Canadian Forces. I INTRODUCTION Canadian Forces, military forces responsible for defending Canada's borders and protecting its citizens against harm. The Canadian Forces (CF) also represents Canada in international military operations and peacekeeping initiatives under the direction of the United Nations (UN), the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), and other multinational bodies. In 1968 Canada's army, navy, and air force unified into a single entity--the Canadian Forces--with common entry and basic training systems. Approximately 60,000 men and women comprise the CF's regular force. An additional 30,000 women and men serve part-time in the reserve force. The CF is the only officially unified national armed service in the world. Its three basic components, Land Forces Command, Maritime Command, and Air Command, work together to provide a full range of military operations. Many CF personnel, such as soldiers with special training in logistics, medicine, food services, or communications, move freely from one component to another. Others remain part of their original command. For example, all pilots remain part of Air Command, even those who fly from ships. The governor-general of Canada is the commander in chief of the CF, although in practice command is exercised by the federal cabinet. The minister of National Defence, acting on the governor-general's behalf, manages and directs the CF from the joint civilian and military National Defence Headquarters in Ottawa, Ontario. The CF chief of staff acts as senior military commander, responsible for the day-to-day operations of the CF. The deputy chief of staff coordinates military operations in conjunction with the chiefs of the Maritime, Land, and Air Commands. II RESPONSIBILITIES The CF has two primary responsibilities. First, it protects Canada in times of crisis, such as direct military threats or environmental disasters. Second, it promotes Canada's global interests by cooperating in international military operations, including multilateral peacekeeping missions and initiatives to supply humanitarian aid to regions in need. A Domestic Responsibilities The CF's most important role is to defend Canada against direct military threats. Although no nation has attacked Canada since German U-boats entered the St. Lawrence River during World War II (1939-1945), CF personnel train continuously and maintain warships, aircraft, and combat arms in case such threat arises. When riots or other forms of civil unrest threaten regional stability within Canada's borders, local or provincial governments may call on the CF to help restore order. The CF aids Canadian citizens during environmental disasters, such as floods or ice storms. Specially trained CF search and rescue personnel help people whose lives are in immediate danger and then transport them to hospitals as needed. When local or provincial governments request assistance, CF personnel help disaster relief agencies construct makeshift shelters and outfit these facilities with blankets, food, water, and other necessities. The CF may cooperate in local efforts to restore vital services, such as electricity and water, and to clear blocked roads and clean up flood or storm debris. The CF protects Canada's interests by patrolling its maritime economic zones, defined by international law as the waters between the coastlines and an imaginary line 320 km (200 mi) out to sea. Maritime patrols protect Canadian fisheries against poaching and intercept shipments of drugs or other contraband. B International Responsibilities Canada promotes global peace and stability through participation in NATO and the UN, taking a leading role in peacekeeping efforts in particular. Canadian troops have served as peacekeepers in places such as Kashm?r (1949-1979) and Cyprus (1964-1993), and in the wars of Yugoslav succession (1991-1995). In 1999 about 4,000 CF personnel were engaged in missions throughout the world. The CF partners with the United States Air Force in the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD). NORAD is a cooperative effort to protect Canadian and American interests in space and to defend against attacks by missiles, aircraft, and spacecraft (see Defense Systems: Defensive Warning Systems: NORAD). Working from headquarters located in an underground bombproof site on Cheyenne Mountain near Colorado Springs, Colorado, NORAD technicians use state-of-the-art equipment to interpret data collected by a network of sophisticated radar systems positioned across North America. When aircraft entering Canadian or U.S. airspace cannot be identified within 2 minutes, NORAD dispatches fighter jets to identify the intruders. III RECRUITMENT AND TRAINING The CF does not use conscription (forced military service--the draft); instead, everyone in the CF enrolls voluntarily. Recruitment offices across the country help persuade Canadians to consider a career in the military. Recruiters visit high schools, colleges, and job fairs to educate young people about opportunities in the CF. Recruitment offices also advertise on television and the radio to reach a broader audience. Most recruits join the CF after they graduate