawback and would extand the paper trail and create redunduncy.

As for manning, the DART uses a lot of pers (NCM, Off) from Kingston, most of the pers tasked to the DART HQ and support, are very experienced members from other Joint Unit and are normally members of CFJSG, JSR, JHQ. And have deployed in multi task joint ops (TAT being one of them). That gives the DART a big head start, since those pers are professionnals in there own trade and are used to work with pers from other environment (Navy,Air or Land), And that is a challenge by itself. The "J" peoples are very precious.

As for the Med and Eng, would it be good to keep troop size attached to DART 24-7, i don't know. It would be to costly in ressources that would be removed from other Org and we don't have that luxury today.

There is always room fro ameliorations, but no 2 disasters are the same, and the DART Staff are doing an outstanding job maintaining the team ready to go, 24-7-365 anywere in the world. And it is something to see, when the machine is powered on.

 

[Dazzle]

"The capabilities of the a Brigade Combat Service Support (Service Battalion???) should parrellel the Dart Capabilities,

Does each Brigade (PPLCI, RCR, Vandoos) have these capabilities?"

Yes but, the CF rotates the brigades through UN tours and the SVC BN sends their troops with each, plus there is an NSE and NCE that draws from support trades. it's easier just to task 30 guys from a combat arms unit and medics  on a 6 month rotation.

The problem is the reaction time. The solution is having lift.

As to the original point (I think) it was anyway. Yes the MIL/CIV team should be the next logical step but who flips the bill then?

 

[ghazise]

"Yes but, the CF rotates the brigades through UN tours and the SVC BN sends their troops with each, plus there is an NSE and NCE that draws from support trades. it's easier just to task 30 guys from a combat arms unit and medics   on a 6 month rotation."   Dazzle

How often does the entire Brigade deploy and between the three Brigades that any one of Service Battalions could not stand up for a DART?

Generally what I compare DART to is a MSSG, (Marine Expiditionay Unit Service Support Group),   and the MSSG is task during our deployments to provide Combat support or as directed Humanitarian Assistance, a MSSG has about 250 Marines, about same size of a DART with the same Capabilities.   We have 2 MSSG's always forward deployed and another 5 MSSG's standing up or training.

My main point, DART should be tasked and rotated through the Service Battalions.  



 

 

[Dazzle]

The equipment is in Trenton. Twice deployed, both times crewed by 2RCHA.  You're going to fly guys from Val and Edmonton to Trenton to train ( not train exactly but they go to take inventory and "hold" of the equipment), fly them back and then fly them again to Trenton to pick up the kit and fly wherever? Seems like a lot of work compared to loading 30  guys who are 3 hours away on a bus....

The most i have ever seen fit in a herc was two LSVWs with the suspension compressed.

It would look good if we had one of these.