3 PPCLI SNIPERS

A 3 PPCLI sniper made a war record shot of 2,430 meters killing an al-Qaeda holdout in eastern Afghanistan. He was one of five Canadian snipers supporting the US Army’s 187^th "Rakkasan" brigade last April.

The United States Army wants to award the Canadian snipers the Bronze Star, a decoration for bravery, for their work in rooting out Taliban and al-Qaeda holdouts in eastern Afghanistan. The five snipers spent 19 days fighting alongside a U.S. scout platoon clearing out diehard fighters from the mountains near Gardez in eastern Afghanistan.

The Americans were so impressed by the 3 PPCLI snipers that they recommended three Canadians for a Bronze Star and two for a Bronze Star with distinction. Apparently the night before the troops were to be awarded the medals in theatre, Canadian military officials in Ottawa put the decorations on hold for reasons of Canadian protocol, according to a U.S. Army source.

An announcement is still pending at this writing.

The Canadian sniper teams were said to be outstanding against an enemy that showered the assaulting coalition troops with mortars and machine-gun fire as soon as they alighted from their helicopters. One member of the team said on his first night in combat, he and his partner got an al-Qaeda machine gun in their sights as it was hailing bullets down on U.S. troops below. Crawling up into a good position, they set up their .50-calibre Macmillan Tac-50, and he hit his first target, an enemy gunman at a distance of 1,700 metres.

The lead sniper of a three-man sniper team said that after coming under enemy machine-gun fire, he managed to ease his rifle barrel between two rocks and quickly located an enemy sniper hiding behind a small piece of corrugated steel between two trees. He guessed the distance at 1,700 metres and fired one shot through the metal, killing the man instantly.

During the next four days of fighting, the Newfoundland corporal set what is believed to be a record for a long-distance shot under combat conditions, hitting an enemy gunman at a distance of 2,430 metres. The days of crawling, shooting and long hours waiting in cover left the Canadian snipers exhausted. "You don't realize what you've done to your body and how tired you are till it's all done. I think we slept 14 or 15 hours when we got back," the master corporal said.

Three of them, with U.S. Special Forces soldiers, also rescued a company of the U.S.101^st Airborne Division that was pinned down by enemy fire on the first day of Operation Anaconda. Source: National Post. _

New Unit Commendation

The Governor General of Canada, Adrienne Clarkson, has announced the first two awards of the newly created Commander-in-Chief Unit Commendation. The 1^st Battalion Royal 22e Regiment earned the Commendation for opening the besieged Sarajevo airport in July 1992 while being shot at by belligerents from all sides.

The second Commendation goes to 2^nd Battalion, Princess Patricia’s Canadian Light Infantry for its action during the battle of the Medak Pocket in September 1993. Under extreme peril, facing enemy artillery, small arms and heavy machine gun fire as well as anti-tank and anti-personnel mines, 2 PPCLI battle group held their ground and drove the Croatian forces back, thus halting "ethnic cleansing" in their sector.

Presentations will take place later this year. The commendation is a pennant and scroll that includes insignia worn by each member of the unit awarded this honour. _

AURORA’S 50^TH

Canada’s Long Range Patrol detachment flew their CP140 on their 50^th mission over the northern Arabian Sea last May. The last time a Canadian aircrew reached the elusive "50-mission" milestone was during the Second World War. The crew, known as the "Pirates" is from 415 Maritime Patrol Squadron, Greenwood, N.S. _

NEW DEPUTY MINISTER

Margaret Bloodworth is the new deputy minister of National Defence. As senior policy advisor to the Defence Minister, she believes the key challenge will be to marry government policy with expectations and explain what the CF and DND can do with the resources they have. She comes from Transport Canada where she has already served as deputy minister. Previously, she served in the Privy Council Office as deputy clerk (security and intelligence) and as counsel. _

ARCTIC SUB PATROL

Money woes have delayed the Canadian navy's plans to have its new submarines patrol the country's resource-rich Arctic territories. The navy had been planning to outfit its secondhand British submarines with a device that would generate additional power, allowing the boats to remain underwater for lengthy periods. That capability, which would have permitted the subs to slip into the Arctic and operate under the ice pack, had been one of the selling points in the push for the Canadian government to acquire the subs. Because of the funding problems the military is facing, the system won't be considered until at least 2012. _

PERSONAL MILITARY RECORDS

Retired military personnel can obtain complete copies of their Military records, held in the Archives. Request forms are obtainable from any public Library [or online! See below. Webmaster], and should be sent to the following address:

Personnel Records Section
A.T.I.P. Division
National Archives of Canada,
395 Wellington St.
Ottawa Ontario
K1A 0N3

Note: Mention also that you require the Medical History. _

Also note: You can learn more about Access to Information and Privacy (A.T.I.P.) at www.forces.ca/admfincs/ati/intro_e.asp. This page has links to the DND Personal Information Request Form (PIRF) And the Access to Information Request Form.

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