from high school or college, but an increasing number of people are now enlisting in their late 20s and 30s, and even in their 40s. Those interested in joining the CF must complete an application, take an aptitude test, and undergo a physical fitness examination and an interview. Recruitment personnel use the results from the application process to determine whether an applicant qualifies to serve in the CF. Later, the results are used to identify military specialties that best suit the applicant's aptitude, education and experience. All successful applicants go to basic training camp at the Canadian Force Leadership and Recruit School in Saint-Jean, Québec. After completing basic training, enlistees train in their specialties--that is, the function they will perform in combat or in support of combat. Specialized training may also include language training. The CF operates in both of Canada's official languages, English and French. Designated units use French as their daily working language, and many other units are officially bilingual. Enlistees are generally obligated to serve for a predetermined period of time, called an initial engagement. Initial engagements may vary in length depending on the assignment, but they average about four years. Soldiers who perform satisfactorily during their initial engagement have the option of extending their service. Officers in the CF must have a college education and the ability to speak both English and French fluently. High school graduates interested in becoming CF officers may choose to apply for the Regular Officer Training Program (ROTP). In the ROTP young Canadians obtain a bachelor's degree while training for a career as a military officer. Candidates selected for this program attend the Royal Military College in Kingston, Ontario, during the school year and spend summers in military training. Some ROTP participants attend civilian colleges instead of the Royal Military College. The ROTP covers the cost of tuition, books, uniforms, and all other essential fees. In exchange, participants are expected to serve five years in the CF after they receive their degree. IV LAND FORCE COMMAND As the Land Force Command component of the CF, the Canadian army is responsible for land combat and for physically protecting people and land-based resources. It is the component of the CF most often called on to support international military operations and peacekeeping missions and to maintain order in times of civil unrest. A Organization The 20,900 personnel who comprise the army's regular force are organized into four geographically based areas. Land Force Atlantic includes the provinces of Newfoundland and Labrador, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, and Prince Edward Island. Land Force Western Area includes the provinces of British Columbia, Alberta, Manitoba, and Saskatchewan. Land Force Central is composed of the province of Ontario, and the province of Québec makes up Land Force Québec. The members of each land force are further divided into brigades. Brigades include armored regiments specializing in tank operations, infantry battalions trained to fight on foot, artillery regiments that operate heavy firepower weapons, and an air defense battery equipped with antiaircraft weapons capable of intercepting enemy jets and helicopters. Each brigade also includes an engineer regiment, whose members support the other combat units by designing and building roads, bridges, and other wartime transportation systems. The Canadian Army Reserve Force numbers another 20,000 people. Army reservists train to reinforce the regular force and to perform active duty during wars and selected peacetime operations. The Canadian Rangers, a subgroup of the Canadian Army Reserve, represent the CF in rural or isolated areas of Canada. Rangers act as guides for regular services personnel in the area and participate in part-time training operations. B Equipment Armored regiments are equipped with one squadron of German-built Leopard C-1 battle tanks and two squadrons of Cougar six-wheeled armored vehicles. The battle tanks carry guns that shoot explosive shells at distant targets. Foot soldiers travel in armored personnel carriers, such as the Grizzly and the Light-Armored Vehicle (LAV), which can carry up to 11 soldiers. Artillery regiments operate self-propelled howitzer guns. The army deploys a battery of high-power antitank weapons, from land mines to guided missiles. Small arms include the C-7 variant of the American M-16 assault rifle, several varieties of Belgian light machine guns, and the Browning .50-caliber vehicle-mounted machine guns. V MARITIME COMMAND As the Maritime Command component of the CF, the Canadian navy is responsible for ensuring that the oceans within Canada's jurisdiction are free from enemy interference. The navy coordinates search and rescue operations with the air force and works with other governmental agencies to protect Canada's maritime resources by enforcing laws and environmental regulations. The navy also lends ships and personnel to NATO in times of peace and war and supports other international initiatives promoting global peace and