Preserving capacity, General Tom Lawson, Chief of the Defence Staff, Keys to Canadian SAR
Issue link: http://vanguardcanada.uberflip.com/i/337874
M MARITIME a modernized Halifax-class in that simulated battle space and al- low those systems to start working together, to actually test and trial the very point that you are making. The platforms are the platforms but now you are taking your game to an exponentially higher quality of capability. Q The plan notes the need to improve your capacity to conduct and support humanitarian operations "from the sea." Is the JSS sufficient or do you need something more? The JSS is part of the answer. JSS is going to give us a degree of flexibility that we don't have in the current AORs. But it is not just about the kit. It will be a limited improvement in the overall capability, but that's a piece. When you look at sea-based response as compared to an air response, it is typically going to be an inte- grated response. So the JSS becomes a complementary capability. From a design capability perspective, we are also looking at inte- grating some of the flexibility we need in AOPS as well, and we're taking a really hard look at the surface combatant. The idea is, in the absence of a monolithic approach, we are going to take an incremental and measured approach and every little piece we bring will be an improvement. It's not unlike the airlift analogy of longer range C-130s and C-17s, which have become significant game changers in terms of how you can do it. When you put it all together, again you have something which is greater than the sum of the parts. We are learning from other navies' experiences, because you can do some really innovative things: you can go with a purpose-built capability or a commercial modification. We are watching all of these very carefully. If the environment is such that people want to have that conversation, then we're happy to have it. But in the interim we are going to deliver those enhancements where we can – that's JSS, a little bit in AOPS and CSC. Q Lastly, the plan speaks about brand, communication, in- creasing stakeholders and empowering sailors to tell the RCN story: Is it your sense that the navy lacks a narrative within Canada? I think that is a fair statement. I think we have a narrative, the challenge is perhaps that our narrative is not resonating in the way we might want. We are, in the traditional military context, a con- tinental nation surrounded on three sides by water, but we have a population most of which sees water through lakes and rivers, not 16 JUNE/JULY 2014 www.vanguardcanada.com through the oceans. And the bulk of our activity in recent history has been North-South as opposed to the broader East-West. When you look at the world from the maritime perspective, it's a different world. We want to help Canadians understand their role as a mari- time nation in a world that is increasingly looking to the world's oceans as potential trouble areas and potential areas of opportunity. You don't have to look far; the North is a perfect example. Ninety percent of trade in goods are moved by water, 60 percent of the world's oil moves by water, 95 percent of the world's telecommuni- cations move under the water. What happens on the world's oceans half a world away might not necessarily be newsworthy in a Cana- dian context, but it is important to Canadians. We have a national retailer that reminds us that 30 percent of its inventory is at sea on any given day. So we have to reach out to Canadians in a way that is positive and constructive and not in a way where the narrative just doesn't resonate. We want Canadians to see the connection between the world's oceans and their security and prosperity and opportunity. Q This is also about recruitment? Do you have a challenge now? Recruiting is a really important part of any organization and we want to attract the best and brightest. The nature of the demo- graphics of Canada are changing and we need to reach into that to attract the next generation. We put a real push on a few years ago and the good news is we filled a lot of what were previously vacant positions, so on a num- bers by numbers basis we are doing ok. The issue continues to be, across the Army and Air Force as well, the high demand, low den- sity trades, particularly some of the technical ones. You bring people in, give them world-class training and education, give them a few years of hands-on experience, and the private sector beckons. In some cases it is more of a retention issue than it is a recruiting issue. We also have a challenge with capacity. Our ships are also our training platforms. We use simulation, we use the schoolhouse, we use a lot of modern mechanisms, but at the end of the day you have got to get sailors to sea and the only simulator for a ship at sea is a ship at sea. As we're bringing in an irregularly large number of new folks, we just happen to be doing it at a time that we're taking a lot of ships out of service to modernize them, which in- creases the level of difficulty. But part of the plan was to change the way we do our business internally and that is not just about money, it's not just about process, it's also about how we train our people. The historical ap- proach was that you went to a ship, and a ship would go through a program. At the moment, because of the number of ships avail- able to us, we don't have that luxury. So we are taking a far more focused, personal approach – you are now tracked as an individual sailor. We are looking at what your trade requires and making sure you acquire those skills. The pros are that we are getting the ex- perience we need for those people; the con is that they don't have the traditional continuity of being in a ship, staying in a ship and building that team cohesion. So that puts an onus on leadership to adapt the way they lead. I think we have a narrative, the challenge is perhaps that our narrative is not resonating in the way we might want.