stability. A Organization The navy's regular forces consist of 9,000 personnel divided into two principal formations. Maritime Forces Atlantic (MARLANT), headquartered in Halifax, Nova Scotia, handles naval operations that originate from the east coast. Maritime Forces Pacific (MARPAC), headquartered in Esquimalt, British Columbia, is responsible for operations that originate on the west coast. MARLANT oversees approximately 4.8 million sq km (1.9 million sq mi) of the northwestern Atlantic Ocean. Members of the Atlantic fleet patrol Canada's vast east coast and coordinate search and rescue operations for eastern Canada. MARLANT also commits at least one of its ships at all times to NATO's Standing Naval Force Atlantic, a permanent peacetime fleet of naval vessels loaned by the navies of participating countries. MARPAC covers a territory of approximately 1.7 million sq km (700,000 sq mi) of the Northeast Pacific Ocean. MARPAC patrols British Columbia's 27,000 km (17,000 mi) of coastline and coordinates search and rescue operations in British Columbia, the Yukon Territory, and the northeastern part of the Pacific Ocean. MARPAC also represents Canada in regional security initiatives involving countries of the Pacific Rim. Another 4,000 Canadians participate in the Naval Reserve Force. Naval reserve headquarters are located in Québec City, Québec, and oversee 24 reserve units across the country. Naval reservists train to operate coastal defense vessels and to defend Canada's harbors and shipping lanes against enemy interference during crises. B Fleet The navy's operational fleet includes 34 modern warships. Twelve Halifax class patrol frigates--seven on the east coast and five on the west coast--form the core of the navy's fleet. These general-purpose vessels are equipped with state-of-the-art command and control facilities and carry extensive weapons systems. Each frigate also has sonar equipment, which uses sound waves to detect submarines, and a Sea King helicopter equipped with sophisticated antisubmarine weapons. With a range of more than 11,000 km (7,000 mi) and a replenishment ship to carry extra fuel and supplies, the frigates can deploy around the world to take part in international security operations. The fleet also includes four Iroquois class destroyers, modern warships equipped with specialized antiaircraft weapons, radar systems, and two Sea King helicopters. The navy uses 12 Kingston class coastal defense vessels to patrol the coastlines and to train naval reservists. Added to the fleet in the late 1990s, these 55-m (180-ft) ships feature modern radar and surveillance equipment, and they can be fitted with minesweeping tools and other specialized equipment if the need arises. The MARLANT fleet also includes four diesel-electric submarines purchased from the United Kingdom in the late 1990s. A diving tender that carries oxygen and supplies for navy divers, a few older ships, and a number of small craft and command and control systems round out the fleet. VI AIR COMMAND As the component of the CF responsible for Air Command, the Canadian air force protects and controls Canada's airspace. Working closely with its NORAD partner, the United States Air Force, the Canadian air force monitors all activity over Canadian and American airspace. The air force transports CF personnel and materials to military operations and peacekeeping missions worldwide and carries relief workers and emergency supplies to sites of natural disasters. The air force also cooperates with the navy to coordinate Canadian search and rescue operations. Search and rescue crews locate downed aircraft or ships in distress, administer emergency medical care on location, and transport injured people to hospitals. See Military Aviation. A Organization The air force operates under the combined leadership of the National Air Defence Headquarters in Ottawa and the Canadian NORAD Headquarters in Winnipeg, Manitoba. The 15,000 men and women serving on the regular force are organized into 37 squadrons that specialize in combat, transport, or maritime operations. Squadrons operate from 13 bases, called Wings. Wings vary in size from a few hundred personnel to several thousand personnel, depending on their function. For example, several thousand air force personnel work at 4 Wing Cold Lake, Alberta, the larger of two fighter aircraft centers. However, only a fraction of that number works at 9 Wing Gander, Newfoundland and Labrador, center of the CF's North Atlantic search and rescue operations. Approximately 3,000 Canadians serve in the Air Force Reserve. Most reserve pilots are retired members of the regular forces or skilled civilian pilots. Reservists augment the regular forces during times of emergency. They also have played an important role in UN and NATO operations. B Aircraft The Canadian air force owns and operates more than 500 military aircraft. Fighter squadrons fly CF-18 Hornets, fighter jets capable of traveling at 1.8 times the speed of sound. CF-18s carry a full array of modern weapons, including bombs for ground attack and infrared sensors for guiding precision weapons. Most transport squadrons fly CC-144 Challenger aircraft, capable of carrying 16 passengers, and the larger CC-130 Hercules, which can move up to 90 passengers at a time. The air force uses a variety of other aircraft for transport missions. One squadron operates a small fleet of Airbus A-310 passenger airplanes, which can transport 194 passengers at a time. Maritime patrol squadrons operate CP-140 and CP-140A Aurora patrol aircraft and Sea King and Griffon helicopters. Patrol aircraft are equipped with highly specialized searching equipment, such as infrared radar, magnetic anomaly detectors, gyrostabilized binoculars, and night vision goggles. Most patrol aircraft are also armed with homing torpedoes and can be fitted for other weapons as necessary. VII HISTORY Canada's military originated with loosely organized militias of French and, later, British colonists. When called, local militias fought alongside soldiers from France or England to safeguard the interests of their parent country. After Canada gained partial independence from Britain in 1867, it developed its own military program. By the end of World War I (1914-1918), the Canadian Army was 600,000 members strong. The Canadian Army, Navy, and Air Force fought with distinction as part of the Allied Forces in World War II (1939-1945). In the 1960s the army, navy, and air force were unified into a single unit, the Canadian Forces. By the close of the 20th century, three distinct branches of service had reemerged. A Colonial Period Canada's military history began in the 17th century with the settlement of New France. New France, a French colony, encompassed what is now Acadia, the island of Newfoundland, the area of Canada drained by the St. Lawrence River, and portions of the Mississippi River Valley. The French system required all males between the ages of 16 and 60 to join the militia. Militia members attended annual training and could be called to defend their country. Local militias were called out repeatedly during the 17th and 18th centuries. During the French and Indian War (1754-1763) persistent British attacks resulted in a levee en masse--that is, a mass conscription requiring all inhabitants of New France to serve the war effort. However, British troops and their indigenous allies eventually prevailed, and New France came under British rule in 1763. The British Empire relied heavily on the local militia to defend its interests in North America. Between 1775 and 1783 local militias were called out to defeat American rebels, who invaded the new colony of Québec, which remained loyal to the British crown. After the United States declared war on Britain and invaded Upper Canada during the War of 1812 (1812-1815), local militias were instrumental in pushing back the American invaders. When French Canadians raised arms against the colonial rule of Britain during the rebellions of 1837, the British Empire called on local militias to reestablish colonial authority. Thirty years later local militias again acted on behalf of the British Empire, quelling raids by the American Fenians, anti-British rebels based in the United States. B Confederation In 1867 Canada gained partial independence from the British Empire. The newly formed Confederation of Canada adopted part-time local militias as the basis of its military. Two local battalions worked alongside a British expedition in 1870 to put down the Red River Rebellion, a movement resisting Canada's purchase of land previously owned by the Hudson's Bay Company. By the early 1880s Canada had established its own artillery, cavalry, and infantry schools designed for training the militia. In 1885 an entirely Canadian expedition of 8,000 troops was sent to check the Northwest Rebellion, an uprising by the Métis people against Canadian federal rule. The first major overseas expedition by Canadian troops occurred during the Boer War (1899-1902), a conflict between Britain and Afrikaner-populated regions in what is now South Africa. A Canadian regiment distinguished itself at the Battle of Paardeberg in February 1900 and was soon joined by Canadian cavalry and artillery units. Participation in the Boer War set a precedent for overseas service that has characterized Canadian military operations ever since. In 1910 Canada established the Royal Canadian Navy (RCN) to compensate for Britain's consistent failure to police Canadian waters against American poaching. Enthusiasm for the new navy was soon eclipsed by the naval race between Britain and Germany that preceded World War I (1914-1918). Canadians of British descent favored direct financial aid to the British government instead of support for a local fleet, arguing that Canada would be better served by the well-established British navy than by its own fledging fleet. French Canadians, arguing for increasing independence from Britain, advocated an independent Canadian navy. The new navy was neglected during the political stalemate that ensued, and by 1914 the RCN was virtually nonexistent. C World War I Canada's military effort in World War I catapulted the country onto the world stage. In 1914 only 3,000 soldiers served in the regular army, backed up by about 60,000 poorly trained reservists. By 1918 Canada had a modern army of over 600,000 soldiers, and four infantry divisions were fighting overseas alongside British forces and other Allied troops. More than 60,000 Canadian soldiers died in the war. In 1915 Canadians were among troops that endured the first major poison gas attack in the history of warfare at the Second Battle of Ypres, Belgium. Over the next two years Canadians fought in nearly every major British battle, including the First Battle of the Somme in 1916, where Canadian troops participated in the first-ever attack using tanks. By early 1917 four Canadian divisions, collectively known as the Canadian Corps, were fighting on the Western Front. Distinguished by their skill and discipline, the Corps, along with the Australians, became the attack troops of the British Army. In the Third Battle of Arras in April 1917 the Canadians captured the previously impenetrable area surrounding Vimy Ridge in northeastern France, the first significant British victory on the Western Front. In the fall of 1917, the Corps came in at the end of a grueling, five-month battle at Ieper, Belgium, and captured the village of Passendale, ending the Third Battle of Ypres. Finally, in the summer of 1918 the Canadians spearheaded the British drive that eventually ended the war. This initiative began on August 8 when the Canadians and Australians ruptured the German line at the Battle of Amiens. The drive ended three months later when Canadians captured the Belgian city of Mons. Canada also made a notable contribution to the air war, providing 20,000 airmen. Many Canadians--including William "Billy" Bishop, Raymond Collishaw, William Baker, and Don MacLaren--were among the war's top fighter aces (see Air Warfare: World War I). Two Canadian flyers, Wilfrid Reid 'Wop' May and Arthur Roy Brown, were credited with shooting down Manfred von Richthofen, the famous German pilot known as the Red Baron. Subsequent investigation suggests that an Australian soldier actually fired the shot that brought von Richthofen's plane to the ground. D Between the Wars After 1918 the regular army was expanded. The Royal Canadian Regiment was joined by two battalions of infantry that fought during the War: the Royal 22nd Regiment and Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry. The Royal 22nd Regiment--also known as the Vandoos--had been the only French-speaking Canadian infantry unit to serve continuously at the front. Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry was raised by a private citizen in 1914 to serve the British crown in the war effort. The number of regular artillery and cavalry units also increased. The government set postwar army strength at a maximum of 10,000 soldiers, although it seldom reached that number. The government initially planned a considerable naval expansion, but the expansion never happened. In 1922 much of the fleet was retired. The navy added two modern destroyers in the 1920s, but not until the mid-1930s, when war threatened again in Europe, that a modest program of naval expansion began. By 1939 the RCN comprised about 1,800 sailors and a fleet of six modern destroyers and four minesweepers. The Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) was founded in April 1924. Administered for the most part by the army, it spent the next decade engaged largely in aerial mapping and in exploring remote areas of Canada. In the late 1930s the government developed a plan to modernize the air force and equip it for primarily military tasks. However, little of this plan was completed by the outbreak of World War II in 1939. By that time, apart from one squadron of fighter planes purchased from Britain, the RCAF had no modern aircraft or equipment. E World War II World War II (1939-1945) represents what many consider to be the defining moment for Canada's armed forces. More than 1 million Canadian men and women served as part of the Allied Forces. All three services were actively engaged and all made important contributions. More than 40,000 Canadians died in the war effort. E1 Land Combat The army's total strength counted nearly 750,000 troops. It fielded three infantry divisions, two armored divisions, and two independent armored brigades in Europe. In addition, three divisions were devoted to defending Canada at home. The army fought unsuccessfully to defend Hong Kong against Japanese attack in late 1941, and suffered terribly in a raid on the German-held French port of Dieppe in mid-1942. Canadians were the first Allied troops ashore on the mainland of Italy in 1943. When Canadian reinforcements arrived, the 1st Canadian Corps was formed. It breached enemy lines near Monte Cassino in central Italy in May 1944. The Corps advanced further into German-held territory when it broke the enemy line south of the city of Rimini, Italy, in September. Meanwhile, the 2nd Canadian Corps and the rest of the First Canadian Army waited in Britain for the invasion of France. On D-Day, June 6, 1944, Canadians participated in the assault on the beaches of Normandy, one of the greatest Allied victories of the war. Canadian soldiers penetrated deeper into France than any other Allied formation. Canadian soldiers helped capture the city of Caen, then led the attack to push the Germans back further. The Canadian Army suffered more than 18,000 casualties in Normandy. After Normandy the Canadians formed the left flank of the Allied advance, capturing the ports along the sea in France and Belgium. This proved to be slow, grim work in battles waged across flat, flooded fields. Canadian forces were charged with driving the Germans from their last strongholds along the Schledt River near Antwerp, Belgium. Canadians were among the Allied troops that defeated the Germans there in early November 1944, enabling the first Allied supply ship to enter the harbor in Antwerp three weeks later. In 1945 Canadians led the assault on the final German defense along the Rhine River, then went on to clear northern Holland and occupy northwestern Germany. E2 Combat at Sea The RCN concentrated on defending shipping in the North Atlantic. Relying largely on small ships built in Canada, the Navy provided half of all the escorts for transatlantic convoys delivering shipments of military supplies from the United States and Canada to Britain by 1942. Canada was instrumental in preventing German submarines from cutting off Britain's supply lines. In 1943 the Canadian Northwest Atlantic command was established. This command, which controlled defense of merchant shipping north of Maine to the edge of the Grand Banks, was the only Allied theater of war commanded by a Canadian (Rear Admiral L. W. Murray). By 1944 RCN ships escorted all of the main transatlantic convoys, and made up 40 percent of the Allied antisubmarine forces in British waters. Canadian destroyers served with the British fleet and RCN torpedo boats operated in the English Channel. Canadian minesweepers cleared the approaches to the beaches at Normandy in preparation for D-Day, and the RCN put Canadian soldiers ashore to participate in that famous invasion. By the end of the war the RCN was the third largest navy in the Allied Forces, behind the United States and Britain, with roughly 450 armed ships and nearly 100,000 personnel. E3 Air Combat The RCAF grew to roughly 250,000 personnel--nearly 100 squadrons--and ran the British Commonwealth Air Training Program for Allied aircrew. Between 1942 and 1945 this program turned out more than 130,000 specially trained personnel, including pilots, navigators, air gunners, and flight engineers. The RCAF's overseas effort was heavily integrated into the larger effort of Britain's Royal Air Force (RAF). One-fourth of the squadrons under RAF control were Canadian. In addition, Canadians comprised at least one-fourth of the aircrew in British squadrons. In total, 48 RCAF squadrons served overseas. Nearly as many served at home, defending Canada against German submarine attacks in the North Atlantic and the mouth of the St. Lawrence River. They also cooperated with the Americans, preventing Japanese submarines from penetrating coastal waters off Alaska in the northeastern Pacific. A Canadian squadron participated in the Battle of Britain in 1940, during which the Germans tried unsuccessfully for two months to draw out and destroy Britain's air squadrons. Canadian air personnel or squadrons participated in every major theater of the war. The RCAF's largest operational force was the No. 6 Group of Britain's Royal Air Force bomber command, whose four-engine Lancaster and Halifax bombers participated in the bombing of Germany. F Postwar Alliances and Peacekeeping In the aftermath of World War II, Canada, along with most of the countries that had been involved in the war, sought ways to prevent another world war. In 1945 Canada joined 50 other nations in forming the United Nations (UN), an international alliance devoted to promoting world peace. The first test of Canada's commitment to the UN came in 1949, when border disputes on the Korean Peninsula escalated. This conflict resulted from the Cold War, the postwar struggle for power between the United States and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR). It erupted into the full-fledged Korean War (1950-1953) when North Korea, backed by the USSR and China, invaded South Korea, backed by the United States. At the urging of the United States, the UN declared a breach of peace and sent troops and supplies to augment American and South Korean forces. Canadian troops joined soldiers from Australia, Turkey, an many other countries in fighting alongside the South Koreans. More than 27,000 Canadians fought in the Korean War, and 516 Canadians lost their lives. In 1949, as tensions between the United States and the USSR on the Korean Peninsula escalated, Canada joined 11 other countries to form NATO. NATO is an alliance that provides for the collective security of powers rimming the North Atlantic. As part of its obligation to the newly formed alliance, Canada sent a brigade of troops to Germany, where the brigade stayed until the end of the Cold War. Membership in NATO also required Canada to strengthen its peacetime forces. The RCN underwent a major expansion, resuming the role in defense of the Atlantic it had established by the end of World War II, and becoming a world leader in antisubmarine tactics. The RCAF deployed nearly 1,000 aircraft to Europe and participated in the design and building of several new aircraft. By the early 1960s more than 120,000 personnel were on active duty, the first time Canada's regular force outnumbered its reserve. Canada also developed closer defense ties with the United States following World War II. Building on a relationship developed in the early stages of that war, the two countries expanded their cooperation in the 1950s to include a network of early radar warning systems. In 1957 the North American Air Defense command (NORAD) was activated to provide an integrated command for air defense of North America. While Canada was building postwar alliances, crises in other parts of the world threatened to disrupt the delicate world peace of the Cold War. Canada established its role as a leader in peacekeeping in 1956 during the Suez Crisis, an international conflict triggered when the Egyptian government seized control of the Suez Canal from the United Kingdom and France. Lester Bowles Pearson, then Canada's prime minister, proposed sending an emergency UN force to keep peace in the area until a settlement could be established. In the following years, Canada's peacekeeping role expanded to other countries. Between 1960 and 1964, Canada participated in a UN peacekeeping mission to maintain peace in the Congo (now the Democratic Republic of the Congo) during that nation's transition from Belgian to local rule. In 1962 and 1963, Canadian pilots were among UN peacekeepers in western New Guinea when that region underwent a similar transition of power. Between 1964 and 1993 more than 12,000 Canadian soldiers helped the UN promote peace between Greek and Turkish factions on the island of Cyprus. G Unification of the Forces In the 1960s the Canadian government began searching for ways of strengthening Canada's combat effectiveness while simultaneously reducing defense costs. Analyses of army, navy, and air force practices revealed that many tasks that the organizations performed independently could be combined to save money. Department of Defence strategists also charged that, in addition to duplicating some aspects of each other's work, the three organizations trained for different defense strategies. The need to reduce defense expenditures and develop a coherent defense strategy pushed the government to integrate--then to unify--the forces. A national debate ensued, and despite bitter opposition, unification came into effect on February 1, 1968. The separate services of the army, navy, and air force became a single unit, the Canadian Forces. Officials divided the new single service into functional commands. The navy and maritime air squadrons became Military Command, and the army and tactical air squadrons became Mobile Command. The rest of the air force was divided into Transport and Air Defence Commands. Other commands were formed for training, matériel, and communications, and Canadian Forces Europe became a separate command. A common dark green uniform replaced the traditional navy blue, army green, and air force blue uniforms. By 1975, although still unified, three basic services had reemerged. Air Command reunited air responsibilities, assuming control of aircraft and pilots from Maritime and Mobile Commands. In 1985 the three services returned to traditional uniforms. Further budget cuts and force reductions in the 1990s revised the system of commands, and reduced them to the three traditional elements associated with navy, army, and air force: Maritime, Land, and Air Commands. H The 1990s The Persian Gulf War (1990-1991) marked two firsts for the CF: the first time that the CF took part in a major war as a unified force, and the first time that female members of the CF participated in combat (females were approved for active combat in 1987). Canada entered the war just days after Iraqi troops seized the tiny emirate of Kuwait in August 1990. Canada committed personnel, naval vessels, fighter jets, and medical supplies to an international military coalition led by the United States and backed by the UN. Coalition forces drove Iraqi troops to withdraw from Kuwait less than ten weeks after the coalition began its attacks. More than 4,500 Canadians served in the Persian Gulf War without a single casualty. CF personnel remained in the Persian Gulf to help clean up the damage caused by the war. They worked to extinguish more than 700 oil well fires set by Iraqi troops and participated in an effort to clean up a giant oil spill caused by the Iraqis, who flooded the Persian Gulf with oil early in the war. Other CF personnel stayed in the Persian Gulf to serve on a UN peacekeeping force. CF personnel have continued to carry on the international peacekeeping heritage Canada established in the years following World War II. In addition to ongoing missions in the Persian Gulf in the 1990s, CF forces have deployed to support peacekeeping efforts in the wars of Yugoslav succession (1991-1995), Kosovo (1999- ), East Timor (1999- ), and other regions of conflict throughout the world. Contributed By: Marc Milner Microsoft ® Encarta ® 2009. © 1993-2008 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.
